The Online Realm

For my presentation week the way in which journalists have come to adapt to new media and taken it on board was examined. My part of this was looking specifically at online news and how journalists have taken on this online realm.

It has become clear that the move to online is inevitable, and that journalists must now break out of their traditional reporting methods to adapt to the multimedia style of reporting that online offers. As Susan Tapsall bluntly states "those who fail to accept, adopt and implement the technological advances to them - such as new converged electronic forms of news gathering and publication - are viewed as luddites, attempting to stand in the path of progress." (p. 241, 2008)

While majority of newspapers have embraced it and are now successfully transferring their news to the internet, they must be aware that it is not a simple transfer of information that will allow a successful take on the online realm. As Mark Ingram from Gigaom notes that "the reality is that most newspapers simply don't appreciate how different the online world is when it comes to content. Too many are still labouring under the misapprehension that the Web is just like print,except without all the tree killing - you put your content on there just like it was in the paper version (except maybe you add a link or two, or a video clip) and readers line up to read it, and you go home."

It is more than a transfer to the internet, and in order to be successful newspapers must embrace this, especially in an attempt to offer readers what they want while attempting to maintain quality journalism.

My eyes were also opened up to WikiLeaks which I previously did not have much knowledge on. And as it became clear in the discussion following the presentation that it was an area that intrigued much of the class. I believe that it raises some really interesting ethical and legal questions in the way it gains classified information from within these groups and organisations. On one hand it is clever the way in which they have set it up to be able to gain this information and then hand it on to journalists to put it greater in the public eye, without getting in trouble legally, especially as a member of the public that insight is able to be given into such secretive issues that may impact upon their lives. It is also something that should be handled carefully, and while it may be a great stepping stone for journalists they still will have to complete a lot of their own work to verify all the information given to them, and also sift through it in order to find the information suitable for their news outlet.