Lesson 10 Slide 1

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10
Niels Hendriks - 2004
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Internet Journalism
Whats wrong with this picture

• internet journalism is not a journal on line!

- Well, in most cases it still is
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Internet Journalism
Whats wrong with this picture

• internet journalism is not a journal on line!

- Well, in most cases it still is
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Internet Journalism

• Internet journalism
• if used as a mere digital copy
  useless

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Internet Journalism

• What will these lessons (2) be all about
• Characteristics of on line journalism
• Why the internet
• Journalist on the web Different status of the
  journalist
• Journalist on the web Different status of the
  audience
• Characteristics of journalism
• Interview techniques
• Journalist of the web using the web as a
  journalist
• Two sections will be mixed

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Internet Journalism characteristics

• Whats the Internet
• Internet uses multimedia
• Hypertext helps in archiving and the composition
  of large files (dossiers)
• Anytime Anywhere (time space)
• Information can be personalised
• Internet interactive

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Internet Journalism characteristics

• Where do you get the news from?
• And the Belgians?

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Internet Journalism characteristics

• What do Belgians search on line?
• Insites
• Music
• ICT-info
• Travel-info
• Financial-info
• But most of all news (in general)

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Internet Journalism characteristics

• Internet relevant for news readers
• 6minutes.com
• Recognizing that the next generation goes online
  for information and meeting them there with
  content that appeals to their age group seems a
  savvy step for newspapers concerned about
  circulation declines. Whether reading online
  develops reader loyalty and translates into
  future reading and subscribing is another
  story.. (Grusin Edmondson, 2003)

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Internet journalism characteristics

• Digitalising Sola Pool (1984)
• Distance is ceasing to be a barrier to
  communication. (.)
• Speech, text, and pictures are being represented
  and sent by the same kind of electrical impulses,
  a common digital stream. Separation of these
  modes is diminishing.
• In this information society, a greatly expanded
  proportion of all work as well as leisure is
  being spent in communication. Information
  handling is a growing portion of all human
  activity.
• With messages converted into electronic bits,
  they may be not only electronically transmitted
  but also manipulated by logical devices and
  transformed.
• The mass media revolution is being reversed
  instead of identical messages being disseminated
  to millions of people, electronic technology
  permits the adaptation of electronic messages to
  the specialized or unique needs of individuals..

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Internet Journalism characteristics

• Added Value of the Net
• Newhagen and Rafaeli (1996)
• On line media have their own logic
• 5 key qualities are
• Multimedia
• Hypertextual
• Interactional
• Archival combination of H M - characteristics
• Figurational will not deal with this, stays
  unclear

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Internet Journalism characteristics

• Interactivity
• More possibilities to interact with other users
• Control what information can be consulted and
  HOW, WHERE and WHEN this will be done
• Multimedia/Convergention
• Integration of text, moving image sound into
  one media-format (MultiMedia)
• But also traffic information is sent to
  wrist-watches teletext news appears on a
  Walkman television, radio and newspapers all
  now publish their information on the World Wide
  Web, which in turn can appear on computer
  screens, televisions, game consoles, pagers and
  mobile telephones..

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Internet Journalism characteristics

• Hypertextuality
• the extent to which different (parts of) texts
  connected via hyperlinks
• Hypertext "might usefully be considered as a
  particular trajectory through a series of texts
  rather than merely the texts themselves" (Hall,
  2001, p. 66). Cfr interactive story
• hyperlinks
• internal links refer to other texts (or
  sections) within the site
• external links refer to texts or sites located
  elsewhere on the Internet.
• Deuze (2001) few of today's news Websites
  actually embed hyperlinks in an effective manner
• Not sufficient external hyperlinks
• Why? Not allow "viewers escape their "family" of
  related businesses"

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Internet Journalism history

• Dan Gillmor
• We started with old media on the web
• We added new media
• Next step wait, we will deal with this later
• Started with old media the beginning
• pre-Mature International 1982 Videotex
  services by Times Mirror and Knight Ridder
• Mostly Text in digital form, primitive graphics
  for news
• Start, national international /-1995
• NL Websites of NRC Handelsblad, Intermediair,
  Daily Planet van Planet Internet ( Francisco van
  Jole)
• BE Tijdnet De Standaard
• 2000 - Bubble only mediagroup to win from the
  introduction on line was De Persgroep, they were
  the only one to not make any loss )

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Internet Journalism history

• Reaction of the traditional newspapers?
• Suspicious minds
• No need to cooperate
• Felt threatened

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Who is this internet journalist?

• Who is this internet journalist?
• What is he doing in Flanders
• Facts Figures
• Number of internet journalists in Flanders 130
• most of them are male 80
• highly educated 62 have an academic degree
• younger than 35 62
• No lack in experience in journalism
• 26 of the respondents in the profession 10y
• ¾ worked for traditional media (mostly print)
• 2/3 work for an online-only (stand-alone) news
  Website.
• Flemish online newsroom /- 4 online
  journalists.

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different status of the journalist

• Whats an internetjournalist
• 'those media professionals who are directly
  responsible for the content of news Websites
  (Deuze 2004)
• 2 different traditional views
• Someone who writes about the media in general ,
  more concrete, about the internet.
• In every possible medium Cfr. Sportjournalist ?S
  ubject is central element
• Someone who writes for a journalistic site on
  the net on different topics ? Medium is central
  element
• So, this is it?
• No, of course not.

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different status of the journalist

• Internet journalist
• CAN become Obsolete
• Journalist Guide only point the visitor towards
  the information, your sources
• Accompany your audience in their search for
  information

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different status of the journalist

• CFR Interactive Story (Bliep - Repeat)

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REPEAT interactive fiction

• So to create meaning in interactive storytelling
  we do not only have
• Story
• Plot
• Narrator
• Characters
• Elements of Time
• Elements of space
• But this is LINKED

LINK
Web of millions of texts, movies, images,
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REPEAT interactive fiction

• Meaning in Hypertext environment
• George P. Landow Hypertext as Collage writing
• The same aesthetic operates at the heart of
  electronic text, though we seldom notice it for
  what it is--an aesthetic of collage, the central
  technique of twentieth-century visual
  art.Richard Lanham

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Repeat interactive fiction

• Ted Nelsons Docuverse
• A place where "everything should be available to
  everyone. Any user should be able to follow
  origins and links of material across boundaries
  of documents, servers, networks, and individual
  implementations. There should be a unified
  environment available to everyone providing
  access to this whole space."

Document
Universe
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Repeat Interactive Fiction

• Through LINKS hypertextual collage
• The web collage of texts, video, images,
• gets its meaning through
• JUXTAPOSITION placing of different objects side
  by side for effect.
• APPROPRIATION items used outside their normal
  context 
• ASSEMBLAGE to put together elements
• CONCATENATION to link together in a series or
  chain
• We get  BLURRING LIMITS/ EDGES/ BORDERS a sense
  of openness

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different status of the journalist

• So, this is it
• Of course not.
• Journalist
• You me
• From lecture
• to
• conversation

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different status of the journalist

• Hm, maybe we can conclude
• An internet journalist is someone who places
  information (whether they are external or
  internal links images, text, videos graphs
  audio fragments columns traditional
  journalistic articles,) in a construction a
  certain context.
• Hyperlink trail of contexts
• Being a JOURNALIST is lesser a predicate
• Being an on line journalist is being a leader a
  guide
• So this is it?
• Of course not.

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different status of the journalist

• Drudge Report
• Monica Lewinsky Bill Clinton
• Michael?
• Stivoro
• GeenStijl.nl
• Anti-smoking-bureau
• Raed in the middle
• Bridge-story (trail of contects)
• Journalists controling traditional media
• How?
• Web of brains web of reactions,
• Immediacy on CONTENT-level (breaking news)
• Immediacy on Feedback-level (comments, forum)

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different status for the journalist

• Internetjournalist vs. journalist
• Comparisons?
• The medium is not the message internet is not a
  goal, but a way to attain a goal. It has the
  power to make changes, but is does not change the
  way in which we, journalists, work. (R.
  Jaroslovsky, www.wsj.com)
• Yes, but

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different status for the journalist

• Differences?
• Distribution via the internet
• Innovative journalists
• Multimedia
• Interactivity
• Breaking news
• The role of the surfer/reader (later more)
• Integration of journalism entertainment
• www.geenstijl.nl
• New genres (dossiers, archives,)
• Different way of working
• Internet becomes a TOOL (later more)
• More responsibilities (the journalist-millepede
  cfr TVL videojournalism)
• Mostly individual or small team

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different status of internet journalism

• Larger amount of the role of the user (later
  more)
• Statistics show you your popularity
• Not appreciation of article
• Internetters decide when where they will read
  your texts.
• The space on the internet is infinite
• ! beware
• Internet news can get more personal (eg. News on
  this specific topic).
• More pressure, every minute is a new deadline
• Texts are constructed differently
• Screenwriting (webwriting) hypertext way in
  which users deal with the medium..
• Internet creëert nieuwe presentatiemogelijkheden.
• Interactivity, multimedia,
• Mind privacy-issues
• Eg, newsletters

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Some problems in internet publishing

• Publishing the content too fast
• An unpunctual redaction
• Correct errors, plugins, browser,
  screenresolution
• Fast re-typing of others news
• Copy-paste problem
• No added value but external links
• No own identity
• Just copy the text from our mother-medium (eg
  newspaper)
• No clear distinction between sponsored and
  independent articles

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Some problems in internet publishing
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How to write

• OK, now we will stop the background-info for
  now
• Next question how to write/act as a journalist
• Remember, I will not help you to learn how to
  write as a journalist. (we are not a
  journalist-education)
• I will give you some advices though
• I will try to connect standard journalistic
  writing schemes with the WEB-situation

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How to write

• What is worth an article?
• New ?
• not too new, make connections to other articles
• Remember most internet sites use
• What heading/column does this article belong too
• ! automatic categorization of articles
• Try to attract the attention of your
  users/readers
• Multimedia, interactivity, !! Content
• most be a message as a whole, not the
  seperate parts

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How to write
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How to write

• Multimedia www.cnet.com

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How to write

• Your news must be fresh (even more on the net)
• Webcasts

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How to write

• Geographical or emotional closeness
• Is this important for our readers?
• Is this important on the net?
• Emotional OK
• Geographical World W W
• BUT still .be focused on the belgian news
• The unusual, the rare, makes something an
  article
• Even more on the web some groups who do not get
  much attention in regular media

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How to write
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How to write
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How to write

• Excitment tension
• Debate, conflicts, competition, fights,
• Even more possibility to prolong the article

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How to write

• Disasters good news
• Death
• Birth
• Nobel prize
• Human interest
• Distraction entertainment

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How to write
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How to write
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How to write

• Mark out your subject
• Make choices
• Message can not be too complex
• Still, I got an infinite web
• BUT
• webwriting conciseness
• Use INTERNAL EXTERNAL hyperlinks to give a more
  complex story
• Themes which are complex or quite large can be
  dealt with via internal links or Dossiers/file

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How to write
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How to write

• How do you find an article?
• Traditional media network of correspondants
  inland and in foreign countries
• Press Bureaus (Reuter, UPI, AP, AFP ANP)
• Press notes from universities, companies,
• Other media (television, newspaper,)
• Own network

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How to write
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How to write
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How to write

• Whats my audience?
• Cultural differences
• Nationality, religion, subculture
• Demographic characteristics
• Age, male/female
• Geographic characteristics
• Where do they live (city or village)
• Social-economic position
• Inkomensklasse, beroepen, opleidingsniveau,
  beschikbare vrije tijd
• And the web?
• Its World Wide, so we do not need to know (since
  everyone can be part of the audience?)
• No you will get a fixed set of audience
• PLUS, more possibilities(next page) profiles

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How to write
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How to write

• Other questions
• What does my audience know already
• Whats their education
• What is their interest
• What is their lifestyle
• Net possibilities
• Cookies, click-behaviour (ads links)

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How to write

• How do we get a view on our audience
• What kind of opinions do they have?
• What does your audience expects of you?
• Neutral, strong opinion,

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How to write

• Journalistic Genres
• Will start with the traditional view
• Link to the internet-situation
• News article
• Just the news, no real background
• News analysis
• Give background info
• Or Give own opinion

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How to write

• Background article
• To broaden, to deepen your subject

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How to write

• Research article
• Reportage
• Interview
• Article describing your own opinion
• Column
• Difference with article describing your opinion?
  Stonger subjectivity
• Review
• Portrait, Travel story,

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How to write

• on the internet?
• News article
• News analysis
• Background article
• Research article
• Reportage
• Interview
• Article describing your opinion
• Review
• Portrait, travel story
• Can they be find on line? How?
• Did we miss other types?

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How to write

• Most used genres news article, analysis,
  interview, background article, reportage,
  comment, column, review, portrait, report.
• The genre depends on the content and the goal to
  attain
• Take into account the medium the demands of
  your audience

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How to write

• New formats (OR TOOLS?)
• Database publishing
• Infograph
• Evolving story
• Newsflash
• Quiz test
• A poll

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How to write

• Database publishing
• Database for programmers?
• No, database can help your reader and you
• YOU, as a journalist, use these data comment
  them
• Automatic possible too

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How to write

• Infograph
• Example
• Visual presentations of information. Infographics
  are commonly found in the news, in subway maps,
  airport signage, timelines, and popular
  scientific literature.
• Very internet

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How to write

• Evolving Story
• 2 different types
• the constant updated story - literally
• The constant updated story figurative (possible
  a file/dossier later)

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How to write

• Newsflash
• Most recent news
• Headlines
• Title returns in main article

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How to write

• Quiz Test
• Teasers
• Playful way in dealing with a certain topic
• Direct score viewing analysis possible

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How to write

• A poll
• most of the times no representative results

Flemish broadcasting company used this poll as a
fact after 8000 responses we surveyed the
flemish population - Mind Fraud
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How to write

• Find information to write an article
• How?
• Using your network
• Get press releases
• Take interviews
• Search other media
• Use your computer

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How to write

• Using the net as a journalistic tool

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How to write

• CAR is the use of computers to acquire and
  analyze information to do stories that otherwise
  would be difficult or impossible.
• Tools?
• Search engines
• E-mail
• Listservs
• Usenet news groups

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How to write

• Search engines
• Source of information
• Academic search Google Scholar - Scirus
• Invisible web (databases)
• Listservs
• Mailinglists on specific topics, keeping updated
• Usenet news groups
• Keeping updated google groups

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How to write

• Metapages bv www.journalinks.be

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How to write

• Other
• Waybackmachine
• Institutes of statistics
• Academic personnel search pages
• Whois-search
• Webagent (websitemonitor)

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How to write

• How can you use this (Steve Doigt)
• Develop story ideas (lists, usenet, faqs)
• Acquire data (download from govt. sites)
• Check news clips (on-line papers)
• Verify facts (google, yahoo)
• Find experts (profnet, google, yahoo)
• Locate affected people (usenet)
• Add color (google, yahoo)
• Collaborate (e-mail, lists)
• Publish (create a web page/site)

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How to write

• Remember Steve Doigt
• Apply the same skepticism you would use on
  information from any other source
• Remember The Internet is just another
  communication medium
• Dont say According to the Internet...

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How to write

• Ask problem-structuring questions
• Whats the problem?
• Why is it a problem?
• What are the causes?
• How can we solve this problem?
• If dealing with research
• What has been researched?
• Why has it been researched?
• What method has been used?
• Results?
• What were the conclusions?

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How to write

• Making an evaluation, review
• What?
• What are relevant elements?
• - aspects?
• Are they in balance or not?
• How could the negative image be transformed?
• A governmental rule/law
• What?
• Why do we need this rule, law?
• How will it be practicised
• What are the effects of this law?

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How to write

• Whats the core of your article?
• Find a good heading
• Write an intro lead
• Remember the webwriting rules!

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Different status of the user/reader

• Different status of the reader/user

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Different status of the user/reader

• Remember Dan Gillmor
• We Started with Old Media
• We added New Media
• Then we added We Media
• Making the News is now possible for anyone

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Different status of the user/reader

• Yes, some are journalism
• Some are not
• That debate is endless
• And pointless

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Different status of the user/reader

• Journalism has been a lecture
• We say, This is the news.
• You buy what we sell
• (Or you dont)
• Gatekeepers

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Different status user/reader

• Journalism becomes a conversation
• We tell you what we have learned.
• You tell us if you think we are correct.
• Then we discuss it.
• We can fact-check your ass -- Ken Layne

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Different status of the user/reader

• More easy to publish
• CMS
• Mobility
• Digital cameras, etc.
• Text SMS etc.
• Write on the Web
• Radio, Moveable Type, Blogger, Etc.
• Audio
• Video

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Different status user/reader

• Main problems
• What is true?
• Who is credible?

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Expectations of the on line journalists

• Flemish online journalists (74) are convinced
  that online journalism is a distinct form of
  journalism
• ? online journalism is complementary to
  traditional journalism
• BUT can distinguish itself by using the added
  values of the Internet
• interactivity
• hypertext
• multimedia

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Sources

• Swennen, G, Powerpoint Communicatie 2e jaar,
  C-md, 2004.
• Paulissen, S, Journalistiek_at_internet.be,
  doctoraatsscritptie,Gent, 2003.
• Gillmor, D, We the Media, 2004.
• Insites, BIM 2004.
• Bouwmand, H, Communicatie in de
  informatiesamenleving, Lemma, 2001.
• Various ideas on weblogs
• Jill Walker
• Internetjournalist
• Cyberjournalist

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Sources

• http//www.nixlog.com/infographics/
• Lezing Steve Doig, Brussel.

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• PRAAT NOG OVER het gebruik van hypertext en
  multimedia enz.
• Gebruiken ze het wel?
• Hoe?
• Zie studie paulissen uit Journal of Mediated Comm
• Ook gebruikerskant van on line journalistiek