Online Journalism

Is investigative journalism still alive today even with our current technological advances in social media?

Investigative journalism can be described in many ways: “uncovering the hidden”; “expensive”; “difficult”; “requiring dedication”; “has impact”; “holding power to account”

The hidden

• So does journalism become investigative when that newness involves uncovering the hidden?

I would argue that it is anything that our audience couldn’t see before – it could be a victim’s story, a buried report, 250,000 cables accessible to 2.5 million people, or even information that is publicly available but has not been connected before.

A journalist that is able to uncover the hidden and provide his target audience with a breaking news story is subject to individual perception.

Narrative and authority

• it takes an established media outlet to get official reaction

But this does not mean we need journalists – it means that we need publishers and broadcasters. There is a difference.

Demystification

• If we can swallow our pride long enough to stop debating the membership requirements of who and what can be in ‘our club’ – whether that’s investigative journalism, watchdog journalism, or just ‘journalism’, we might just have time to help those students – and those who can’t afford to be students, or indeed journalists – do it better.

Yesterday I went to a STAR Workshop at GMU to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator CS4. Although I have never used any Adobe software before and it was the first time I have even heard of the program, I signed up for the third level course and expected to ask many, many questions in every step the class would go over.

I have been using GNU Image Manipulating Program (GIMP). A free, what many would say ripped alternative of Adobe Photoshop. However, as I sat in the classroom and opened up the Illustrator, I quickly realized that I was already familiar with the interface, including the tool box with buttons that turn on different cursor functions, layer view, color chooser, etc. Some of shortcuts I got used to from GIMP were different in Illustrator, but for the most part, I never had to ask any beginner questions as the class went along. In yesterday’s class, the instructor Tamara Wilkerson went over how to use gradations and distort effects. It was fascinating to see how a simple copy-and-paste can create a reflection of a coffee cup on table, a distorted image of a logo can be adjusted for its color and gradient to look like a realistic shade, and a hexagon can be modified into a snowflake with 3D effect.

Some of differences I noticed between Illustrator and GIMP were:

• Illustrator uses vectors — direction and magnitude — to coordinate images, compared to how Photoshop and GIMP uses pixels
• Because Illustrator uses vectors, a simple shape can be modified into fascinating artwork as long as your imagination can go
• Artworks can be saved in many conventional formats, including PDF.

With excitation in mind, I ran to the computer store on campus after class to to purchase this awesome Adobe program. However, I was only to be disappointed at the price tag: $199 for a standard package of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat. Instead, I downloaded a free alternative, InkScape later that night to review some of techniques.

“Journalism needs to find new benefits from new marketing strategies and measurement tactics.”

Briggs’ last chapter in JournalismNext focuses in on “the fundamentals of building an audience online”:

• Tracking one’s content
• Web analysts
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Effective headline writing for the Web
• Distribution through social media

Our author begins by pointing out that “management consultants will tell you that ‘what gets measured gets changed,’” but that “in recent years some have also said ‘what gets measured gets done.’”

As a result, “newsrooms now track and measure everything they do.”

Tracking everything that one publishes (and setting benchmarks on a case-by-case basis) is crucial, but tracking one’s audience (using Web analytics softwares such as Google Analytics.

Briggs then dives into the main functions of SEO for journalists:

• Spiders and robots
• Indexing
• Queries

When writing effective headlines:

• Make sure to write it for both online readers — readers and robots
• Make good headlines better by improving keywords, trying to use more conversational language and not being afraid to inject a little attitude

Overall, in this last chapter, I took out a lot of information that I felt should be remembered as well as information that I found interesting (SEO functions).

When you view a news story online, you typically expect to see either pictures or video accompanying the story. But you don’t typically find audio accompanying those stories.

“Somehow audio has been considered the ‘invisible’ medium,” said Karin Hogh, a podcast expert. “However, if done right, audio can be as powerful in journalism as written articles or even TV and video.”

I think the reason for this is that people are more willing to take time to watch a video or look at photos than listen to audio, because when you listen to audio you have the ability to do something else, and then your focus isn’t 100 percent on the audio.

Here’s why audio journalism is important, according to Hogh:

• Presence: Being on the scene can bring readers to the story.
• Emotions: Tone, expressions, etc can enhance the story.
• Atmosphere: Natural sound helps pull the listener closer to the scene.

Most audio journalism has these basic ingredients:

• Interviews and voice-overs
• Natural or environmental sound
• Imported sound clips, including music

Here’s NPR’s Guide to Audio Journalism and Production.

Here’s how audio can be used:

• Recording interviews
• Doing voice-overs

“Audio journalism is important because it is the dominant form of information distribution on The Next Big Thing in Journalism: mobile journalism,” said Jim Stovall, author of JPROF.

Podcasts used to be an unknown feature on iTunes, but has now escalated into one of the most powerful tools an online journalist can use. Briggs explains how you can create full-featured segments that imitate radio episodes and post them on your blog for your followers.

• Audio Journalism is the next big thing for journalism because it lets you add layers to any story . The editing can be as complicated as you want it to be. Audio can help you build a multidimensional  story by:

1. Presence: The reporter can bring the reader to the scene, and the simple fact of being there boosts credibility.
2. Emotions: The tone of your voice, along with your pauses and intonations, can enhance the story.
3. Atmosphere: The natural sound from the scene pulls the reader in closer.

• Podcasts are pre-recorded audio program that is posted to a website. While they are time consuming, as you should update regularly, it’s great for building an audience on a particular subject.

• NPR or National Public Radio is the biggest online audio journalism site today, and its success comes from the reporters. They bring familiarity and engage their listeners.

*Lots of major news sites are jumping on the audio clip bandwagon: CNN, BBC, Fox News and The New York Times.

*Want tips on starting a podcast? Click HERE.

Audio journalism from Edward R. Murrow. 1945.   Sounds are a bit like smells. Just like a scent can transport you to your childhood, so can a certain sound transport you to another place. In Chapter 6 of “JournalismNext” Mark Briggs argues that as a reporting tool, audio deserves another look. “Audio journalism is about [...]

Being prepared by having some kind of mobile technology with you at all times is key to being a successful journalist and capturing news right as it happens.

Because of the development in technology over the past few years, all a journalist needs at bare minimum is a cell phone. But that cell phone needs to have a good quality camera and access to the Internet. With those tools, a journalist can capture breaking news and at least flesh out their story while on the scene and then refine when they get back to their desk or computer.

Using mobile technology is critical to almost every kind of reporting:

• Criminal and civil trials
• Important speeches or announcements by public officials, celebrities, sports figures and business leaders
• Breaking news events, including fires, shootings, natural disasters, plane crash crashes and car accidents that back up traffic
• Public gatherings like protests and political rallies
• Sporting events
• Grand openings

If you want to be a hardcore, mobile journalist, Briggs recommends a combination of these tools:

• A laptop (preferably a netbook)
• A camera
• A video camera
• A tripod
• An audio recorder
• Headphones
• A microphone
• A cell phone

When I cover high school sports, I carry my digital camera to take plenty of pictures, my voice recorder to gather quotes and my cell phone to post updates on Twitter.

No longer is it OK to just carry a notepad and record notes. As journalists in this new era, we have to get accustomed to using new technology every day and progress with its new developments.