The station WKRN found a story they wanted to share with the public. So instead of gathering a news team with reporters and camera crews, they stayed in their studio. But how ever did they get the story?! Well as the Red River was rising and the coast guard was helping people from roof tops, they had their very own camera man, and then they posted the material on youtube. They go reports from citizen journalists and footage from the coast guards very own youtube site. So in hindsight they saved the station a lot of money, and still got the footage they needed. Of course they missed out on having the personal touch to their story, and they didn’t have a reporter on site, but that’s the drawbacks that they accepted.

The youtube clip goes on to advise it’s audience on how to get jobs successfully. They warn that any social networking site you are a member of could be the final say in whether you get the job or not as employers will check your personal accounts. They look at a story about trousers being too low on the waist, but instead on taking opinions from callers, which would have been the traditional route to take, they look at people’s Twitter posts to see what the public think. Times are – a – changing. We better watch what we post, and have our cameras at the ready!

Interactivity on online sites is still considered to be the way forward, and the reason why online sites will be the end of print journalism. Is this just a theory that people believe exists? These videos on The Australian show that people aren’t involving themselves as much as online sites say they are. Are we really stepping into the new generation and embracing the phenomenon, or are we still clinging to our beloved print and text?

When people think of journalism they tend to automatically think of papers, news, RTE 6 o’clock, The Irish Times website e.t.c. It is often forgotten that journalism resides in other places. Granted this may be because there is the stereotype that is difficult to shake that good journalism and good stories simply do not come from magazines. But one thing is for sure, their websites are giving online paper websites a run for their money.

Both National Geographic and Time magazine are excellent examples of what online sites should strive to be. They both offer a range of mulitmedia options, and their interactivity is very inviting. National Geographic has video content containing several different stories, and rotating from story to story to show you what is available. Both magazines have poles on their home pages with questions relating to the audience their magazine attracts. Time also have a link with the option to ad a question yourself. National Geographic have a pole on their page every day with  different question. They also have the option of viewing more questions and commenting on the answers.

We may still be critical of their content, and much of it may not interest us, but they certainly have set the bar for many news sites to strive towards.

“Video use is now central to online publishing” – The Gazette.

The Times Online have a link on the top of their home page to video content. However The Irish Times fall short of it’s British rival. In fact there was no link to video content at all on the home page of The Irish Times. With video content being seen as the future of online journalism, are Irish onine news even competing in the survival of the fittest?

The Irish Independent follows suit of The Irish Times with no video content on it’s home page. It seems to be the less popular online Irish sites such as Breakingnews.ie that seem to be competing with the foreign news sites. Although granted a lot of it’s video content is sports and entertainment, at least it’s something!

The Guardian in particular just seem to really outshine the Irish sites attempts to keep up with the latest technologies. Their video content is split into 16 categories ranging from politics to technology to work and careers. Unless Irish news sites take the inititave to compete to the best of their ability with foreign sites, they look like they could be in danger of losing their readers. When British papers are not only covering Irish stories, but covering them better, how long can they last?

The Daily Express, a British website, also did a story on the pregnant 20 year old with the major difference being that there was no room for interactivity at the end of the story. This is could potentially be damning behaviour as the story holds special significance with the British public, yet Daily Express readers were unable to express their opinions.

This youtube video feed from ITV news has over 3,000 views and over 240 comments. This shows that interactivity works well with video.

Journalism.co.uk, ‘The essential site for journalists.’ It’s tag line sums up what the online site thinks it’s about. It has news feeds, it has expert comments, it has features, lists job opportunities, it even has links to help out free lance journalists letting them advertise online e.t.c. An online site that is fair to say is journalism and journalist friendly. It looks out for the needs of the journalist. 

It also has the latest ‘fads’ or supposed fads such as a link to Twitter, and it is clearly blog friendly with blogs featured from the editor, a link to the ‘best journalism blogs‘ and blogs from ‘young journalists.’ This is interesting as journalists have been wary of blogs, many considering them to be a threat to the profession. Victor Keegan said in an article in The Guardian that ‘blogging is still very much a minority sport.’ If this is still so, then why are online sites dedicated to helping the journalist not only accepting them, but allowing their editor to have one? Is it a case of blogs by journalists, although called blogs, are considered as credible as a news piece? Is the informal, more personal touch of blogs a welcoming new part to news? It’s not blogs, it’s who’s writing them. It’s the sites you find them on, and it’s links to sites that will be judged.

In this article she also said “We’ve clearly hit a point now where we’ve seen the audience migration to the Web accelerate.” She goes on to say that online journalism has enabled new tremendous reporting that could simply not exist without the multidimensional tools that online web sites allow the journalist to use. While there was much praise for online journalism in the article, the expected scepticism had to appear at some stage.

In a survey online journalists conducted they found fears that online journalism that the fundamental values of journalism could be under threat from online reporting. The main concern was that the need for speed was ultimately going to contribute to a loss of accuracy. Of course this will always be a fear, but does it not exist in print papers as well. If the news site is worth looking at then they will not be uploading stories that would not be fit for publication in their print version. Of course there will be the very occasional hiccup like there is in newspapers, but sooner or later people will have to accept that online news sites have the same ethics and moral obligations as newspapers, and those they represent. If you want the facts, be realistic and go to a credible newspaper site. Not some random blogger with radical news you happen to stumble across.

Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, said “The Pulitzer competition reflects the hybrid nature of journalism,” and ”It’s the combination that’s important.” The editor of Slate, David Plotz, said “It’s an overdue acknowledgement that some of the best journalism in the world and in America is being created not for print publication but for places that live entirely on the Web.“

With all the doubts about online journalism, it’s clear that it is slowly winning the hearts of the globe and being eligable to submit material to the Pulitzer Prize is just one more step forward.

On the 19th of April, the next day, the UK version of The Times did a story on Dwyer. They had quotes from Bebo including one from a friend saying ‘RIP Bro’. Instead of the traditional interview with friends and family, they described the man by taking quotes from Dwyer himself about what he liked to do, what he ‘was up to’, and his fears; ‘god damn south American insects.’

The Irish Times lists facts from his Facebook page such as his home town and how many friends he has on the Facebook site. Mongey says ‘In an age where people depend on the internet for their information it seems that it has been taken a step too far.’ Have these journalists gone too far or are they using the sources they have available to them? Are they invading privacy or giving the public what they want? One thing is for sure, online journalists definitely need to exercise caution as the public may not be quite ready for this particular new type of journalism.

In 2002, if we had read in 140 characters that 18 people had been killed in a shooting in Germany, would it have had the same impact on us as the BBC article? Compare the BBC article on the German shooting that killed 18, to the  CNN Twitter update about the Italian earthquake that killed 150. It’s easier to glance at 150 dead in less than 140 characters and move on to other news. The BBC article is about 132 less people and yet the impact is hard hitting.

We’ve already become quite immune to Trocaire, Concern and other ads on TV concerning devastation in Africa. So is Twitter just another step? Or will this path to immunity leave us with little feeling about tragedies and disasters we’ve read?

The time has finally arrived. Only time will tell if this is a positive or negative thing for both journalism and journalists. This article from editorandpublisher.com sees many journalists worst fears come to life. The Washington Times has dedicated a page of it’s paper to citizen journalists, with each day set aside for a particular area of interest of news, or particular area in Washington. For example Mondays are for feature stories from academic circles, while Wednesdays are for stories from the District of Columbia.

John Solomon,the executive editor of the paper, said they came to the decision because the budgets of the newsroom did not allow them to cover the issues of the community to a satisfactory level. Solomon assured his readers that while they are trying new things within the paper, the standards and ethics the paper has will be enforced on the citizen journalist also.