State of the News Media Online
The Project for Excellence in Journalism's fourth edition of its annual report on the state of the news media says that journalists are being slow to adapt to the changing needs of the news consumer and that some of the most interesting experiments in new journalism continue to come from outside the profession.
The report examined 38 web sites and found that at least a quarter were either thoroughly redesigned or made noticeable changes between September 2006 and February 2007, usually to make them more user-centric; but that even now, a few sites are still largely “shovel ware,” an online morgue for the content their owners produced in another medium.
Here is a detailed look at What qualities of the Web’s potential are being exploited most.
Among the other findings:
* Web sites have developed beyond their root media. In character, many news sites now cut across medium, history, audience size and editorial structure. The New York Times Web site, for instance, has different strengths and a noticeably different character from that of the Washington Post. The Web site of CBS News is notably different in its strengths from ABC’s. Some citizen media sites have distinct editorial processes and standards.
* News sites seem to be exploiting two areas of the Web most of all: editorial branding, or establishing a distinctive identity through original content and a distinct editorial process; and the potential for users to customize information, particularly through mobile delivery of it. More sites earned high marks for promoting original content and unique brand than any other feature we studied. Indeed, the notion that the Web is dominated by yesterday’s newspapers, wire copy, opinion and rumor is increasingly an oversimplification.
* Sites have done the least to tap the Web’s potential for depth — to enrich coverage by offering links to original documents, background material, additional coverage and more. That suggests that putting things into context, or making sense of the information available, is an area Web journalists still need to work on. This deficiency may expose the tension between old-style journalism, which sent reporters out to write stories, and technology-based aggregation, which gathers those stories and links via computer algorithm. Building real depth into coverage probably requires people to weave relevant sources of information together and to help consumers navigate and go deeper by themselves.
* Digital journalism has also not fully exploited the potential for users to participate by commenting and adding their own voice to the information. The notion that the Web is a place for people to be “prosumers,” simultaneously consuming and producing information in a kind of conversation, is at this point probably something of an exaggeration.
* Only a few sites excel at multiple areas of the Web’s potential. Only four of those we analyzed earned top marks in even three of the five content categories studied. Most excelled at only one or two.
And here is a link to the full report.
Mar 12, 2007 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT
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1 comments about 'State of the News Media Online'I would love to hear your opinion about my site (blog) : www.delhievents.com
Posted by Rohit Malik at March 15, 2007 6:33 PM
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