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SODA DIOUM

How has the Birth of the Internet affected Journalism Practices? In this paper I will be investigating how the birth of the internet has affected Journalism and its practices. With particular focus on how the range of Web 2.0 services and tools which are commonly referred to as social media are transforming how journalists enforce traditional Journalism practices. I will also be discussing how convergence has affected practicing journalist and their writing. In Marshall McLuhans works, we learn that every medium presents a different sensory experience to extend the self into the world. It comes as no surprise then that journalisms foundation has begun to change with the latest medium the Internet. (Kaul) The Internet is an uncensored platform that has taken away from what was once saw as traditionalist journalism. With the birth of social of media Blogging has become an avenue that has heavily impacted and transformed journalism practices. It is a catalyst for millions of different voices to be heard; it could be said that blogs have almost redefined the face of journalism and the ideologies surrounding the role of a journalist, as being a journalist is no longer confined to writing for newspaper and magazine outlets. The online environment has for a long time been described as a realm of freedom. As far back as the mid-1990s cyber-libertarian such as John Perry Barlow ( 1996 ) declared in his influential; Declaration of independence of cyberspace; that governments have no sovereignty over. (Siapera & Veglis, 2012). The World Wide Web has given the people the power to have their own perceptions. Bloggers help bridge the gap between the ideologies the media create and what

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SODA DIOUM

views the intended audience create for their own selves as it gives people the opportunity to read an alternative view from what is written in tabloid and broadsheet papers. Particular newspaper outlets are affiliated with certain parties in the government and so what they print is going to be quite bias projecting the news in a way that would put them in the best possible light, whereas bloggers stand on their own. Their words and opinions are not necessarily directly swayed by the government this does not mean their opinions are not bias but due to the straightforward nature of blogging they are more open about their one-sidedness where it seems traditional print media are not always so honest. This has affected journalism practices in the sense that print journalist are now in competition with this online presence that isnt monitored, they do not have the tool of complete freedom of speech; they have to adhere to deadlines and word counts and so the writing is not as completely honest and it could be said that the traditional media are masquerading as objective purveyors of information. (Davies, 2008) Although some of the ethics in Journalism could be questioned, as reporters they have a duty to stick to Traditional Journalistic values such as thoroughness, accuracy, fairness, transparency and objectivity. (College) Within traditional media, writers generally put a lot more time and effort into reporting, editing, and illustrating theyre stories. They go through much iteration before being published and so what is lost in quantity is often made up in quality however these practices are being heavily diminished by the power of the online pen. In journalistic quarters, the freedom afforded by the Internet to anybody with Internet access and writing skills to become a journalist has been celebrated as an outlet however such freedoms have been met with much consternation by many traditional journalists as it is threatening the status of journalism as a practice (Siapera & Veglis, 2012). This is because in
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SODA DIOUM

the unfiltered world of the web people are able to report information that hasnt necessarily been properly researched Bloggers and other types of online reporters have full access and control over what information reach the masses, and no one to answer to, and it seems as these online blogs and articles are ceasing to become reliable tools for information, but instead powerful tools for fraud and manipulation and so stories that are not true or contain the wrong information get put out for audiences which is very damaging to the credibility of journalistic reporting. (Jnr) A recent example of this is an article released by the CREAMBMP blog that stated that Rapper Ja rule recently had left his wife and children for a man that he had met in prison. The article had taken the words that the rappers wife had said in a previous interview with MTV and twisted them to justify this story which was completely falsified. Although this isnt a hard cutting edge news story it just goes to show the internet houses stories such as these which are unethical and a defamation of character which goes against all ethical practices in journalism.

With the ever growing popularity of the Internet as a source of news, live blogging has rapidly become the dominant form for breaking news in particular. It is now a practice in journalism used by almost every single major news organisation on their home pages and it is an online answer to 24/7 television news. Matt Wells editor of the Guardian blogs claims in one of his articles that blogs are the death of journalism as we know it. The Internet has given Live blogs a residence that give them the ability to post significant developments immediately particularly with fast moving stories, whereas In comparison print media you have to do quite a high level of editing and re-editing when it comes to the news article and so the stories are not coming out as quickly.

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SODA DIOUM

Blogs also allow outlets to link out to other coverage; the internet has created an interactive platform that actually includes their audiences with direct comments from Twitter and Facebook. It gives you access to display multimedia (pictures, video and audio) all in one place. So the practices of journalism are being changed and are becoming more innovative and creative due to this. (Wells, 2011) The Web has forced a change in practices outlets have started to reassess how they project news stories to their audiences. It has pushed major print companies to make their content accessible online and with newspapers and magazines becoming more & more obsolete the role of a journalist has become a lot more digitised. The internet has also enforced a change in journalism practices within itself. Live blogging is a relatively new phenomenon, and is growing ever more popular amongst the masses as a form of receiving information. However it too has it flaws that online newspaper and other former print outlets that have digitised are trying to fix if they havent already done so. One of these major problems is the potential for confusion due to the format of this type of reporting. Audiences can sometimes face difficulty it they come across a live blogging stream in the middle of a story particularly when blogging through platforms like twitter that only allow up to 140 characters and so these reports do not come with any background information or much depth. "You are more or less providing readers with raw material rather than telling them a story. You also tend to get swept up in the rush of events, and don't have nearly as much time as you'd like to think about what's happening and make connections, or write any sort of news analysis" (Wells, 2011)
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This is was a comment made by Robert Mackey, who writes live news blogs for the New York Times, although he has an advocate for this kind new age reporting he warns that it is changing Journalism practices as this kind of reporting is more focused on fact giving rather than story telling. The BBC has done is an excellent of example of how they are combatting what could be a considered a lazy a form of journalism and addressing the fact the format of live blogging can be quite confusing for the audience by reformatting its "live page" to include a permanent summary of the latest developments, and an easy link to the latest version of the conventionally written news story. This change in practice displayed by the BBC is one The Guardian is looking to follow as the outlet is now rethinking how it presents its live blogging format too. (Wells, 2011) According to Schnbach, de Waal, and Lauf, it is possible that all traditional newspapers will be gradually replaced by the online versions. Their main advantages are that most of them do not charge for content, they are updated throughout the day, and they are easily accessible and visited.(Schnbach, de Waal, and Lauf, 2005. Their research hypothesis is that the online versions of newspapers do not inform citizens on such a wide range of public issues as the printed ones and the relevant results confirmed this. The use of an online newspaper can enrich person knowledge about current important events, without actually having to go into too much depth about the acquired topic. However, the data depict an interesting exception. People of high education level are informed about public issues through systematic reading of online newspapers. The conclusion is that printed newspapers serve an important function in the setting of public topics: they broaden the horizons of people with limited interests. In contrast, online newspapers form public topics in different ways and affect different groups. (Siapera & Veglis, 2012)
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This is a clear example of how journalism is being affected by the internet as these reports show how practices are being changed and made more simplistic as sometimes the writing in these reports are no longer in as complex as they once were.

Online networks have change Journalism practices even in terms of how journalists research the information needed for the content in their articles. The internet is a network where you can find information on almost any specialist subject. Diminishing the importance of specialisms in journalism, with such quick access to large pools of information any journalist with good general knowledge and common sense can write stories relating to almost any field. The Internet has also become a very Important research tool for journalist because of its ease of use as it offers a vast amount of information in one place however much of the material on the internet may not be considered reliable particularly with sites like Wikipedia that can be edited by anybody. Another reason the internet is not always considered as a reliable source is due to the fact that sites and pages can be deleted without a trace because of this is sometimes questions are raised about the ethics when sourcing stories from the internet particularly when reporting quite controversial matters. (Mathew) The email has opened a massive network for journalist; it is probably one of the most important tools for a journalist in this current era as it has opened up a wider a vista for journalist to contact experts and other sources from around the country and

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even abroad. It is particularly useful in house communication as it is a quick and easy means of communication. It has affected journalism in a way that makes practices a lot simpler as you can contact and seek information from a number of people with just a click of a button. The Internet has forced a technological convergence that has definitely affected journalism practices. Now being able to access the net from your tablet or smartphone media outlets have to adapt their works to fit with the applications and programmes that are made for these technologies. Some traditional news outlets, like the New York Times and the Times of London, have instituted pay walls which is an arrangement whereby access is restricted to users who have paid to subscribe to the site this is to regenerate income that has been lost through the lack of sales of the physical newspapers or magazines. Some outlets like the Christian Science Monitor, have completely stopped publishing print editions altogether and only exist online. Many journalists working in print media have lost their jobs as people now prefer to use technology simply because of the convenience and so their reporting is being replaced by what is called the citizen journalists with platforms like blogs, YouTube, and Twitter. (Kruse) A great example of this is Olympic Diver Tom Daley recently coming out as homosexual through a video put on YouTube where he directly addresses his fans and supporters. News such as this in previous years would have gone straight to gossip and celebrity based magazines however people in the public in eye are now choosing to directly address their audiences through the use of Internet and social media rather than going through journalists.

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Convergence and media mergers means there are fewer journalists remaining, and those left are being asked to do more with less. Reporters today are being given less and less time for real, face-to-face investigative reporting instead interviews are being replaced with online videoing messaging calls such as Skype and emails. The internet is taking away from traditional journalism practices that have uncovered some of the most important stories in journalistic history.

Not only is it taking away from traditional journalism practices but it also has put journalist under pressure as many journalists get assigned to cover the same headlines that dominate online news aggregators such as Sky news. This is because nobody wants to miss out on the 'big story,' and so you have more reporters covering the same topic. The internet has completely changed the face of journalism practices in almost every single aspect. Journalism is not as hard hitting as it once was simply due to the fact the Internet is a fast moving platform and reports have to be created to match the speed of the net otherwise journalist will miss their window of opportunity and so articles are not on detailed as they once were and with the generation of online live blogging audiences choose to use this medium when seeking news because you get the facts as and when they are happening rather than reading something that has been edited and reedited a number of times.

Bibliography
College, U. F. (n.d.). Social Media and Journalism. Retrieved 11 9, 2013, from Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/UCFadvertising/social-media-and-journalism-10970001 Davies, R. (2008). A Symbiotic Relationship Between . 8|Page

SODA DIOUM Jnr, J. T. (n.d.). Unethical practice is threatening journalism. Retrieved 12 07, 13, from eye on ethics: http://www.eyeonethics.org/2008/07/18/unethical-practice-is-threatening-journalism/ Kaul, V. (n.d.). Online journal of communication and media technologies. Retrieved 12 9, 2013, from OJCMT: http://www.ojcmt.net/articles/31/317.pdf Kruse, H. (n.d.). The Internet, Mobile Media, and Journalism: Technologies of News in the 21st Century. Retrieved 12 09, 2013, from aoir: http://ir13.aoir.org/the-internet-mobile-mediaand-journalism-technologies-of-news-in-the-21stcentury/ Mathew, R. (n.d.). Technological advances in journalsm. Retrieved 9 12, 2013, from Cyber Journalist: http://cyberjournalist.org.in/advance.html sahota, m. (2012). the life of melinder. Bham: Soda. Siapera, E., & Veglis, A. (2012). The Handbook of Global Online Journalism. Wiley-Blackwell. Wells, M. (2011, March 28). How live blogging has transformed journalism. Retrieved 12 07, 2013, from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/mar/28/live-bloggingtransforms-journalism

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