5003 presentation
- 1. Are Bloggers Journalists? Trust and Ethics in the online world Vicky Ng z3302536
- 2. Challenges to define‘Journalist’ Information explosion and new mass media technologies challenge the institutional role of journalists. Blurred line between traditional news and opinion, e.g. Talk shows on CNN American comedy shows (as sources of election news) Still, these are operating on a gatekeeping model. (Hayes, Singer & Ceppos, 2007)
- 3. How about Blogs?Blogging does not operate on a gatekeeping model What’s the big deal about blogs? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI&feature=related “ Make the news a two-way street ” Comment, quote and link blogs together etc “… Give people like you the power of the media and create a personal kind of news that appeals a high number of audiences.”
- 4. Are Bloggers Journalists?Attempts to define ‘who is a journalist’ By professional ethics? By professional training? By the content itself? Legal rulings: Bloggers won the recognition as journalists (protected under the California state shield law) in 2006 (Hayes, Singer & Ceppos, 2007)
- 5. The Blogosphere hasbecome a source of news.
- 6. (Source: Pew ResearchCenter, 2010)
- 7. Top 15 newswebsites in 2009 Source: Nielson Analysis, Project for Excellence 2010 40811 Yahoo News 1 Examiner.com CBS Local Stations Group Daily News Online Edition LA Times TheHuffingtonPost.com USATODAY.com Washingtonpost.com ABC NEWS Fox News Google News NYTimes.com CNN.com AOL News MSNBC Digital Network Website 6071 15 6576 14 6889 13 8522 12 9073 11 9311 10 9810 9 10331 8 12650 7 14737 6 18520 5 20739 4 24358 3 35571 2 Unique Audience (000) Rank
- 8. Why do peopletrust blogs? Niche expertise Transparency in motives Transparency in progress Forthrightness about mistakes Source: Lasica, 2004 http://www.ojr.org/ojr/technology/1092267863.php
- 9. Ethics in theonline world No actual code of ethics for bloggers or online journalists to date. In 2007, Poynter Institute did a survey on online ethics. In the questionnaire, it asked online journalists… ‘ How do you address online ethics issues currently ?’ Answers include: "Right now it's a bit of trial and error.” "We deal with them on a case by case, and, frankly, haphazard basis.” "We're making it up as we go, and in the future we'd like to have it all figured out.” (Source: Poynter Institute, 2007) Note: Poynter Institute is a school and resource for journalism in the U.S.
- 10. Tips for writingan ethical blog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g8l6wdjCag
- 11. Bibliography http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g8l6wdjCagHayes, AS, Singer, JB, and Ceppos, J 2007, ‘Shifting Roles, Enduring Values: The Credible Journalist in the Digital Age’, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol. 22, no.4, pp. 262-279 Lasica, JD 2004, ‘Transparency begets trust in the Ever-Expanding Blogosphere’, Online Journalism Review , http://www.ojr.org/ojr/technology/1092267863.php Pew Research Center. (2010, March 1). Understanding the Participatory News Consumer. Retrieved August 12, 2010, from http://www.journalism. org/analysis_report/news_and_internet Poynter Institute http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=117347 Project For Excellence. (2010). Top 20 Websites in 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2010, from http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/online_nielsen.php#online_top20in2009 Wikipedia - “TheHuffingtonPost” http://en. wikipedia .org/wiki/The_Huffington_Post
Editor's Notes
- #5 Professional ethics? But we have seen traditional journalists working for traditional media outlets breached code of ethics Professional Training? But the First Amendement in US protects everyone’s right to publish, not only those who graduate from journalism schools or work for news organizations The content itself? It is a more proper definition. Is the content verifiable? Does it provide factual, reliable, timely and meaningful information? Bloggers are considered journalists if their content fulfill these criterion From the legal perspective, in 2006, there was a legal case in California, in which bloggers won the recognition as journalists as in they are protected under the Califiornia state shield law. The court ruled that the blogger did not need to diclose his sources.
- #7 http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/online_audience.php#online_mostpopular According to a study in the U.S., 5% of people say that Bloggers’ sites are their favorite type of news site.
- #8 Among the top 15 news website in 2009 in the U.S., we can see most of them are either news aggregators like Yahoo News and Google News and also traditional news outlets like the CNN.com or NYTimes.com. However what I want you to take note of is TheHufftingtonPost.com which is ranked the 11th, with more than 9 million unique audience. The HuffingtonPost is an American news website which has over 3,000 bloggers—from politicians and celebrities to academics and policy experts—who contribute in real-time on a wide-range of topics. Contributors include President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Madonna, etc. The HufftingtonPost was named 2nd among the 25 best blogs by Time Magazine in 2009.
- #9 Niche expertise - while newspapers cover everything in the world, a blogger can be an expert in a particular area and have deep knowledge on a specific topic Transparency in motives - Bloggers are not constrained by the institutional framework so they can have more freedom to speak from their heart and be upfront about their subjective approach Transparency in progress - Bloggers link to sources, supporting evidence to build their credibility. Traditional news production are more of a top-down approach. Forthrightness about mistakes - Credible bloggers take responsibility for their mistakes. They post corrected information alongside their original post. However, not many newspaper will do the same. Of course, there are many bloggers who do not blog ethically.
- #10 http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=117347