The development of online Journalism

The internet satisfies one of the most basic needs of a human being: the need to be heard. It has also made information more accessible and given people a valid medium through which they can voice their opinions.

It is the perfect tool for the post-modern era providing the ability to dispense vast amounts of information to an information hungry audience. An example of the extent of this growing desire for information is evident in Paul Theroux’s book Chicago loop where he informs us that raisins have a mineral-oil glaze on them which causes ‘anal seepage’. Such is the post modernist pursuit for information, however trivial or irrelevant.[1]

But the internet did not start out as venture to satisfy the curiosity of the people: it was initiated in1969 by the US Defence Department Advanced research Projects agency who commissioned Arpanet to research four networked computers. This research was then taken further to develop a communication network which could be used to communicate transparently across multiple networks. This was called the Internetting Project.[2]

The first few interactions of the media with the internet were in 1981-82, by the New York Times, Washington Post and the LA times who experimented with content on Compuserve, which was then an established and leading consumer online service. Consumer online service paved the way for the interactive media of today. Readers could write movie reviews and short stories,[3] and it was the beginnings of an online community.

However it was later that Tim Berners-Lee wrote the program of the World Wide Web: a space where people could freely communicate and share information.

Since one of the main aims of journalism is to share information, the internet is a potent medium, however very underestimated by most big media because they are unsure how it will prove profitable. Nonetheless, with the growing use of the bloggers and the ‘blogosphere’ now the media cannot afford to ignore the audience.

Dissension amongst the Ranks
The audience has now become a big aspect of the media, for a long time the media enjoyed the monopoly as the only purveyor of information but now, given the tools of the internet even the average citizen enjoys this status. This intimidates the big media, when in fact it could empower it further, because of the untapped potential of the internet.

Amongst the many tools the internet offers, it also provides a lot more depth into a story by way of hyperlinks. Newspapers and magazines as mediums have a lot of limitations, like that of space and time. For example once a newspaper is printed out, it is not possible to update information on a particular story, on the same day. However on a website a story could be updated as and when developments happened, satisfying the audience’s demand for information a lot sooner.

Articles on the internet, when optimally used, can also provide a greater amount of reader and writer interaction, an aspect almost non-existent in older mediums. Slate an online magazine has used this to its advantage, through a feature called “The Fray”, where the readers can post their comments or input on the story. Slate actually does take these suggestions into consideration and also acts on some of the suggestions. Not only making the story richer in content, but actually involving the readers and validating their inputs.

Even if the news medium completely ignores the audience, people will find means to be heard, a powerful example is stated in We the media: Senator Trent Lott made a statement on fellow Republican Senator Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday, who was reputed for his racist past, to the effect that America would have been better off had Thurmond won the presidential campaign that focussed on the preservation of segregation.[4] This was an offensive statement, which the media did not react to sufficiently, but the people did not let it go as easily, there were a burst of responses by webbloggers and other online commentators, which gave the story its due importance. As a result of this pressure Lott had to resign as a majority leader.

This was just an example of the power of the internet, which if harnessed effectively by journalists, can have a tremendous impact on the field of journalism. However then arises a threat of a loss of power and exclusivity over news and information, which journalists and the big media have wielded for a very long time. This reluctance to distribute power amongst the people is the major source of their suspicion of webbloggers and the internet.

There is evidently a revolution in the societies all over the world, and the internet is just a medium. In 2001 the people of the Phillipines used mobile phones and PC’s to help bring down the corrupt Filipino government. In the US, republican challenger McCain used the internet for fund-raising and raised over six million dollars through the internet. This is indicative of the power of the people and they are not willing to just be informed - there is growing need for participation.

The extent of the desire to take control of the reins from the powerful few could be seen in South Korea- where the site Ohmynews rocked journalism with an unprecedented concept. It was a news site embodying the spirit of citizen media; here the stories are written by ordinary citizens. It also holds great influence over the people; it has been credited to have helped elect the nation’s current president, Roh Moo Hyun.[5]

Journalists have very little option but to acknowledge the changing face of the field because of the internet. However the transition to the new era of journalism need not be one into which the journalists have to be dragged, screaming in protest. If embraced by journalists, as the audience have; the internet can prove to be just what journalism needs to satisfy the information hungry audience, so they will not need to take matters into their own hands, and ultimately render journalists obsolete. (1001 words)




















[1] Akbar S.Ahmed,2004,Postmodernism and Islam, Routledge, New York
[2] http://mateoy.wordpress.com/
[3] http://mateoy.wordpress.com/
[4] Dan Gillmor,2006, We the Media, O’reilly publication USA
[5] Dan Gillmor,2006, We the Media, O’reilly publication USA