How does Internet shape the future of journalism?

Journalism is associated with the profession of reporting hard and soft facts in newspapers, and magazines. However, with the advent of Internet, journalism has taken a new height combined with more innovation, unpredictability, truth, and participation. Journalism has since branched into a new category called Cyber Journalism. With Internet, the traditional culture of journalism is broken, thus embracing new concepts and changes to the interpretation of journalism.

The first change is the speed in which news can be disseminated. Normally news presented in newspapers and magazines required day/s or even months to be published for the readers. However, Internet operates round the clock. It allows journalist to post the latest news online within second. Furthermore, due to technological advancement, news around the world can also be shared among broadcast companies readily.

Second, the unlimited space for free expression allows journalist to write anything and add in more facts without the need to feel pressured over word or space limitation. For newspapers and magazines, journalists are restricted to the space of the columns that they are assigned to write in.

Third, Internet encourages strong participation. “The concept of participatory or (citizen journalism) proposes that amateur reporters can actually produce their own stories either inside or outside professional media outlets” (wikipedia). According to Szlarski (2006, December 9), citizen journalism is changing the way news is being reported. As ordinary people are allowed to determine the style, the content and what should be in the front page and how the news is to be conveyed.

Fourth, journalists are expected to be more cautious in their writings online. Internet allows cross boundary spreading of news. In such way, any negative and distorted reporting of news can be spread very quickly, which can lead to many undesirable problems if sensitive issues such as race, gender, and politics are not well handed. Indeed, online journalism also encourages non-bias reports because many cyber journalists are in fact freelance or volunteers, meaning not paid to write. In such way, readers can ensure getting truthful news.

The future of journalism will definitely be more exciting. As technology continues to improve, more ways for journalist or even ordinary people to experiment new ways to report news is expected.

Reference

Szklarski, C. (2006, December 9). Citizen journalism: all the ‘news’ that won’t fit in print. The Globe and Mail (Canada), p. A15.

Discuss – “The power and limitations of Internet for political campaigning”

“The internet became an essential part of American politics in 2004. Fully 75 million Americans – 37% of the adult population and 61% of online Americans – used the internet to get political news and information, discuss candidates and debate issues in emails, or participate directly in the political process by volunteering or giving contributions to candidates” (http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/150/report_display.asp). The high participation in Internet political campaigning is not restricted to the Americans only. In fact, many politicians across the world have seen Internet as a powerful tool to reach out to the masses to convey political messages and get support from the public.

The power of Internet for political campaigning is certainly immense. Firstly, the use of Internet allows politicians to reach not only mass audience, but target groups who are the young and Internet savvy people. For example, in the recent Malaysia election, Premier Abdullah Badawi mentioned that it was a 'big mistake' to ignore cyber-campaign as the polls showed that the Barisan Nasional coalition lost five states and a third of parliamentary seats in opposition hands. The reason was because they failed to recognize the fact that young people were more interested in looking at SMS and blogs for political information instead of referring to mainstream media such as print media (http://news.sg.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1306386).

Secondly, Internet is a great platform for politicians to raise donations for the campaigns. According to Schouten (2006), in the U.S, “Retired naval officer Joe Sestak out-raised incumbent Republican Curt Weldon to seize a House seat in suburban Philadelphia — aided by nearly $900,000 in Internet contributions.” When politician makes a compelling speech, voters have the freedom to discuss over forums, blogs and other tools before deciding whether they should continue to support or more donations to the politician. Adding on to the benefit of the Internet is that voters can actually repeat the speech that politician has made to fully understand the points that politician is trying to convey. For example, in the recent U.S election, Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton have many political speeches uploaded to YouTube for voters’ references.

Thirdly, Internet improves the interaction between politicians and the citizens. The people have the liberty to provide suggestions and get feedback from politicians almost instantly and efficiently. As the people feel more involved in the politician campaign, the support towards the politician will improve. Moreover, support for the politician will spread through word of mouth if the politician is able to reach out and listen to what the citizens have to say via web technology.

The Internet may seem powerful and effective in many areas for the politicians to reach out to the masses, gain supports and also to build favorable relationships with the citizens, but it does have its limitations in political campaigning too.

Internet main limitation is that it is hard to control, and misuse of the tool can result in dire consequences. Internet is an open network. Everyone has the freedom to post practically anything online. As such “many sensitive and important issues, up to date information were spread easily by using the web tools such as email, YouTube and so on” (http://theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3249). In this way, negative ideas or messages can be spread easily through the various web tools. For example, Hillary Clinton’s former vice presidential candidate Geraldine A. Ferraro resigned from her position in the finance committee for the democratic presidential campaign because of the offensive remark that she made about democratic opposition Barack Obama’s race. Her speech, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/11/obama-ferraro-race-flap-r_n_91047.html) sparked off a new topic for discussions in many web pages, and certainly up to date there is no positive support towards her snide remark.

Another limitation is that there is no actual report of the political issues. As mentioned that Internet is an open network, everyone has the liberty to voice his/her opinion. Therefore, many conflicting and bias reports can be noted in many web pages. For example, online news reporter who supports Barack Obama would post more favorable reports about him underscoring his positive attributes. However, the objectivity in news is lost. Moreover, in forums, people who are not politically knowledgeable about the subject may provide their bias comments and alter people’s choice of the candidate. Hence, the outcome of an election may be a worrying factor for politician whose message could be distorted in the process of frivolous web based discussions.

Regardless of the limitations, the power of the Internet as a platform for political campaigning is immense. As more people turn in to the Internet for more information, news, and so on, it is definitely a vital tool for politician to rely on.