Online journalism - Important points

1. UNIT 1
Online Journalism

2. Traditional
Journalism
• Traditional journalism—
journalists who convey
messages to the public
through traditional
platforms such as newspapers,
televisions, radios, etc. ... For
instance, newspapers and
radio stations are two
incredibly significant sources
of gaining meaningful
information regarding all
there is to know (e.g. current
events).

3. Online journalism
• Online journalism refers to content created and
distributed online. In other words, this is a type of
journalism which operates via internet.
• Online journalism is publishing of information that is
equivalent to that of its print and broadcast counterparts
(such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television).
• Digital media is a technology-driven and evolving
medium. New innovations, new ideas and concepts are
added to it more frequently than in any other traditional
media. The introduction of mobile telephony has made
access to news a universal phenomenon.

4. HOW ITS GAINING
With a few clicks, you can now access almost the entire world of journalism and its vast
variety of sources along with multimedia materials.
The introduction of technologies such as Mobile, Tab, Laptop etc. has made access to news
a universal phenomenon
In India, there are more
than a billion mobile
phone users with over
389 million having access
to internet on their
handsets. According to a
report by Internet and
Mobile Association of
India (IAMAI, 2017)
These days, more and more people
are using mobile phones and other
gadgets to access news and
multimedia content. For a better
user experience, most media
organizations are making their
websites responsive.
You must have experienced that while trying to
search for any reading material, picture or
video on internet, as you write certain
keywords in the search engine you get results
running into several hundreds of web pages.
This raises an important question - whether the new media can
be seen as a threat to conventional media or not?

5. Digital Journalism vs. Traditional Journalism:
Due to the increasing shortness of time, people are forgetting their habit of reading the daily newspaper with a hot cup of tea or
coffee in the morning. Instead of that, this time shortness gave a boost to digital journalism as people can screen the headlines on
the way or whenever they get time.
Another contributor to the increasing popularity of online journalism is increased usage of the internet, mobile devices, and other
smart devices. 79% of people use mobile devices for surfing and these audiences are targeted by journalists to increase the use of
digital journalism.
Unlike traditional journalism, in which the news gets covered at a specific interval, in its counterpart, the news is published in
real-time. As soon as something happens, it gets covered on online news sites. If not, the news editors are left behind as people
start discussing it on Twitter and similar social media platforms.
Digital journalists relay news on the internet. Thus, they are dependent on web traffic. Thus, journalists and editors need to focus
on keywords and other SEO factors. Unlike this, traditional journalists cover facts in the way they find it preferable. Journalists
do not need to think about SEO factors.
As mentioned earlier, people are heavily using mobile devices for browsing and surfing. Thus, digital journalists need to focus on
catering to customers who are using small screens. Thus, they have to write captivating titles as well as they need to make sure
the story is concise and covered completely. On the other hand, traditional journalists have freedom of writing. In fact, they
usually cover the story with complete detail.
Traditional journalism is limited to certain geographical areas. However, there are no terrestrial restrictions on online journalism.
It can reach all people around the globe.

6. Tools Of Online
Journalism
• Twitter - communicate in 140 characters or less
• Pinterest - social bookmarking/pinning site
• Reddit - post and vote on top posted stories
• Stumbleupon - recommends sites based on interests
• Buzzfeed - shared stories based on interest topics
• Delicious - social bookmarking site
• Friendfeed - “..discover and discuss the interesting stuff
your friends find on the web.”
• Ebby - a fast and accurate automated transcription service
that supports more than 100 languages and dialects
•Commun.it - breaks down relationships with Twitter
followers into categories such as influencers, supporters and
engaged members
•Tumblr - A feature rich and free blog hosting platform
offering professional and fully customizable templates,
bookmarks, photos, mobile apps, and social network
•Google Trends - compare the world’s interest in your
favorite topics
•Google Reader - checks your favorite news sites and blogs
for new content
•Google Docs - allows you to create and share work online

7. TRENDS IN ONLINE
JOURNALISM
• With new technologies in the digital
world cropping up every day along with
the changing desires of users it is
creating new trends in online journalism.
These trends are not only helpful in
tapping more users but also in providing
new experiences to users.
1.Time Shift Journalism
2.Emergence of New Digital
Platforms
3.Web 2.0 is Taking
Lead
4.Publishing Online has
Become Easy

8. Time Shift Journalism
• The days when we waited for re-telecast of a
program on television are over. Similarly, we do not
have to decide for individual recording of some
popular show. Because now in the age of internet, all
we need to do is to search the internet for the content
and watch it at our convenience.
• The reason is simple, now it is time for time shift
journalism or time shift content. Also, the time when
we first encounter an information and finally the time,
we consume it can be different. That is why the tab
like ‘read later’ or ‘watch later’ have become quite
common.
In broadcasting, time shifting is the recording of programming to a storage medium to be
viewed or listened to after the live broadcasting. Typically, this refers to TV programming
but can also refer to radio shows via podcasts.

9. Emergence of New
Digital Platforms
In order to meet the consumers demand, new technologies are
emerging and giving opportunities of new experience of news.
Emergence of several new devices like tablets and smartphones are
becoming very challenging for online journalism
Basically, these new devices are changing the way that we consume
news. Online media houses must be compatible with these changing
technologies. Many media houses are producing new applications to meet
these challenges.

11. Web 2.0 is Taking Lead
Web 2.0 is the new talking point in online media. It enables users to play an
active role in content creation. In the world of web 2.0, content power is not
with media but with the masses. Web 2.0 provides the basic structure of
participation, such as:
Architecture of participation: these are online facilities
for user generated content such as .blogs, and wikis. The
popular website based on web 2.0 is Wikipedia, where
every registered user can contribute/edit/delete the
content as per the existing Wiki community norms
Crowd sourcing: this is a collaborative form of reporting where with the
help of web 2.0 a group of people work together to gather information. Each
contributor researches on a part of the overall piece. By using these facilities
websites following web 2.0 are trying to elicit more participation from its readers.
These websites focus on submission of users, rather than staff reporters or editors.
Such contents are gathered from a variety of online options: blogs, photos,
podcast, video sharing, reviews, forums , etc.

12. Publishing Online has
Become Easy
• Publishing online has become easy with the advent of
many online platforms and new technologies. Publishing
content on blogs and social networking sites has become
very common and popular among youth. On social
networking sites too, the youth are dominating.
• Another new thing which is becoming common among
youth is ‘mobile phone blogging’. This is location based
instant blogging. They use their camera to shoot or click a
photograph and post it instantly, which has made online
journalism more competitive
• Now the success of a website does not only depend on
the quality of its own content but also on the gathering
content online by following online platforms like blogs,
micro blogging websites and social networking websites.

13. Multimedia Packages
• In online journalism, multimedia news packages are
collections of content that go beyond a standard text story.
They can be as simple as a photo gallery of people in the
news, or they can be complex collections of content -- for
example, a newspaper may run a package that includes a
story on municipal salaries in your state, a searchable
database that includes the names, positions and salaries of
everyone on the state payroll, and an interactive map
pinpointing the locations of state retirees with the highest
pensions.
• Multimedia news packages can include text, audio,
video, widgets made in Java or Flash, interactive
databases, interactive maps, user-generated content, and
basically anything else that goes beyond text.
• Multimedia packages have been used in teaching and
learning to reduce face to face teaching and make student
learning more effective A variety of programming
languages and subject areas have been attempted in the
production of such packages,

14. Hyperlink
A hyperlink is anything on a webpage that, when clicked,
takes the user to another part of the Internet. ... We have all
seen the use of the hyperlink within articles – the oftentimes
blue words or phrases that take us to a different page referring
to what was highlighted.
A Hyperlink is a word, phrase or picture on a webpage that you
click on, in order to get another place, allowing your readers
to jump to a new area of content in your communication. What are the benefits of hyperlinks?
•Credibility. Think of it as a new age footnote, whenever you're
naming a source, citing a reference, or referring to another
publication, a hyperlink lets you do it in the body of your
content. ...
•Increases page views. ...
•Improves SEO. ...
•Assists the Call to Action. ...
•Usability.

15. Online Journalism Around the World

16. Personal Journal Security Challenges
https://www.statista.com/statistics/266229/number-of-journalists-killed-since-1995/

17. Applying Journalism ethics to Online
Journalism
1.As a general principle, online journalism must respect all professional ethics and core values of
journalism, irrespective of the forum or format it uses. In particular, information published by online
media must be
• Accurate and fact-based;
• Verified and published without exaggeration;
• Published without intent to do harm to others;
• Inclusive of all relevant points of view and impartial;
• Transparent in origin of content and methods of journalism used. Online journalists and
media should always be aware that the systematic republication of third-party content,
without verifying its veracity, may seriously undermine the integrity and credibility of online
media and journalism, and can lead to violations of intellectual property rights.
What are the ethics of journalism?
So while various codes may have some differences, most share common elements including the
principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability, as
these apply to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the
public.

18. What Is a Content Management System (CMS)?
A content management system, often abbreviated as CMS, is software that helps users create, manage, and modify
content on a website without the need for specialized technical knowledge.
In simpler language, a content management system is a tool that helps you build a website without needing to write all
the code from scratch (or even know how to code at all).
Instead of building your own system for creating web pages, storing images, and other functions, the content
management system handles all that basic infrastructure stuff for you so that you can focus on more forward-facing
parts of your website.

19. To give you an idea of how a content management system works, we’re going to take a whirlwind tour of the WordPress interface
(WordPress is a good example of a content management system).
Let’s start with creating a piece of content. Without a content management system, you’d need to write a static HTML file and
upload it to your server (sounds complicated, right?).
With a content management system like WordPress, you can just write your content in an interface that looks a good bit like
Microsoft Word:
How Does a Content Management System Work?
Similarly, to upload and manage media, like images, you can just browse the media library instead of
needing to actually interact with your web server directly:

20. What Makes up a Content Management System?
On a more technical level, a content management system is made up of two core parts:
• A content management application (CMA) – this is the part that allows you to actually add and manage content on
your site (like you saw above).
• A content delivery application (CDA) – this is the backend, behind-the-scenes process that takes the content you
input in the CMA, stores it properly, and makes it visible to your visitors.
Management Systems?
WordPress, which we showed you above, is the best example of a popular content management system.
While there are certainly other content management systems in existence, WordPress maintains over a
43.0% market share on websites with a known content management system.

21. Beyond the self-hosted WordPress software, other popular content management systems
include:
 Joomla
 Drupal
 Magento (for eCommerce stores)
 Squarespace
 Wix
 TYPO3
There are also lots of other less well-known content management systems that target themselves to large enterprises (with an
expensive price point to match)
What Kinds of Websites Can You Build with Those Content Management Systems?
Most content management systems are pretty flexible nowadays. While there are some that focus on a specific use – like Magento and
eCommerce – most of the popular content management systems can be used to create essentially any type of website.
For example, you can use WordPress to power:
 Static websites
 Blogs
 eCommerce stores
 Forums
 Social networks
 Online courses
 Membership sites
 Portfolios
 Etc.

22. How to Build a Website with a Content Management System
Want to build your own website with a content management system? If so, the general process looks something like
this:
• Purchase web hosting and a domain name
• Install your content management system of choice on your web server
• Configure the content management system to dictate how your site looks and functions
• Start writing content using the content management system’s interface
• It’s actually surprisingly simple. And hosts like Kinsta can even help install the content management system for you
(WordPress, in this case), so you can jump straight into building your site without any technical setup.

23. Content Management System
• A content management system (CMS) is a computer program used by news organizations or individuals to
create, edit, organize, and publish journalistic content. The origins of modern-day CMSs date back to the
process of newsroom computerization that started in the 1960s and to technological developments in web
publishing in the 1990s. The latter have led to the creation of software that allows nontechnical users to easily
publish content on the Web (blogging software and social media platforms).
• Digital technology is a black box wherein lurks the many tensions inherent to contemporary news making.
Opportunities to study such (invisible) infrastructure therefore arise whenever its dysfunctions, and research
has focused on the various problems, obstacles, and impediments brought about by CMSs in news work.
• More specifically, studying the CMS draws attention to issues related to the institutionalization of journalistic
workflows (that become ossified in digital technologies), newsroom technologies constituting a complex
system, the evolution of professional roles and hierarchies (and consequent power relations), as well as the
agency and relative autonomy of software.

24. Search Engine
Optimization
• SEO - or search engine optimization -
is defined by the experts at Moz as
“the practice of increasing the quantity
and quality of traffic to your website
through organic search engine results.”
Basically, it’s optimizing your content to
climb to the top of search engines like
Google. All content that goes on the
web must be optimized to attract the
highest possible visitor numbers, and
with around 3.5 billion
searches happening every day on
Google alone, SEO for journalists must
be a priority when publishing content
online.

25. What are the advantages of SEO for journalists?
SEO for journalists is one of the solutions to adapt the information industry to the changes brought about by the
digital age.
If print journalism is losing space to digital media, you must look for readers and subscribers on the internet.
In the graph below, you can see how the circulation of printed newspapers in the United States has decreased in the
last few decades:
Let’s see what these advantages are!
Visibility
Google’s top positions gather more visibility. Estimates show that only 0.78% of users click links on the
second page of Google results.
Therefore, SEO for journalists helps your website appear on the first page so people can easily find it.
Organic traffic
Google’s top positions are not only the most viewed links — they are also the most clicked ones.
When users click on your link, they join your organic traffic statistics. That means you did not have to
pay for the digital ads or media that made these potential readers reach your website.
Monetizing
When migrating to the digital environment, the journalism segment adopted different ways to monetize its
business, such as webpage advertising and paywalls.
Thus, increasing the number of readers you attract to your website by using SEO, you can also increase
the number of users clicking on the ads on your website or becoming subscribers to your digital
newspaper.
Authority
The links that appear in the first few Google results gain authority in the market.
It’s as if they received a seal of trust from the search engine, which placed those sites at the top because

27. Online Publication Tools
What are publication tools?
Content management systems, blogging software, wikis, and website publishing tools all provide back-end
technology that lets users focus on content. These tools take the content that users submit and publish that
content on a web page. Users don't have to know anything about HTML.