Monday, April 10
Weblog Post #15 - Net news 'on the road' to your home
"On the Road" is an interesting article about a reporter named Jim Axelford who, during the time when Hurricane Katrina and its devastation were garnering the most air time on news shows, traveled cross-country to see how rising gas prices were affecting Americans.
The article doesn't touch on what he found on his NY-to-San Francisco trip, but rather its main topic is about how he did it.
Axelford, who claims he has trouble programming his VCR, and his Dodge Caravan, were a moving newsroom. Equipped with wireless Internet access, a digital video camera, a cell phone and text-messaging technologies, Axelford was able to post text and video blogs, contact local and national radio stations and file reports for the CBS Evening News.
"WOW!"
That is pretty amazing. Axelford said he is able to receive feedback to his blog posts, which give him future story ideas and he rightfully calls this brand of reporting a "conversation, not a soliloquy."
Imagine the possibilities...
I have always been skeptical of how people treat and receive Internet news and as a journalist, I can see this "mainlining journalism" going both ways.
The Good
If you are a writer, the idea of posting half-baked story ideas and letting others shape them for you before it goes to print is a dream. You get just about all the credit and in the end, you probably get a better story and isn't a better story what it's all about?
Axelrod mentions how nice it is to not worry about filing reports with time and space limits. This is a huge benefit of Internet news. As a reporter, one of the most aggravating things is when an editor cuts out part of your story for space reasons.
In the end, having this type of technology will always be beneficial to journalism. The possibilities appear to be endless when it comes to up-to-date, on the scene reporting.
Even though these new toys can greatly help how in depth our news is, there might be some bad side-effects.
The Bad
How many reporters are going to want to do this? This is driving around in a Dodge Caravan, it's not quite reporting live in Iraq. Of course, the stories will be different but for these technologies to be put to good use, a huge commitment from the reporter has to be made.
As stated above, reporters can post story ideas for readers to polish and shape. This could lead to lazy reporting and unsharpened brain storming. You can't always rely on the public to chime in correctly, if at all, on everything.
More Good
I think this is a great example of how important it is to include some sort of Internet journalism in college curriculums. I remember when I was hired as a news reporter, the editors were glad I knew how to use e-mail...Imagine if I knew how to use a digital video camera.
The article doesn't touch on what he found on his NY-to-San Francisco trip, but rather its main topic is about how he did it.
Axelford, who claims he has trouble programming his VCR, and his Dodge Caravan, were a moving newsroom. Equipped with wireless Internet access, a digital video camera, a cell phone and text-messaging technologies, Axelford was able to post text and video blogs, contact local and national radio stations and file reports for the CBS Evening News.
"WOW!"
That is pretty amazing. Axelford said he is able to receive feedback to his blog posts, which give him future story ideas and he rightfully calls this brand of reporting a "conversation, not a soliloquy."
Imagine the possibilities...
I have always been skeptical of how people treat and receive Internet news and as a journalist, I can see this "mainlining journalism" going both ways.
The Good
If you are a writer, the idea of posting half-baked story ideas and letting others shape them for you before it goes to print is a dream. You get just about all the credit and in the end, you probably get a better story and isn't a better story what it's all about?
Axelrod mentions how nice it is to not worry about filing reports with time and space limits. This is a huge benefit of Internet news. As a reporter, one of the most aggravating things is when an editor cuts out part of your story for space reasons.
In the end, having this type of technology will always be beneficial to journalism. The possibilities appear to be endless when it comes to up-to-date, on the scene reporting.
Even though these new toys can greatly help how in depth our news is, there might be some bad side-effects.
The Bad
How many reporters are going to want to do this? This is driving around in a Dodge Caravan, it's not quite reporting live in Iraq. Of course, the stories will be different but for these technologies to be put to good use, a huge commitment from the reporter has to be made.
As stated above, reporters can post story ideas for readers to polish and shape. This could lead to lazy reporting and unsharpened brain storming. You can't always rely on the public to chime in correctly, if at all, on everything.
More Good
I think this is a great example of how important it is to include some sort of Internet journalism in college curriculums. I remember when I was hired as a news reporter, the editors were glad I knew how to use e-mail...Imagine if I knew how to use a digital video camera.
# posted by Jonathan : 7:29 PM
