Week 11a - Internet & Journalism

How Internet Is Shaping Digital Journalism?

Digital technology presents an often bewildering array of choices for journalists – producing slideshows and video, joining social networks and blogging.

For news organizations, Web 2.0 is all about engaging people on blogs, online forums and social networks, promoting user generated content and providing more personalized content for mobile devices such as cellphones and tablets.

1. Blogs
 

The rise of weblogs in the early 2000s helped define the concept of Web 2.0. Blogging is a form of publishing content online, and making such publishing is very easy even for any average person.

As blogs gained widespread public adoption in the mid 2000s, more and more media companies embraced them. Columnists and reporters set up personal blogs, usually on their beats, and some news organizations began hosting blogs by members of the public or linking to popular blogs in their coverage areas.

2. Comment on News Stories

One of the most basic ways that a news organization can engage people is to provide a way for them to comment on and discuss news stories on the website and postings to staff weblogs.

Newspapers and magazines have allowed public comment in the form of letters to the editor.

But online comments are as much about people communicating and interacting with each other, as they are just reacting to a reporter’s story. It is a way of engaging people in a conversation about the news and recognizing that a story does not end with its publication, but rather is a starting point for generating commentary and contributions by the public.

3. Online Forums

Besides commenting on individual stories, many news organizations provide online forums or discussion boards where people can start conversations and post comments. 

Forums allow more control by users because they can pick the topics they want to discuss, rather than just responding to a news story.

4. Social Media

For journalists and news organizations, social networks provide an opportunity for connecting with people, distributing news stories and complementing news coverage with feeds from social media.

Reporters can join the networks, converse with people and showcase their stories. It’s yet another way for reporters to develop personal brands for their work.

News organizations can create their own pages on social networks, such as a fan page on Facebook, and use that to alert people to important news stories the news organization has published or post other items of interest to its followers.

Future of Digital Journalism

I strongly believe that by the year of 2020, all news will go digital and the percentage for print media will decrease drastically. However, we are still unclear how Web 3.0 or even Web 4.0 will surprise us. Maybe at that point of time, instead of leaving written comment and text, we might be able to interact face-to-face with the news reporters through hologram devices.