BY MBALI TEBELE
Online Journalism
Before identifying different kinds of journalism online, one has to explicitly note that the Internet as it can be considered to be affecting journalism can be discussed here in two ways: the inroads it has made into newsrooms and on desktops of journalists working for all media types in terms of Computer-Assisted Reporting (CAR); and how it has created its own professional type of newswork: online journalism (Deuze, 1999). Using the Internet as a reporting tool for 'traditional' media - all media except the Internet - can be typified as the use and availability of searchable archives, databases and news sources on the Internet by journalists.
Characteristics
The four identified types of online journalism all to some extent utilize the key characteristics (cf. Web publishing paradigms) of the networked computer environment they operate in: hypertextuality, multimediality and interactivity. Each of these three paradigms has its own types in its current status, which I will try to exemplify by looking at the online news situation.
Hypertextuality
The problem with hypertext is, as one of the founding fathers of hypertext Ted Nelson writes, that it creates "a delivery system for separate closed units - a system which allows only embedded links pointing outward" (Nelson, 1999). What one has to realize that texts, interconnected through links - hyperlinks - can refer internally (to other texts within the text's domain) or externally (to texts located elsewhere on the Internet). These are two quite different types of hypertextuality, as one opens up new content, the other in fact leads to a spiraling down of content. If a site only refers to documents to be found on that site, it actually tells us that the 'worldwide' Web does not exist, that only the local documents on that site can and should be interconnected. If one examines how today's news sites apply these concepts, the conclusion has to be pessimistic: few sites actually embed hyperlinks and if they do, it does not integrate their information with the Web, linking more often to pages elsewhere within the branded site or even frame (Jankowski and Van Selm, 2000). But linking and integrating layers of external content - managing and opening up content - is problematic, not in the least because of ownership and copyright infringements.
Multimediality
Web designer Tim Guay has written as early as 1995 about the inherent pitfalls of applying multimedia content to Web sites: "if multimedia is used with no thought as to the reasons why it is being used, or it has poor lay-out or content it can result in a pointless aesthetic fiasco that needlessly hogs bandwidth"(1995: p. 5). Accepting for a moment that bandwidth and copyrights are still two structural factors that impede progress in developing innovative multimedia content, one can observe the problems media companies have to integrate their traditional newsroom with the Web editorial team, let alone reaching out and integrate content (or even 'virtual' newsrooms) with other content providers. This can be understood if one distinguishes multimediality in news sites as a result of convergence of media modalities (where multimedia can be seen as the sum of different media formats), or as a divergent paradigm (where all parts of the site are developed from a multimedia starting point, offering the end-user several ways into and through the site's contents).
Even though very few Web sites are in fact employing multimedia, most of the news sites that do, do so from a convergent perspective (CNN and BBC are good examples). Those who are clearly divergent are often products outside of the mainstream (such as Rockstargames). Several media critics have expressed doubts at the industry's drive to media convergence, claiming that it could be just another way of producing more content with less newspeople (Jenkins, 2001), or that the executive producers of news embrace the new technology but not its potential 'democratizing' features - such as using handheld devices to record not only what the 'traditional' cameras and microphones would, but also sample voices from different constituencies outside the mainstream (Devyatkin, 2001). This reflects the almost 'dual' nature of the multimedia development: on the one hand the sheer technological (cf. hardware) advancements, on the other hand the impact of these technologies on the culture of (online) journalism. Perhaps these two strands of thought should convergence before divergence becomes a viable option for news sites.
Interactivity
Interactive options on Web sites can be subdivided into three types or forms: navigational interactivity (through 'Next Page' and 'Back to Top' buttons or scrolling menubars), functional interactivity (through direct mailto: -links, Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and moderated discussion lists for example), or adaptive interactivity (offering chatrooms and personal customization through 'smart webdesign'; see Guay, 1995). Observing interactive options in news sites, several scholars have noted its sheer absence, or rather the fact that most sites do not develop interactivity beyond functional and navigational levels (Schultz, 1999; Jankowski and Van Selm, 2000; Kenney, Gorelik and Mwangi, 2000). Guay (1995) argues that the most sophisticated level of interactivity is adaptive, meaning that it allows the Web site to adapt itself (ideally in real-time) to the behavior of the visiting surfer. Recent new media consumption research by Shyam Sundar (2000) reveals that the more interactive opportunities websites give to users, the more involved the users will feel about the Web site. Outing (2001) comments that this will work even when surfers do no really use all these interactive 'bells and whistles&'. This suggests a fourth, overall level of interactivity: the perceivedinteractivity of a site.
The next step in our analysis should show to what extent these characteristics could be seen as located throughout the four journalisms online. As this is, like model I, a largely theoretical model, it should be interpreted as to how the journalisms have developed each of these characteristics in general - allowing for exceptions of course.
Immediacy
Immediacy is the quality of bringing into direct and instant involvement with something, giving rise to a sense of urgency or excitement.
The basic concept of immediacy is that it means there is theory, virtually no lag between when information is received or created at a news producer and when the information is passed on to the news consumers. This is possible because of two related features.
First, the information is digital and can be easily moulded continuously and secondly that the information is not distributed as far as web is concerned.
Rather than being pushed out to the audience all the time, the audience should seek up a database that presents the information to the audience. That means the information will not leave the producer entirely unless someone downloads the website and the information can therefore be worked on continuously.
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