MCM517 Handouts by VUBuddy

Online Journalism-MCM517

Table of Contents Page No.

03 Diffusion of Innovation 11

04 World Wide Web has introduced journalists to new writing forms 20

05 Ethics related to cyber medium 34

06 Analysis of Web Sites 46

07 Useful Tips for Effective Web Design 52

08 Telecommunication 55

09 Convergence, its nature and levels of convergence 64

10 Prospects and challenges of online journalism 71

11 Important Terminologies 76

12 Blogs and Blogging 85

13 Online Storytelling 92

14 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2007 an ordinance 96

15 Revision of Important basic concepts 101

Lesson 01

Online journalism is journalism more or less produced for the World Wide Web (unlike print, radio and television journalism) .It exploits the unique characteristics of the Internet. A network of networks, joining many government, university and private computers together and providing an infrastructure for the use of E-mail, bulletin boards, file archives, hypertext documents, databases and other computational resources The vast collection of computer networks which form and act as a single huge network for transport of data and messages across distances which can be anywhere from the same office to anywhere in the world. First conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States government in 1969. The ARPANet was a project funded primarily by U.S. military sources such as the Department of Defense. Journalism is any non-fiction or documentary narrative that reports or analyzes facts and events firmly rooted in time (either topical or historical) which are selected and arranged by reporters, writers, and editors to tell a story from a particular point of view. Journalism has traditionally been published in print, presented on film, and broadcast on television and radio. " Online" includes many venues. Most prominent is the World Wide Web

Distinguishing characteristics of online journalism as compared to traditional journalism

Online = real time

Online journalism can be published in real time, updating breaking news and events as they happen. Nothing new here -- we've had this ability with telegraph, teletype, radio, and TV.

Online = shifted time

Online journalism also takes advantage of shifted time. Online publications can publish and archive articles for viewing now or later, just as print, film, or broadcast publications can. WWW articles can be infinitely easier to access, of course.

Online = multimedia

Online journalism can include multimedia elements: text and graphics (Newspapers and books), plus sound, music, motion video, and animation (Broadcast radio, TV, film), 3D, etc.

Online = interactive

Online journalism is interactive. Hyperlinks represent the primary mechanism for this interactivity on the Web, linking the various elements of a lengthy, complex work, introducing multiple points of view, and adding depth and detail. A work of online journalism can consist of a hyperlinked set of web pages; these pages can themselves include hyperlinks to other web sites. Traditional journalism guides the reader through a linear narrative. The online journalist lets readers become participants, as they click their way through a hyperlinked set of pages. Narrative momentum and a strong editorial voice pull a reader through a linear narrative. With interactivity, the online journalist can predetermine, to a certain extent, the reader/participant's progress through the material, but manifold navigation pathways, branching options, and hyperlinks encourage the reader/participant to continue to explore various narrative threads assembled by the reporter/writer/editor. A web of interlinked pages is also an ideal mechanism to give reader/participants access to a library of source documents and background information that form the foundation of an extensive journalistic investigation. Readers/participants can respond instantly to material presented by the online journalist; this response can take several forms. Email to the reporter or editor resembles the traditional letter to editor of print publications, but email letters can be published much sooner online than in print. Online journalists can also take advantage of threaded discussions that let readers respond immediately to an article, and to the comments of other readers, in a bulletin boardstyle discussion that can be accessed at any time. Readers can become participants in the ongoing cocreation of an editorial environment that evolves from the online journalist's original reporting and the initial article. Blogs (short for " Web log", a Web-based journal) make this easy. Much of the journalism published on the Web and elsewhere online amounts to nothing more than traditional magazine or newspaper articles and graphics, perhaps with some added links to related web sites. By providing an instant, ubiquitous, cheap distribution medium, the Internet adds tremendous value to such articles. Journalists are still experimenting and discovering how best to take advantage of interactivity and hyper linking to create distinctive works that take advantage of the benefits of the online medium

Characteristics of online journalism

Hypertextuality

A news story is connected to other stories, archives, and resources and so on through hyperlinks

Complexity of choice available Responsiveness to the user Facilitation of interpersonal communication Ease of adding information Multimediality It has to do with the media format or formats that may best convey given news story. Media are means of disseminating knowledge.

Characteristics of the Internet

1. Anonymity
2. Interactivity
3. Beyond geography
4. Online community
5. Lower cost to participate in the public sphere
6. Lower threshold for self-expression of political opinions

Potential of the Internet

1. Active, participatory citizenship
2. Not only consumption but production
3. Undermines the centralized control of information
4. Reflects the range of views and ideas
5. Improve the level of civic engagement among younger generation

Limitations of the Internet

Inaccuracy: misrepresent and lie Internet news audience is smaller than that of the traditional media Entertainment rather than political engagement “Digital divide”: a class system based on (a) computer ownership, (b) Internet access, and (c) computer literacy that corresponds with social economic statuses

How digital journalism has changed the way we access the news?

The development of digital journalism has radically changed the way people access the news. The introduction of the internet opened the way for the creation of an entirely new medium of journalism a online journalism. Online journalism presents users with the unprecedented ability to chose when, where and what news they will receive. The traditional news media of broadcast, print and radio all broadcast, publish or air their bulletins at the time they chose, in the order they chose and to the depth they chose. However, online journalism allows the user to access the news at any time from any computer or personal device with an internet connection. Once connected, the user can select the stories they wish to view and can easily access further information on the story if they so desire.