Journalism in a Web 2.0 World

Perhaps the best thing to happen to the current journalism field is the emergence of Web 2.0. This is a far cry from Web 1.0, which was characterized by simply linking webpages with hyperlinks. Web 2.0 and its emphasis on social media/web has brought about new avenues of news gathering for today’s journalists. Social media provide new outlets for readers to contribute to stories and to also break news themselves.

As mentioned before, social media is now playing a large role in the news industry. For the first time, readers of online publications have the ability to comment on a story immediately after it is published. Web 2.0 also allows writers to edit their stories any time they wish. By utilizing such Web 2.0 features like blogs and Twitter, reporters are now able to reach their audiences faster, more accurately and virtually anytime they wish. I’ll touch on Twitter more later.

One of the big differences between Web 1.0 & 2.0 is timeliness. I mentioned before that journalists today have the ability to edit stories after they’re published and can also report stories faster. Take newspapers as an example. In writing for newspapers, journalists are faced with set deadlines and a sense of finality when they publish their articles. They are not able to go back and edit out a mistake or add more content to the story. If they found an error for example, they’d have to wait until the next day to print a retraction or a corrected article.

Web 2.0 also offers journalists more ways to enhance their audience. Journalists are now able to narrow down their audience and target only the ones that are most beneficial to them. It also gives the reader/user more of a chance to find news that appeals directly to them, instead of having to wade through an entire newspaper just to read one section. Users on Twitter, for example, have the ability to follow people and receive updates from them. It is very user-centric as it allows you to choose the people you follow and to not follow/block people when necessary.

Accountability and ethics are two aspects of journalism that are sort of an unknown in regards to how they should be dealt with in a Web 2.0 world. The same basics would still apply, but the new social web devices for news distribution would be somewhat of a foreign concept to journalists. There would (eventually) need to be new legislation regarding online ethics and social media ethics. Writers can be held accountable much in the same ways as Web 1.0 journalists are. Most journalists who use Twitter or Blogs have their professional identity associated with those media, thus enabling an easy way to contact them or report something to them.

With further development of Web 2.0, it is likely that journalism will grow in ways never before imagined. Users will play an integral role as both the consumer and in some cases the distributor of news as well. Users will also integrate themselves more and will continue to assist professional journalists in their quest to adapt to this new online medium.

A Clear and Present Danger (not Harrison Ford)

From today's lecture, here's a closer look at the case Schenck v. United States from all the way back in 1919.

This case involved Charles Schenck, who was the Secretary of the Socialist Party of America in 1917. Schenck was responsible for printing, distributing, and mailing leaflets that stated his party’s opposition to the draft during World War I. The leaflets were opposed to the draft and urged readers to “do not submit to intimidation” and compared the draft to an act of involuntary servitude. Schenck was subsequently indicted and convicted of violating the Espionage Act of 1917.

This decision was soon after met with an appeal by Schenck. He took his case to the Supreme Court, claiming that his First Amendment rights had been violated. The Supreme Court eventually ruled against Schenck (who would go on to spend 6 months in jail), stating that his conviction was constitutional due to the First Amendment not giving protection to speech that encouraged insubordination.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, the majority opinion in this case, set forward the “clear and present danger” test.  He wrote, “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.” According to Holmes, words that “are of such a nature to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.”

 

Observing Online and Print Journalism

We were given the task today to pick an article out of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and see how it compared to its online version. A daunting task indeed.

I lucked out with the story I picked. It sort of simplified the entire process. The reason being, is that both versions are the same. Identical. Even down to the caption on the picture.  The only difference I could find was a missing sub header on the print version, that was nowhere to be found on stltoday.com.

There was a difference in the titles of the two versions, with the print version sporting a mere two words. This is understandable seeing as how space is limited on a newspaper page.

Sidebars were present online, with multiple links to videos that related in someway to Game 2. On the opposite sidebar, you can find a link to posts on the website's forum, most popular/read stories, and a small calendar widget.

The fun of linking webpages

Our project for today was to create three html pages and link the three to one another. I wasn't completely sure how to begin, but my first step was to create one page with the appropriate DIV inside it, then save it three times to give me my three identical pages.

After I had all three created, I started on my links. I did something similar to the one we made in class which was the three links divided by a line. I linked the appropriate text to the appropriate page and was done with that step.

Next up, was my .css page. This confused me with the border and font specifications. I was not sure if I had input the correct code for the color and font size.

Finally after linking them all together, I think I have it right, or at least the majority. The color turned out correct, so that might mean I did it correctly after all.

What is this, I don't even...

Hey there, first time blogger, long time reader.

Not sure I have anything that is worthy of blogging about, but we'll see how this goes.

So good luck keeping up and following along.  I'll be sure and try to keep my rambling as ADD-free as I can.

No promises though.