Dr. Logan's Understanding New Media, explores the growth of the news media outlets, ranging from the traditional newspaper to the popularized Internet and how the two have become a collaborative force to presenting "news" quickly, efficiently and accurately.
What is news? What is information? Is there a distinction?
The online news environment blurs the distinction between news and information; while the traditional newspaper provided the reader with the latest reports of daily events occurring locally, nationally or worldwide, the Internet holds no limitations. Therefore, the online news environment has the ability to incorporate the past into a new genre of generating news, yet is it all newsworthy or merely information?
Rich Gordon, Director of Digital Technology in Education at Northwestern University, states that in order for citizen journalism to be successful, there must be a citizen editor.
What is a citizen editor? According to the article, Understanding New Media, a citizen editor would solicit other people to provide information and encourage interactivity among users.
I agree with Rich Gordon in retrospect to utilizing a citizen editor. Despite the fact that we do have the freedom to post articles, pictures and entries onto the Web for all to see, how does a reader sift through the information and decipher what is credible and not? A citizen editor, trained in the field in Journalism, will be able to take the initiative to promote the site, while educating and encouraging community members to participate by submitting tidbits of information and/or images. The citizen editor will organize the information submitted and enhance the site to promote the concept of citizen journalism.
While reading the article, I was intrigued to better understand the world of citizen journalism. I found the article: The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism by Steve Outing. The article deciphers in-depth the meaning of citizen journalism by exploring blogs, Wikipedia and social networking sites such as Facebook/MySpace.
In the conclusion of the article, Dr. Logan states, "If newspapers can no longer be the first to report breaking because of television, radio and the Internet, then perhaps they should get back to their roots....newspapers were a source of depth, analysis and opinion." This is a great statement and supports my opinion that newspapers are not dying, but rather transforming. Society wants "news" now, therefore utilizing the Web, yet society also enjoys an intellectual piece that involves analysis, so why not pick up the paper?
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