From Craig's first chapter, titled the same as this post:
"The changes that have taken place in journalism in the past 100 years are no less staggering than those that have affected most other aspects of human life. Journalists cover news today using techniques and resources unthinkable in the early 1900s, and online journalists do a job that was unknown just 15 years ago. Yet the function of the journalist has largely remained unchanged."
Without referring to the text, please post as a comment your own answer to the question posed in the title: Why is online journalism different, and why should you care? (Don't say you care because you have to take a class). Keep your response to 250-300 words.
2.04.2008
Why Is Online Journalism Different, and Why Should You Care?
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The largest difference between online journalism and other forms of journalism is the immediacy of the medium. In our first assignment of this class, we had to not only note which web site we had read, but what time of day we had read the material. This is because the content online changes as quickly as the material is gathered.
With print journalism the news cycle is twenty-four hours. If something is news worthy and happens after the paper has been printed, it cannot be added until the next day.
Broadcast journalism typically updates more quickly than print journalism. Often news programs are interrupted for breaking news. However online media remains a faster form for information. If you are interested in a particular story, you may focus your news consumption to only that event. As the story unfolds, you will witness the changes reflected in alterations to that page. Broadcast journalism does this but perhaps not as in depth. Broadcasters will go on to the next story trying to update all new information while online’s ability to focus one page to each story means it can receive greater attention from the consumer if they choose and new information will be passed along more quickly.
Online journalism is not only the future. It’s also the present. Print journalism is becoming more and more obsolete as readers continue to get their news from the Internet. People applying for jobs now must have a background in online journalism. It is important that journalists realize that the industry is going through a radical change.
Online journalism is different than print journalism because in online journalism you are often not the person reporting and writing. You are the person who takes that content and then publishes it out on the web for the world to see. You must still have the mind of a reporter. You must be able to fact check and edit and know the basics of AP style. However, you must also be able to use online programs like Dreamweaver and be able to publish content in a timely and efficient manner.
Online journalism is also different because editors and producers have to get out news as quickly as possible. There are no first edition deadlines or e-dot deadlines. News is always changing and it’s up to the online journalist to make sure that news is not only out there fast, but also out there accurately. I see first-hand at my internship how hectic and frenzied it can be to publish stories. During the Super Bowl, producers had to constantly update the website with blogs, pictures and commentary. Once the game was over, the producers then had to take the content that was going into tomorrow’s paper and put it on the website.
Anyone looking to make a career in the field of journalism must have some sort of training in online. Without online training, you will be a step or two behind the ever-changing world of the media.
The biggest difference between print journalism and online journalism is time. Online journalism challenges a journalist to consider what is new and timely in a completely different realm. For print journalists, the paper is stagnant after it goes to print. Whatever the lead story was when the paper went to print will remain the lead story for the rest of the day. However, in the online world, journalists are constantly challenged to come up with new material. The lead story will change many times throughout the day, and the journalist has to be ready to put up with that demand.
Another major difference with online journalism is the conversational aspect as well as the multimedia aspect. Writing for an online publication means developing a story into what I consider a 3-D type of format. While your story may still hinge on the print article, multimedia aspects such as photo galleries and videos enhance your work. For a journalist this means taking into consideration the other aspects of the story and developing a goal for each piece of the story. In general it’s a much more comprehensive environment than in the print world.
In my opinion, journalists should care about this because there is no doubt that the worlds of print journalism and online journalism are colliding. In the future I believe there won’t be a distinction between the two. As the fields converge journalists need to be equipped with the tools to know the challenges of working online and also know how to utilize the medium to the best of their abilities.
Online journalism is different because of the immediacy in which events must be turned around into something that is published. In the print industry, all news articles come out in the morning, when the paper is distributed. However, online, a story comes out as soon as the journalist writes the story. So to be ahead of everyone else, the journalist must be able to write the story with correct facts incredibly quickly. Also, unlike print journalism, stories may be edited and content added as the story is breaking. A story that was printed as a brief at noon could become a full length story with all the facts by 1 PM. This puts precedence on getting some story on the web to keep up with the competition, even if at the time the story isn't full of all the facts, as you can add the facts as they break.
The reason that people should care is because online journalism is starting to become the primary way that the public receives their news. The timeliness and accessibility makes it the easiest way to receive news. While broadcast often times reports in the same timely manner, a person has to wait for the story to come onto the broadcast. Online they can just find the story and click on it at their leisure. This makes it the best place to find news during the day, and this is why you should care about it.
Online journalism is different because the Internet as a whole is fundamentally different from any form of media that has come before it. Online journalism combines the speed of broadcast journalism and the 24-hour news networks with the depth of print journalism. The Internet provides people with an unprecedented wealth of information that is easier than ever before to access, as well as a diversity of possible sources for that information.
This makes online journalism different, because it means that online news organizations have greater opportunity to become specialized, focusing in on a particular niche of society. For instance, in addition to traditional news organizations that strive for objectivity, many websites have formed with a clearer partisan stance, such as DailyKos and townhall.com. The same is true outside the realm of politics, as can be seen with the rise of alternative music websites such as Pitchfork Media among other indie music related blogs. In addition to specialization, online journalism is different because the Internet allows for journalists to research topics and issues more quickly and easily than ever before. However, this also means that journalists are more heavily scrutinized than ever before, since most of the same online resources available to journalists are also available to the general public.
Journalists should care about online journalism because more and more people have made the Internet their main source for news, as the audience for other forms of media have seen declines in their audiences. They should also care about online journalism and its fundamental differences because they need to understand not only the resources and opportunities that the Internet and online journalism provide, but also the higher standard that their work will be subjected to readers’ increased scrutiny.
Online journalism is different because it is able to provide its audience with the most recent information. With newspapers readers would have to wait for the day or week to hear their new, and with broadcast news viewers would have to wait until the next show. But, websites are usually updated at all times. Another difference the internet provides is multimedia. Websites offer video as well as print stories, combining broadcast and print journalism into one. It allows for more information to appear at once, whether on the same story, or multiple news topics. Websites are not constricted by the same space or time, much like a newspaper or television.
These differences are significant to a journalist as people turn more and more to their computers for news and entertainment. Reporters are being asked to cover stories in different ways. Photographers and cameramen (or women) might also accompany a reporter to an event, when they otherwise would not. The use of the internet is bringing about change to the profession. It is blurring the lines between print and broadcast journalism. It is also important because people are turning away from print and broadcast, finding online news more convenient. The more audience interest in the internet, the more the industry will change to keep up and attempt to survive as technology continues to grow.
The first and most obvious reason why online journalism is different is the nature of the medium. It’s not on paper, unless it’s printed out. It doesn't necessarily involve three-dimensional live interviewing.
Instead, the work that is done in words and pictures that is central to print and broadcast journalism is shifted to the Web where it lives in a strange and dynamic world of clicks, links and graphics. It is expanded upon with extended stories, podcasts, and digital photojournalism to create an entirely new medium.
The immediacy and intensely interactive nature of most online journalism are the primary and most important reasons why it is different from traditional print and broadcast.
Instead of waiting overnight for a paper to be edited, typeset, printed and distributed, words and images can be immediately posted and read online. Videographers don’t have to wait for a newscast to post clips. Users engage with articles, blog posts, photos and videos, often with the ability to post comments immediately, communicate with reporters and other consumers and post their own commentary as they see fit.
Finally, online journalism is arguably the most intensely enmeshed of all media. You have words (albeit on a screen in pixels, not ink on a page) pictures and video, sometimes separate, often together. Some of it is print, some of it is based in broadcast principles. The lines are simply more blurry online.
I should and obviously do care because I believe that the Web is a revolutionary medium that has forever changed how the human race receives and provides information and communicates on a local and global scale. I’ve chosen to make my career specifically in the multimedia environment of the Internet after years as a writer because I believe there is no greater place at this moment in history to share stories.
The conversion to online media forums has some traditional journalists wary of change while simultaneously equipping the industry for more intimate news coverage. Online journalism differs from traditional journalism only in medium.
There are still reporters, stories and facts to be delivered to an audience. Online the audience has the propensity to be infinitely larger than a printed publication and the electronic medium allows the reporter to engage the audience with different stimuli: text, audio and video.
Budding journalists today should care, as I do, about online journalism not only because it is a ubiquitous trend but a progressive movement that connects the global sphere to an easily accessible abundance of information.
Online journalism has and will change the journalism job market. This may not translate into fewer positions for recent graduates, but will cause a change in job qualifications and descriptions.
New hires and new-hire-hopefuls will need to possess a skill set that includes familiarity with webdesign and function, digital photography and audio/video recording and editing.
The versatility of online journalism allows the reporter to tell a story through traditional text (article), interactive graphs and visuals a video and audio clips. Combined in any way, a text article is enhanced painting a clearer picture of the issue at hand and more effectively informing its readers, the main objective of the journalist.
Online journalism is different because it allows everyone to become a journalist. Stories can be posted on the internet through news outlets, bloggers, or chats. There are no limitations as to who can be considered an online journalist. This is important because information posted on the internet does not always come from a reliable source. False information can easily be relayed to viewers.
Online journalism is also different because it allows quick and easy access to information from various outlets. It gives viewers the opportunity to gather information about a story from as many sources as possible all at once. This can have a negative impact on a story because online news outlets may feel pressured to get the information out as quickly as possible which may jeopardize accuracy. On the other hand it allows instant access to breaking news stories which can be continually updated.
We should care about online journalism because it is changing the way information is relayed. It has opened the door for everyone to have a venue to voice their opinions and spread their own message.
Online journalism, if taken to its inclusive extreme (including everything from online editions of national newspapers to teenage bloggers), functions differently than any of its predecessors.
The key differences are access, scope, and frequency. Anyone can be an online journalist as long as he or she has access to a computer of some sort with an Internet connection or knows someone who does. In the past access to the media was limited to those wealthy enough to own a press. Just before the online age, in order to break news or set the news agenda, you would have to be educated or at least understand the craft, otherwise you probably would not get the opportunity.
The Internet is potentially much broader in scope than any other media the world has ever known. Because of this phenomenon a 15-year-old kid writing a blog about adolescent romances can potentially reach a wider audience than CNN’s nightly newscast. This fact can be both exciting and terrifying to old-school journalists.
Addtionally blogging and other online posting can happen anytime and as many times as there are minutes in a day. Events can be transmitted throughout the world almost as quickly as they happen. Audio and video as well as text can be relayed. Never before in history has this been possible.
We should care about online journalism because it is the future as well as the present. Though it will inevitably render many other forms of journalism outmoded or obsolete, while existing in competition with older, tried and tested media, it is preferred by millions of consumers already. The ship has left the port. The choice for journalists is to jump on board or be left behind.
We should care because online journalism is changing fundamentals of the job. All journalists should educate themselves as multimedia journalists or they will become obsolete.
Although the traditional function of the journalist -- to gather and report on the news -- has largely remained intact, the new medium of the internet has changed the job in multiple ways.
First, it requires journalists to increase the flow of information. They can, and indeed have to, post updates around the clock to compete with other online media, including citizen journalists. Media consumers with internet access no longer expect to wait until the evening news airs or the morning paper arrives to learn the latest scoop. A corollary of this is that it is imperative to grab and retain people's attention. When the public is saturated with information and can turn to many alternative sources, it might have a shorter attention span.
Second, the multimedia potential of online journalism is unprecedented. Print is a medium of words and images; radio, a medium of sound; and TV, one of both sound and images. The internet, however, is all of the above. As the formerly disparate fields of broadcast and print journalism converge online, reporters are now writing stories, taking photos and shooting videos for the same assignment. Budding journalists need to be prepared for this multimedia work environment.
Third, the internet is more interactive than earlier media. After completing a story, for example, a reporter might be called upon to conduct a "live chat" online to respond to readers' questions. Moreover, the medium of the blog enables readers to comment publicly on stories.
New journalists must enter the profession with the flexibility to adapt to this emerging online world. As this powerful new medium matures, they can expect change to be the only constant.
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