Journalism Today

1
Journalism Today

• Chapter 1

2
Traditional Media

• Traditional media make a strong industry.
• More attention is being paid to the Internet to
  gain and maintain new audiences.
• Although circulation declined for many
  newspapers, they are still read by 124 million
  people.
• Papers are embracing the Internet and are
  competing with broadcast sites for breaking news.

3

• News magazines are also looking for ways to
  maintain and compete.
• Radio is going digital, satellite and is
  available as recordings for iPods and iPhones.
• More people are taking control of their own
  access to what news they want.
• This can be good and bad.
• New technology helps fragment culture and avoid
  opposing views.

4
Convergence

• Coming together from different directions.
• Coming together on different formats.
• Media General has 25 daily newspapers and 23
  broadcast television stations.
• Advance Publications owns 26 daily and 11 weekly
  newspapers, 22 magazines and 11 state-wide
  Internet sites.
• Proponents of convergence say it allows reporting
  in greater depth.

5

• Opponents see convergence as a convenient way to
  remarket traditional shallow coverage.
• Because the same editors are involved in
  converging formats, there is less diversity of
  ideas.
• With less competition, there will be less
  initiative to increase quality or strive for
  excellence.
• Cross-promotion of entertainment products is
  disguised as news.

6
Digital Journalism

• Some authorities say nearly 330 million people
  actively use the Internet and more than a billion
  use it occasionally.
• Not all of these folks are looking for news.
• Music, multimedia, blogs, MySpace, Facebook and
  YouTube are good examples of what younger
  Internet users want.
• One good thing is that digital technology is
  making us more local with our news.

7

• Reporters are filing their stories directly to
  the Internet from laptops with WiFi.
• Reporters are carrying digital cameras capable of
  still and video capture.
• Photograph slideshows and videos can be uploaded
  to breaking news blogs from a LAN, WAN or
  Wireless connection.
• In some cases, audio, including recorded music
  and interviews, are processed and uploaded by the
  reporter.

8
Citizen Journalism

• All of the technologies mentioned for reporting
  are available to the general public.
• Television stations and now some newspapers are
  giving the general public authority to upload
  news to their online products.
• MySpace, Facebook and YouTube helps citizens
  learn the technology required to do this.

9

• This type of access is called crowd sourcing or
  user-generated content.
• Local news sites operating outside corporate
  media outlets are called citizen media sites.
• Nearly 1,000 such sites exist.
• The philosophy behind this product is that it
  provides unique local content, dialog, extended
  local news and community connectedness.

10
Training 21st Century Journalists

• Good reporting is always first priority.
• The most essential tools for a journalist are
  dependent on mind and heart, not technology.
• Technology is changing so quickly, training is
  sometimes obsolete in a year.
• Journalists should be trained in critical
  thinking, news judgment and writing.
• This transfers to all technological formats.