Students prefer Internet news: study

A recent report from the Carnegie-Knight Task Force at Harvard University has revealed that schools look up to Internet news as a mode of classroom instruction. Excerpt:

Internet-based news is trumping both television news and the daily newspaper as a mode of classroom instruction. Furthermore, national and international news sites, such as nytimes.com and bbc.com, are trumping local news sites in America’s schools. These conclusions stem from a recent national survey of 1,262 social studies, civics, and government teachers, who reported on their use of news in the classroom, including trends in their use of particular media.

For close to a year now, I've been studying my Masters in Journalism through an online medium of instruction. So far, learning and interaction are a lot better especially for working professionals like me. Online education or e-learning combined with traditional methods of teaching is increasingly being introduced in undergraduate schools. This recent survey shows students prefer to get their dose of news from the Internet, which is a lot more convenient and interactive. From my own experience, e-learning still requires discipline on the student's part. You still have to actively participate in discussions (through discussion boards), online chats, and group work. So it is really important that Philippine government should connect more schools to the Internet. I think once they're connected, students will find learning a lot more interesting.

Week 7: On-the-go journalism and web 2.0

When bombs went off in Mumbai, the first thing I did was go to Flickr (click photo to see more) and YouTube to check photos and videos taken by people who might have witnessed it. These popular social networking websites now allow people to capture history. In today’s wired world, the unfolding of events can be documented almost instantaneously with technology. But can we describe this practice journalism?

Armed with a phone camera, I have been taking snapshots of events/people while on field since last year. But due to frustrating speeds of sending photos via today’s local mobile network, I still download these photos onto a PC before sending it to my editors. Perhaps this is the first step towards mobile journalism. (Also listen to the short podcast I did).

Mobile journalism involves Internet technology and telecommunications. Both are modern tools for delivering news on-the-fly. When I started working for an online publication six years ago, the standing order was to: “write for today and not tomorrow.” Today, that has changed to: “break the story now and add photos, videos and audio quickly.” Sounds like a lot of work? Yes it does. But since the Internet is multimedia, people expect more from journalists (who do not necessarily work for the online medium) to also produce photos, videos and audio. Mainstream media is now looking at hiring younger and more tech-savvy journalists to cover news because they understand readers' behavior today.

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a blogger observed how fellow bloggers attending this big event have become source of “scoops” and “inside information.” Not every journalist could cover this event alone. But they have provided "just in time" information for mainstream media. He called it “instant journalism.” I simply call them “leads.”

Week 6: CJ is still journalism gone hi-tech.

I recently had a brief online exchange with a colleague on how bloggers and journalist would soon become "one." He disagreed, stressing bloggers and journalists have clashing values. Journalists follow established standards, while bloggers don’t. But in countries where media is censored, blogs have only been the means to do “citizen” journalism.

Citizen journalism is an idea that can be broken down further to understand what it is. Journalism is a "profession," for some a vocation. This title has often been given to people who work for media organizations. Their role is to deliver news that hopes to help citizens make better and more informed decisions.But the act of doing journalism does not necessarily mean one has to be employed in a newspaper.

With the Internet and blogs, regular people are now empowered to do journalism. That is if they follow the ethical "standards" of thoroughness, accuracy, fairness, transparency and independence.

Dan Gillmor says it best: “Technology has given us a communications toolkit that allows anyone to become a journalist at little cost and in theory with global reach. Nothing like this has ever been remotely possible before.”

But to quote Spiderman: “With power comes great responsibility.”

I believe citizen journalism is journalism the way it was, or the way it should be. Citizens now have been given back the power not only to consume but also “pro-duce” news, as Gillmor puts it.

What blogs have done to journalism is make citizens part of the news process. Bloggers won't replace journalists. But both will be working together in the future to deliver a better version of the news. Call this the future of journalism. But I would simply call it journalism with stress on the citizens.

Newspapers can't predict their future

This is not a required post, but I just want to share this with the rest of the class.

I picked up this story from The Editors Weblog. The headline says, "Newspaper executives can't predict future of industry." Indeed, it is also conventional wisdom now to think that the Internet is causing the "death of newspapers." But there is more to this ongoing trend. (Also read this related story from New York Times). Excerpt:

After years of endless discussions on the future of the newspaper industry, trying to figure out whether it will bounce back or is doomed, some top newspaper executives finally revealed the honest truth. They simply don’t know. These executives met at the annual media conference in New York – where The New York Times Co. explicitly refuted rumors about a change in their stock structure.

The ‘real news’ was the honesty that newspaper executives seemed to have agreed upon.

Week 4: Radio Style

Slug: Morning news 12-11-06/Erwin Oliva

(Focus: Intel helps hook up poor communities to the Net to narrow the proverbial digital divide)

One hundred fifty residents of General Trias in Cavite can now surf Internet, thanks to Intel.

Leighton Phillips, Intel World Ahead program manager, says Intel is investing one billion dollars in five years to train and connect more people living in remote areas to the Internet.

Phillips says this global project also intends to develop content relevant to rural communities because many people still have difficulty understanding the Internet.

He says Intel and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation are now working closely to help poorer communities become Internet literate.

In the Philippines, Intel is working with the Commission on Information and Technology, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization National Commission of the Philippines, and the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication.

Florangel Rosario Braid, UNESCO National Commission chairperson for communication in the Philippines, says Intel is helping fulfill the organization’s plans to create relevant digital content for rural communities.

Week 4: News Story # 2

Intel helps ‘marginalized’ sectors get on the Internet

By Erwin Oliva

In today’s digital society, the number of people without access to the Internet is still surprising.

Intel hopes to change that in five years.

Committing 1 billion dollars to push initiatives geared for “marginalized” communities in the world, the chipmaker has initiated various projects worldwide, including in the Philippines that intend to connect people to the Internet, educate them about information technology, and develop more relevant community-based information accessible via the Web and other digital means.

Intel’s program, dubbed Intel World Ahead, has started connecting Philippine communities to the Internet using a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wimax) technology, a new technology that provides wireless Internet access at great distances.

Intel worked with local telecommunications firm Innove to wirelessly connect 150 local residents in Gen. Trias, Cavite and Alabang, Muntinlupa, Intel World Ahead program manager for Asia Pacific Leighton Phillips said.

Intel’s Wimax deployment is part of the Asian Broadband Campaign Wimax trials conducted in select countries like the Philippines, the Intel executives said.

Meanwhile, representatives from Intel met with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) in Manila recently to discuss projects, and best practices, Phillips said. The Asean members and Intel discussed how they could use public domain to develop web content for marginalized and rural communities.

The Intel executive said that content on the Internet remains irrelevant to most marginalized societies, while cost of access remains expensive.

Intel was committing US$ 250,000 in an Asean project to produce more relevant content, and was offering an e-learning software called SKOOOL.

The Intel World Ahead program intends to push various programs to developing regions in the form of accessibility, connectivity, education, and development of applications and content.

The US$1-billion commitment for five years intends to fund efforts to connect the "world's next billion users, while training 10 million more teachers and 1 billion students," Intel said.

Intel is now working with the Philippine Commission on Information and Technology (CICT), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization National Commission of the Philippines, and the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication for the Intel World Ahead project.

Florangel Rosario Braid, chairperson for communication of UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, said Intel’s project is consistent with its plans to develop relevant digital content for marginalized communities.

Malaysia warns of crackdown on news blogs

I feel sad whenever I read this kind of stories. Cracking down on blogs will only push more Malaysian bloggers to blog.

As this story reports:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysian officials have threatened a crackdown on divisive postings on news blogs, in what an international media watchdog calls a move to expand controls on the traditional media to the Internet.

All Malaysian news blogs may have to be registered with the Ministry of Information, local media reported earlier in the week, citing Deputy Science and Technology Minister Kong Cho Ha as saying the laws were necessary to dissuade bloggers from promoting disorder in Malaysia's multiethnic society.

Blogs in countries like Malaysia are becoming the last bastion of freedom of speech. In this age of convergence (which I would like to define as the death of traditional media as we know it), blogs have provided an enviroment for people like Jeff Oii.

Also this week, reports indicated that Malaysia was mulling laws on blogging. Excerpt:

KUALA LUMPUR--Malaysia may introduce tough Internet laws to control bloggers and prevent them from spreading "disharmony, chaos, seditious material and lies" on their websites, a report said Sunday.

Deputy Science and Technology Minister Kong Cho Ha said moves such as registering bloggers would be difficult, but accused some writers of posting controversial articles to attract readers.

Leo Magno, my editor, has written a special report (you can also read the other parts here, here) on how blogs and podcasting has changed the face of journalism. In the third part of this report, he states:

[B]bloggers and podcasters in particular -- are getting influential, if we are to define influence as being noticed and listened to by government, mainstream media and the public. We have also discussed the pitfalls of referring to this trend as a new form of journalism. We have also heard from mainstream media and from new media publishers who, they said, do not even consider themselves journalists.

Theoretically then, bloggers and podcasters should not be harassed or censored if they are seen merely as flies that refuse to go away. But why do charges of sedition and active censorship still occur? Why are blogs and podcasts being monitored by government? Why is there a seeming insecurity on the part of traditional media? Why should new media grassroots journalism be considered a threat?

Blogs and podcasts are disruptive technologies. They arrive at the party, offer something new, start playing a new song and dance to a new beat, they tear the piñata down and before you know it the tables have been overturned and the party will never be the same again. That party is traditional media -- television, radio and print. Any new addition to a set with the potential to disrupt established norms would naturally be seen as a threat. Traditional media is pushed out of its comfort zone of having the final say on matters of news and opinion. Traditional media may even feel that with grassroots journalism they may become disenfranchised.

Perhaps blogs, podcasts and new media in general are seen as threats because of changing information assimilation behaviors of the audience.

The newspaper's death explained

Slate's Jack Shafer tries to explain why newspapers are now pushing the "panic button," as readership numbers are dwindling. He writes:

A good three decades before the newspaper industry began blaming its declining fortunes on the Web, the iPod, and game machines, it knew it was in huge trouble. In the mid-1970s, two of its trade associations (which have since merged)—the American Newspaper Publishers Association and the Newspaper Advertising Bureau—sought to diagnose the causes of tumbling newspaper readership since the mid-1960s and recommend remedies.

But towards the end, he explains that the appetite for news has not really gone down. Generally, it is the behavior of readers that has changed a lot with the introduction of the Web, iPod and game machines, as he puts it. He goes on to quote Preserving the Press, which offers some solution to newspapers.

The solutions proposed by Preserving the Press and Shaw's article read like the standard prescriptions written today: Make an attempt to "reconnect" with readers, who feel alienated from newspapers. Make coverage more local. Hook kids when they're young. Let readers "sound off" about issues on special pages of the paper. Connect with and hire minorities. Expand the weather report. Introduce or expand op-ed pages. Spice up the design and print more color. Run more lifestyle, consumer, and personal-finance articles. Chase potential readers—and advertisers—into the deep suburbs.

Read more of this article here.

WEEK 4: Multi-media journalism in the Philippines

Perhaps the closest example on how journalists in the Philippines are using “multi-media” techniques when they report is INQ7.net, the company I work for. When we started, our news website was called “shovelware,” which means content taken from the print edition is just “shoveled” into web. There was not much difference between the print and web version except the latter is online. Also the web version followed the “narrative” style of the print. There was not much interactivity.

A year after it was launched, INQ7.net covered the “People’s Revolution 2.” It was at this historic and defining moment that INQ7.net transformed into a semi-multimedia news website. We broke news as it happened – through our breaking news section. We worked like the wires. But that’s just text. Eventually, we incorporated videos taken from our partner TV station and provided links to videos related to stories. We also provided a streaming audio of a local radio station for people who wanted to hear almost real-time broadcast of the events at that time.

Special websites have also emerged at that time. We created these sub-websites within the news portal for special features. It usually contained text, audio and videos, and other information we deemed useful for our readers.

The level of “interactivity” or multimedia techniques used in INQ7.net are not as sophisticated as the examples of Touching Hearts or 360 Degrees, which are in fact, larger projects that take time and specialized skills to develop. INQ7.net is, however, evolving and will feature more of "less linear", multi-media news.

College kids going online for campus news

I know this is beyond the 300-word requirement for this week, but I wish to highlight this study I picked up from Poynter Institute.

Baltimore Sun's Nick Madigan wrote that College campus papers are becoming popular despite the dwindling newspaper readership. However, there is a growing number of students going online for news. Excerpt:

At the same time, college students are still reading the papers' print editions. A Student Monitor study says 76 percent of college students surveyed during the spring semester this year read one out of the previous five print editions of their campus paper. That number has remained roughly consistent for almost two decades, never dropping below the high 60s, said Eric Weil, managing partner of Student Monitor, which twice a year surveys 1,200 full-time students on 100 four-year campuses.

The difference now, he said, is that 38 percent of students regularly read an online edition of their campus paper, and they spend an average of 19 minutes doing so, Weil said.