Internet + Journalism + Politics

INTERNET+ JOURNALISM = ?

There are 2 options to this equation. Firstly, internet can be seen to boost journalism. With the rise of the internet, it opens many doors in terms where anyone can be a 'journalist' reporting the news and giving their own opinions. Furthermore, instead of waiting for the mass produced reports on news channels, anyone can go to the internet to read updates on anything. There would also be a lower chance of receiving propaganda as news on the internet is not as tightly regulated as it is on news channels, papers and magazines.

Other benefits of internet journalism are that it is faster, cheap and is able to reach out to anyone who has internet access. This also means that anyone can access news on the internet anytime and anywhere.

One example of the internet being faster than the mainstream news is on the crash of Tiger Woods. Apparently, Twitter reported this news 45 minutes before CNN and ESPN!! 10 minutes after Twitter came Google, who displayed the detailed report on where, what time and what happened. Unfortunately, when CNN reported its Breaking News, they only managed to divulge that Tiger Woods was involved in a car accident near his home. NOW, who wouldn't go to the internet for the latest updates?

In my opinion, one of the best benefits of having news on the internet is that we can access old news. News that were reported decades ago. Searching on old news is also so much easier, with a click of a button. One website that i check out is Crime Library, that lists down stories of Serial Killers, Notorious Murders, Gangsters,Terrorists and Controversial stories. There is a whole bank of information waiting to be explored.

The internet can also be the worst foe of journalism. With the benefits of the internet, how can traditional journalism ever compete? Luckily many have decided to incorporate the internet into their practices.

The changes in the workload of journalists ( from a European Digital Survey in 2009):

~40% said that they were expected to increase the content

~14.5%: make videos

~8%: make podcasts

~28%: work longer hours

~29%: had lesser time to research stories in person

~29%: able to focus more on analysis than on reporting news

Overall, 40% of journalists felt that the quality of journalism has improved

In this website: Internet Manifesto it lists down 17 ways how the Internet and Journalism interacts

some are:

1. The Internet is different

~produces different public spheres, different terms of trade and different cultural skills

~media must adapt their work methods to today’s technological reality instead of ignoring or challenging it

2. The Internet is a pocket-sized media empire

~the web rearranges existing media structures by transcending their former boundaries and oligopolies

~publication and dissemination of media contents no longer tied to heavy investments

3. The Internet is our society

~web-based platforms like social networks, Wikipedia or YouTube have become a part of everyday life for the majority of people in the western world

~if media companies want to continue to exist, they must embrace basic forms of social communication: listening and responding

4. The Internet is the victory of information

~today every citizen can set up her own personal news filter while search engines tap into wealths of information of a magnitude never before known

5. The Internet changes improves journalism

~through the Internet, journalism can fulfill its social-educational role in a new way

~presenting information as an ever-changing, continual process; the forfeiture of print media’s inalterability is a benefit

~those who want to survive in this new world of information need a new idealism, new journalistic ideas and a sense of pleasure in exploiting this new potential

6. The net requires networking

~links are connections

~those who do not use them exclude themselves from social discourse

~this also holds for the websites of traditional media companies

7. Today’s freedom of the press means freedom of opinion

~the Internet overrides the technological boundaries between the amateur and professional

~privilege of freedom of the press must hold for anyone who can contribute to the fulfillment of journalistic duties

8. More is more – there is no such thing as too much information

~more information leads to more freedom, both for the individual as well as society as a whole

9. Copyright becomes a civic duty on the Internet

10. What’s on the net stays on the net

~the Internet is lifting journalism to a new qualitative level

~online text, sound and images no longer have to be transient. They remain retrievable, thus building an archive of contemporary history

INTERNET + POLITICS

One of the most known example of internet and politics working hand in hand was during President Obama's Campaign, where he made full use of Youtube's vast, cheap and fast way of interaction. In the website, its showed that there were 22,864,685 channel views and 147,334,726 total upload views. Obama also had 186640 subscribers and 71334 friends.

I also came across an interesting fact regarding the internet being a double edged sword for politics: If a politician fails to deliver his/her promise or changed facts, citizens would use the internet to search for their past speeches to prove the politician wrong.