Online journalism: internet and issues in the global media assignment

Third, and most important, maintaining integrity in the relationships between Journalists, their sources and their audiences is fundamental to establishing and maintaining the credibility, or believability, of Journalism, the only real value a journalist has. When the integrity of the reporter-correspondences relationship is violated, not only does the individual Journalist suffer, but the credibility of the entire news organization or even institution is damaged. The reporter who gets too close to a source can sometimes fail to ask the tough question, the question that needs to be asked and answered to fully inform the public.

Convergence is transforming the reporter-source relationship, partly by introducing more technology into the equation. The scenario prior to convergence 0 Telephone – to set up interviews 0 Sense of the tone? 0 Fax, teleprompter? Some sources deluge reporters with written communication, including press releases, but most reporters generally disregard or discount this type of communication as public relations. The rise of computer-mediated communication has begun to erode face-to-face and even telephone interviews. When on deadline, reporters may take whatever means they can get to reach a source and that may often be email.

With the rise of email, most reporters who have published their email addresses get deluged with emails from their readers, viewers or listeners. In his book, Digitizing the News, MIT Professor Pablo]. Bouzoukis explains: News in the online environment is what those contributing to its production make of it. News is moving from being mostly Journalist-centered, communicated as a monologue, and primarily local, to also being increasingly audience-centered, part of multiple conversations and micro-local.

With the advent of Google, everyone can broadcast information and everyone can research information across the intellectual universe. The problem is, as it’s always been, determining the bona fide of the data and the merits of the information conveyed. Moreover, reporters must always bear in mind heir main function: to report. They cannot afford to get side-tracked into tangential conversations with readers or sources, or worse, start worrying about the consequences of a story to the extent that they experience reporting paralysis.