Thoughts

I was a little hesitant while reading Cohn's article because although I think it is important to give the people what they want instead of trying to force news down their throat, if you pitch ideas right to the people will you end up having all the same stories? I've talked about cognitive dissonance before but I believe this could have a tendency to occur if people were given full editorial freedom in picking stories. However, I did like his idea of using an iterative process, using the feedback from one stage to inform the next step of the process. I definitely would use this in planning and developing my online publication. Korr and Kennedy discussed mostly the value of having links to important, related or contextual information and making it easily available on one's website. I definitely agree with this practice as people do want to know more about certain subjects, or want the chance to learn more, if only they knew where to turn to. On my publication I would always have a sidebar of related and contextual information because I think it more clearly informs the reader. Gannon made me hopeful in that the old journalistic values will not be lost, and that fairness, accuracy and completeness will win over people in the future. I found it interesting though that he did not include objectivity or credibility- which is a huge issue with online publications, comments, bloggers, etc. Still, Gannon requested that his commenters do write their full names, and I definitely agree with this practice. A little accountability never hurt anyone.

Reflections

My thoughts on this set of readings is that blogs are great, but they're not perfect, especially when they're not used well. As Howe pointed out, bloggers don't want to write on subjects about which they are not passionate. They didn't get a degree in journalism. They don't understand that some journalism is down- right boring. Therefore, outlets need to use bloggers correctly- allow them to write on subjects that interest them, for it creates better pieces. Still, on my news publication, taking after what Steele discusses in his article, I will require bloggers to identify themselves and sources that they use. I want the blogs to be credible sources of information. I would still employ an online communications editor to review blogs and question sketchy posts, but at least bringing some accountability to the table will enforce bloggers to think before they write. Indeed the blogging process has completely changed professional journalists, as Bradshaw writes. Besides for the sports journalist- and I'm assuming they have been passed over by the crowd because sports really isn't that subjective, controversial or hard to cover- almost everyone has had to reassess how they should do their job. I was very surprised by Colonel Tribune. It will be the day when Mr.Ms (?) NYTimes friends me on Facebook and wants me to post interesting story leads that I have heard about throughout the day. Still, I see the benefit of providing this outlet. For one thing, it lets the newspaper reach a much younger, untapped generation, and that is always a good thing. I could see my online publication having an identity on some social network. It really wouldn't hurt any to experience with it, though, the person behind the identity would have to continually check itself to make sure it was upholding the strictest ethics behind journalism.

Thoughts on Reading

The last three articles by Kelly and Miel really coincided with my personal beliefs, and it was refreshing to see it written down. Kelly was explaining that even with the exponential rise of citizen journalists and blogs, mainstream (legacy) media are still at the center of discourse and will not be destroyed. I definitely agree with Kelly and Miel that if blogs are giving more voice and diversity to subjects of conversation and bringing about more democracy and engagement then great, but I don't think that this will completely upend traditional journalism. People on the web still need general, well-researched news so they don't keep seeking out stories embracing their opinion. Also Miel pointed out that the blogosphere hasn't exactly proven itself yet. It hasn't gotten into the nitty-gritty, hard journalism that would be required of them if traditional journalists went under. It won't magically happen- it will take hard work. I certainly agree with that standpoint.
As far as for an online news publication, several pointers could be taken from the articles by Jackson and Nicholas. We, as a society, do multitask too often and fragment our attention unconsciously. Most young adults are only getting a constant stream of bite size news, and they get annoyed of all the clutter involved in receiving the news. Nicholas talked about how the Internet, and Google in particular, is dumbing down our generation. There's so much digital choice and pleasure in bouncing around sites while also saving time, that young adults are hardly stopping long enough to obtain any worthwhile knowledge. Therefore, for an online publication I think it's important to not dumb-down the news. We need to put important, talked-about-news on the front page so younger adults can go to that site, read up quickly on important current events and then go. We don't need to win them over by fancy gadgets or visual aids particularly, but just by meaningful news stories that will make them feel better as citizens. The publication has to be unique enough that people actually stop to read it and not just bounce on, and I think a lot of that can come from being neat, uncluttered and to the point.

Ideas about the Reading

Each of these four articles brought up interesting points dealing with the new direction in which journalism is going. I can definitely use certain tips from each article to make an online news publication. For instance, Zuckerman explains how the multitude of choices on the Internet actually can work against readers. Instead of readers searching for the broad international news with their hyperlocal news (because that's possible), they only turn to the news mediums that coincide with their beliefs and preconceptions. Instead of hearing opinions that differ from their own, making them an objective decider of events or issues, readers are polarizing themselves. Since I definitely see this happening more and more everyday, I would make sure that my online news publication identified with no one single party or belief. Each "front page" would hold a variety of stories, featured in at least a few paragraphs before one would have to click the link, to ensure that readers were seeing stories from different perspectives and not just clicking on the story that seems closest to their heart.
Morris convinced me that a major in journalism is indeed money not wasted- a nice change of opinion! Since young people definitely are more digital-savvy I agree that hiring fresh, young journalists who might not be as invested in the old form of journalism is a good idea. They will have insight where veterans won't, and they will understand the necessity of communicating with the readers through web chats, emails or possibly even Facebook? Niles and Mindich, too, reminded me that in my online news publication the writers must break out of the mold of pastime journalism. Yes they still need to be objective, fair and critical, but they need to have passion. They need to write a story that they really care about and want others to care about, and if that means that they can't rip off as many as they used to before deadline, then so be it. On the Internet, it's quality over quantity, in my opinion. Since readers can go anywhere in cyberspace to get more news anyway, they need to have a reason to keep coming back to read my publication. Possibly this way we will engage young people again. Niles wrote about how they don't want to be apart of something fake or sensationalized or formulaic. They want to be apart of something real. Maybe my publication could have a section for middle school children to start getting them involved with the news at an early age. Hopefully they would continue on with their participation and start a new generation of involved people.