It may be important to the reader of my article to define the forms of journalism and reporting found on the Internet.  It is clear we can easily define two types.  The first is actually reporting where a writer describes the event, outlines the facts, and has his work published in an electronic media format.  This first type can be created solely for the purpose of reading it on the Internet or the article could be submitted to a larger news organization where it is placed in both print and electronic circulation.  The second form of Internet journalism that can be defined is blog journalism.  This second form is rarely circulated in print (though it can be) and should be categorized as mainly opinion and commentary.  Blog journalism should not always be dismissed as pure opinion as many blog articles can be found to produce new facts, but these articles also offer heavy amount of commentary.

Participation in journalism by the general public has become something of a phenomenon in the past few years.  The way major news organizations are today utilizing citizen-journalists to report the news on location seems innovative, but it doesn’t appear terribly different from a reporter using a source to gather news from afar.  For decades, reporters have used wire services and telephones to get the facts from citizens in the vicinity of an event.  By developing networks of remote sources the reporter could choose where to seek a story.

New technology has enabled the citizen to become the reporter.  Large news services can only employ a finite number of reporters.  Aside from the salary costs associated with the employment of a professional reporter, news services pay for logistics, transportation, and equipment costs to place their reporters as close to the event or story as they can get.  Today’s communications technology allows the amateur to record the news in real-time to provide facts to the larger news service.  Considering the way newspaper revenues are dropping this seems to be a resourceful method of reducing the number of reporters to keep on staff.

The quality of mainstream journalism has become something of a concern recently.  http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/051027gordon/  Rich Gordon, suggests that the integrity of the mainstream news organization has been questioned in recent years and cites the example of mainstream news organizations such as The New York Times and Dan Rather’s report on President as being debunked or exposed as fraudulent or inaccurate reporting.  Gordon assesses that the future of journalism is bright and makes this judgment based on the diversity of new writers and publications, the ability of new technology to expose to new audiences, the opportunity to choose the news and information that suits the author.  It remains to be seen if Internet journalism can step-up to the public service role that newspapers have traditionally filled for that past eighty years, but Gordon’s article certainly shed light on interesting aspects.

charles_faulkner_713_fa07_essay

I decided to write a paper on the newspaper and how it holds up against the Internet news and citizen journalism.  This is a very complex subject.  I took great pains not to trample on the idea that there was nothing the Internet could do a newspaper wouldn’t be able to do better.  I wouldn’t say that’s hard, but there are striking differences between Internet news and print news.  I found that the resources and connectivity of traditional media are far superior to independent media.  Duh.  I know that’s not terribly academic, but the truth is I found it hard to see how independent citizen media would be able to organize against traditional media’s power.

I started this research project by concentrating on the battle between newspapers and online journalism.  I found that in the course of my research, a debate over which one would survive would not be very interesting.  I feel most America readers of news and information are likely to read lots of newspapers and lots of internet news services and blogs.  I started reading quite a bit about the future of newspaper.  I was fascinated by the idea suggested by Rupert Murdoch that newspapers would continue to flourish in the future.  That let me to learn more about blogs, citizen journalism, and internet journalism.  I felt it would be unfair to pursue an argument where I suggested that internet journalism had little merit.

I looked at a lot of journalism websites that I didn’t even know existed.  I also found there were several blogs on this subject that were helpful to my understanding of the issue.  American Journalism Review and the State of the Media sites were of greatest benefit and influence.

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The global communication issue that concerns me is the ability of an entity to use information it collects on consumers for marketing purposes.  Take for example the trip you take to the mall where you purchase a new shirt.  The sales clerk takes your method of payment, but also asks for either your email address or phone number.  During my wife’s recent pregnancy, I noticed almost all the maternity stores in the mall practiced some form of information gathering.  The results of both collection practices results in all sorts of media delivered to you in print and electronic format.  After your visit or purchase you can expect to receive magazine subscription offers, clothing catalogs, coupon books, surveys from your favorite stores, and more.  When we register for an e-mail address we ultimately receive SPAM.  Sometimes we receive these unwanted marketing messages because we signed-up for some information program, but in many cases an algorithm program is employed to send out massive emails to match your specific email address.  The newest example is the text message from a marketer associated with the recently dialed toll-free number or business.

The advent of email, mobile devices, and networked computers means that our personal information is collected by corporations, companies, stores, or other marketing databases.  We must also consider how easily this information is provided by the consumer and evaluate how the convenience of the information age compels us to hand over our private information without forethought, suspicion, or concern.  For example, if the clerk at the clothing store while processing your purchase asks for your phone number do you give it to them?  Would you give this information to a stranger?  What authority does the store clerk hold that makes us hand over the digits?  Because of the development of electronic shopping, online banking, and similar business affiliated programs, the population has grown accustomed to handing over personal information for identification purposes.  Quite often the last four numbers of your social security number, birthdate, email address, or phone numbers are required to access passwords, log in to a secure site, or to register for a program.  As we have grown accustomed to these mass communication technologies, we seem to have become oblivious to the threats to our own privacy.

It’s easy to see why groups want this information.  They can track your purchases, estimate sales trends, or determine if you are attempting to return merchandise fraudulently.  Many websites work collaboratively with other businesses to advertise their products and will co-register you into an allied company’s database.  Careerbuilder.com , a website that serves job seekers, offers the opportunity for you to receive information from the University of Phoenix before you can post a resume online.  Surely the practice of collaborative marketing is successful and lucrative.  The concern though that we are unknowingly turning over our personal information would suggest that we are victims of exploitation.  Business will begin to employ new schemes and technologies to market their products, as the public learns to employ anti-SPAM and related filtering technologies.  We should be concerned about the lengths entities will go to in order to sell their products orsell your information. 

How do we better safeguard our personal information?  How do marketing companies share personal information and how do they obtain it?  What efforts are companies and businesses taking to protect consumer’s information?  How do companies determine if their marketing programs are considered repulsive by the consumer?  What lessons can be learned from the development of SPAM-filtering technologies as they relate to better marketing principles where the consumer desires to be contacted ?

The Consumer Privacy Guide:

http://www.consumerprivacyguide.org/

Code of Conduct for Global Marketing

http://www.promotionworld.com/se/articles/article/081015mobilemarketinggets.html

Federal Trade Commission’s page on Privacy

http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/

Tell-All Checkouts from Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092200782.html

CAS-Online

http://www.cas-online.com/

When using the Internet, one of the most challenging tasks is to select the right search engine to assist you in getting the valuable information that you need.  Search engines have become far more complex over the past several years and the public appears to be relying on few search engines these days.  A quick survey of my office, suggests that when looking for something on the Internet, most of my colleagues use Google.  I suggested they name another search engine, and everyone here said Yahoo!  Check out a list of 100 alternatives from Charles Knight, a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), from 2007:

 http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alternative_search_engines.php 

As Rohit Bahargava points out in his piece about Human Search Engines, people are relying on word-of-mouth and association to filter content to their needs. 

http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2006/01/trendspot_the_r.html

A problem with this sort of behavior is that the most popular may not necessarily serve the needs of the searcher.  What is more of a problem, however, is the suggestion that celebrities and popular preference seem to be making content selection more difficult, but they limit the ability of a researcher to perform logical search.  Is it possible that with enough resources a developer could manipulate popular culture streams to market his information (no matter how accurate) using highly charismatic spokesmen?  I suppose in someway I simply described marketing.  With more people relying on the internet for their information using limited search engines, the ability to manipulate content searches seems more likely if the searcher is relying on a trusted source.  Traditionally these sources were academia, editorial boards, etc.  If the trusted sources are now the marketing managers in New York, Chicago, London, and Los Angeles, we appear to be in trouble.

I have added FIVE other weblogs/news sites that I regularly read and I would hope you enjoy them too:

http://www.drudgereport.com/   Matt Drudge is an Internet muckraker who seems to find sensational stories.  He seems to lean politically to the right, but he’s based in California so it’s too hard to say.  I enjoy his site ability to link to the major news outlets and columnists, plus useful, interesting sights like the weather service or the earthquake report.

http://www.wikipedia.com/  I know, I know- but I really enjoy heading to Wiki to get a quick reference, or find out what happened on this day in history.  Sometimes, I find myself clicking between subjects as random as Ghengis Khan to arachniphobia to hula hoops.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/ I always like to read the news when it’s spelled with words like “centre” and “favourable”.  The reliable bbc seems to cover international news much better than the majority of major U.S. news services.

http://news.google.com/ Google is sort of a favorite for all.  I like it because it’s always updated and doesn’t seem to push featured news stories that the other sites push.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/  Australia’s best online news service.  It a great way to stay connected to Oz when you are north of Queensland or worse.

For whatever reason, I have failed at my attempts at blogrolling.  With fresh enthusiasm, I have renewed my efforts to blogroll and provide links to various blogs and sites.  I am now attempting to provide a link to my fellow journalism classmates:

http://kennedy713.wordpress.com (Far Audience)

http://klowrance.wordpress.com (KLowrance Wants You To..)

http://etritter.wordpress.com/ (Lost and Found)

http://bettydishman.wordpress.com/ (The Emergence of Transpartisanship in American Politics)

http://web.me.com/khathaway/descriptiveeye/ (Descriptive Eye)

http://randyburton.wordpress.com/ (Players and Pickers)

http://socraticquestions.wordpress.com/ (Socratic Questions)

http://photoethics.wordpress.com/ (Photo Ethics)

http://mywritevoice.wordpress.com/ (My Write Voice)

http://www.relativecare.wordpress.com (Relative Care)

http://www.windsun.wordpress.com (Healthy Habits)

http://politicalblogblog.wordpress.com/ (Dick Barron’s Political Blogblog)

I start this blog as a requirement for a journalism course.  In my preamble to the blog, I explored some concerns about online publishing and the consequences of the blog content as posted online.  I know about a number of cases where individuals have reported, opined, or written things that have come back to haunt them.  For the purposes of my journalism course, I shall explore examples, occurrences, and topics that deal with the publishing of media content and the result of publishing and reporting without regard to exercising common sense. I intend to explore all facets of the media but will place an emphasis on the content of blogs, posted media, and social networking websites.  I want to know if we can define common sense guidelines or establish rules that should be followed when publishing in the public forum.  Think before you speak is a saying that most are familiar with.  Well why should this saying or concept be ignored when commenting about the news or a particular event online?  In an interactive world where individuals are empowered to write and say anything they want, what limits should be considered to prohibit statements that outrage and offend.  On the other hand, why is it necessary to ever regulated speech and why would someone even consider constraints?  I have always had good instincts of understanding public opinion, but I cannot claim any specialized education with good judgment. I do hold plenty of experience though. Opinion is always changing and individuals are always under the influence of others.  I will try to offer a unique perspective on these themes and hope that you will enjoy what I have to offer. 

Research keywords and phrases: “unethical blogging,” “bad taste,” “poor judgment,” “outrage,” “good judgment,” “controversial remarks,” “offensive blogging,” “controversial blogging,” “social networking dangers,” or “ethical blogs.”Things people put on the internet of my research theme:

http://bloggingwithoutablog.com/those-are-fighting-words/

http://jaypeeonline.net/blogging/unethical-blogging-or-freedom-of-speech/

http://www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200701/pij_01_02_07a.html

http://web.pacific.edu/x4989.xml

http://tcs.cybertipline.com/knowthedangers7.htm

http://www.newsweek.com/id/118152

A preamble for a blog about how blogging is changing communication sounds easy enough to do, but what will I blog about?  I’ve always seen myself as innovative, so I would normally want to use the most up-to-date formats, programs, and technologies- but I have decided to go with a set of criteria already provided to me which identifies a standard for weblogs.  But back to what I will write. 

One of the concerns I have about blogging is the very public nature of the blog.  Anyone can see what you write and in fact this is quite different than a diary or personal webspace where only I or trusted contacts can review the writings.  When I write in the blogosphere, I want to ensure that anything I say in the blogosphere will not come back to haunt me down the road.  The free nature of blogging and its fans would have you believe that it’s fair to write almost anything without repercussion.  But I wouldn’t want to write about a topic or provide a viewpoint that would embarrass me, my loved ones, or endanger my career.  I question with blogs, especially with career-minded individuals, if it should become necessary to employ the tea party etiquette of not speaking of politics, sex, or religion.  In my experience, I believe that bloggers and those who read blogs want to read and write about sex, politics, and religion, or at least other controversial topics and taboos.

          Now this is not to say that I wouldn’t express my true opinions and write what is on my mind, but I am aware of several individuals who have posted things in the heat of the moment only to have those statements taken out of context or worse used to defame the author.  It is important to recall that as a participant in the blogosphere you as the writer are in many ways participating in the media.  This is especially true when your blog is linked to other blogs and websites that are following a specific agenda.  Many dread to find themselves in situations where they need to withdraw what they have been posted.  Because of this reality, the blogger should maintain some sense of responsibility when writing, so I will have to remember that I don’t want to write something I wouldn’t want to affect me professionally.

Blogging can empower someone to say something they may normally not say publicly, but are unbound to write it.  Blogging gives writers a voice, but free speech is something many in the Western world already have.  Not surprisingly, blogging is on the rise is place were free speech is limited.  Unabashed opinions and language can be effective but if so many are being published across the internet, how is content evaluated.  It would appear to me that popularity is one way blogs and writers are evaluated.  Popular blogs, with their pithy phrases and sarcasm, catch a reader scanning the web.  But we should ask if an author scribes a popular statement or viewpoint, is it the way in which the author communicated the message or simply the message or idea itself that is popular. 

We must also ask why is the blog popular.  Does the writer say things that are unconventional, or is it that the author is empowered to write without regard to editors, officials, or a regulated format.  If the latter then perhaps, the writer’s work is read and consumed not because it’s worthy of reading, but because of the very movement of unconventional writing on blogs promotes the concept of reading underground, unregulated, and unedited perspectives.

What will I write?