Online Journalism
Ehikodi Thelma
Online journalism is journalism as it is practiced online.
Journalism is any non-fiction or documentary narrative that reports or analyzes
facts and events firmly rooted in time (either topical or historical) which are
selected and arranged by reporters, writers, and editors to tell a story from a
particular point of view.
Journalism has traditionally been published in print, presented on
film, and broadcast on television and radio. "Online" includes many
venues. Most prominent is the World Wide Web (www), plus commercial online
information services like America Online. Simple Internet email also plays a
big role. Also important are CD-ROMs (often included with a book) linked to a
web site or other online venue, plus intranets and private dial-up bulletin
board systems. Online journalism can be published in real time, updating
breaking news and events as they happen in telegraph, teletype, radio, and TV.
Just as we gather around the TV or radio, so we can gather and attend real-time
events online in chat rooms and auditorium facilities.
Online journalism takes advantage of shifted time. Online
publications can publish and archive articles for viewing now or later, just as
print, film, or broadcast publications can. It can also include
multimedia elements: text and graphics (newspapers and books), plus sound,
music, motion video, and animation (broadcast radio, TV, film), 3D, etc. Online
journalism is interactive. Hyperlinks represent the primary mechanism for this
interactivity on the Web, linking the
various elements of a lengthy, complex work, introducing multiple points of
view, and adding depth and detail. A work of online journalism can consist of a
hyperlinked set of web pages; these pages can themselves include hyperlinks to other
web sites. Unlike traditional journalism which guides the reader through a
linear narrative, Online journalism lets readers become participants. Readers click
their way through a hyperlinked set of pages. Narrative momentum and a strong
editorial voice pull a reader through a linear narrative. With interactivity,
the online journalist can pre-determine, to a certain extent, the
reader/participant's progress through the material, but manifold navigation
pathways, branching options, and hyperlinks encourage the reader/participant to
continue to explore various narrative threads assembled by the
reporter/writer/editor.
