In the course so far we have looked at several readings that address New Information Technologies in relation to journalism and to community. This is a very popular/controversial topic, both within online communities and in the journalism profession (which is its own community). There are many reasons for this, including:
- Mainstream news organizations are losing audience–fewer people read newspapers, watch television news, or listen to radio news.
- More people are turning to the internet as a source of information, community-building, and entertainment.
- News industries are looking for ways to use the internet to remain relevant to audiences.
- Online, people look for more opportunities to interact and “have a voice.”
- Tension among journalism professionals and NIT news amateurs.
Some ideas we will consider today:
- Gatekeeper: When applied to media, the gatekeeper role is one of filtering information for the audience. This can have both positive effects (ensuring only the most reliable information gets to the audience) and negative effects (preventing people from getting useful or important information).
- Professional Journalism (values, standards, division of labor) vs. Amateur/Participatory Journalism.
- Audience: People who “receive” information. Thinking of people who use media as an audience suggests communication goes primarily one way, that there are limited opportunities for interactivity, and that there is a clear hierarchy in media communication.
- Conversation: If we think of media communication as a conversation (a discussion among people), then we tend to focus on how the communication promotes opportunity for people to become part of the conversation.
- Credibility: Authority, believability. Something that we look for in news information sources.
- Community as a shared place and enterprise
- Community around a newspaper vs. community around a website
- Some examples (news and otherwise) of community online:
- neweurasia.net
- The New York Times
- OhMyNews
- The Guardian
- Baristanet
- Craig’s List
- ebay
- YouTube
- hi5
