By Karmin Jones
Student Editor
With an increase of online media usage, journalists are looking to adapt to meet the challenges of web technology.
These multimedia-related articles focus on changes and improvements in various types of media. Some articles show how multimedia progress affects journalism and the careers of journalists, while other articles show how today’s generation will determine the fall of “old-fashioned” news, also known, some might say, as the newspaper.
These issues are important to Professor Mo Krochmal’s Journalism 80 students at
Adverting-Supporting Blogs
Many blogs consist of “citizen journalism,” but it is also common for established news publications to have blogs written by trusted journalists.
Now, Lufthansa, an airline company, has entered an agreement to become a sponsor of The Washington Post’s Newsweek Interactive (WPNI) blog site.
Could this trend continue? The numbers are always changing. Viewers of TV news programs decline, while the amount of blog readers continue to grow.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 50 million Americans got their news from an online source by the end of 2005. Blog advertisement could be the newest way to reach an audience.
As the technological world advances, Lufthansa’s new commitment could lead the way to the future of advertisement.
--By Maggie Biunno (Maggie.Biunno@gmail.com)
A Web of Political News
With the 2008 presidential campaign in the
Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, in a memo to his staff that was leaked to the public, announced a newsroom reorganization in order to better cover the campaign. The Times is creating a central political desk that will supervise both print and web coverage.
The memo said that the new organization will constantly provide breaking news "for an audience that now expects its political news to arrive in full multimedia, interactive glory."
The NYT already has an online political blog, thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com
Meantime, The New York Sun ,is also aiming at a readership that wants up-to-date political news online.
While The Sun's website isn't going to try and compete with papers like The Times, it aims “at politics junkies" and will try compete with such niche publications, such as RealClearPolitics.com and The Politico," according to Ryan Sager, The Sun's online editor.
The Sun's site, NYSunPolitics.com, will launch in March and will include stories from Sun columnists, political blogging, and dispatches from its political correspondent, Josh Gerstein.
Other major papers are also following this online trend. The Washintonpost.com has a presidential field database to cover the candidates throughout the election.
By Audra Kincaid (audra.kincaid@gmail.com)
A New Source for African News
The agency aims to incorporate country-specific blogs via GlobalVoices into the site as well as providing extensive economic, business and financial news and data, including stock and currency -market data and company information, Reuters said.
The new site features an interactive map to access local news across the continent, country by country.
Reflecting the importance of commodities to many African economies, the site includes online content on metals, mining, energy, oil, and agricultural commodities.
John Chiahemen, Reuters' chief correspondent in southern 
By Bonnie McKasty
A Cheaper Way to Enhance a Website
While the big-budget news websites are adding multimedia features to entice viewers, the average website can also enhance its news stories with tools that don’t require a huge budget.
Blogger Martin Fuchs, a photojournalist, has managed to showcase his journalism ability with the use of multimedia software and tools available to him at minimal cost.
On his blog, Fuchs discusses how online journalism has transformed into storytelling with the use of such multimedia features as photography, audio narratives and video.
While some argue that the use of these new-found features online serve as a threat to the standard journalism world, Fuchs believes that these features lead to better understanding of the article or “story” one is attempting to tell -- as well as the ability to reach a much wider audience.
To illustrate, Fuchs reported a piece on memorial events held at Ground Zero in
Fuchs says that this software has become a great asset to journalists who don’t have funds or knowledge to build their own systems. Through this software, journalists are able to showcase their stories for the $40 cost of program, which is available for a limited-time free trial.
Fuchs displays the program’s capabilities on his site . demonstrating how users can add headlines, credits, colored backgrounds, vary font types and sizes in customizing a website.
By Michelle Sobhraj (m.sobhraj@gmail.com)
YouTube Hit on Piracy Issues
According to an article by Kenneth Li for Reuters, YouTube, which is owned by Google, will offer anti-piracy software to companies, but will charge them a fee.
The announcement comes after MySpace declared last week that it would offer free piracy protection to combat copyright infringement.
A spokesperson for the media company Viacom, which ordered the removal of 100,000 pirated clips earlier this month from the site, said YouTube’s "proposition that they will only protect copyrighted content if there's a business deal in place is unacceptable.”
By Kayla Walker (Walker.Kayla@gmail.com)
Blogger Makes Real News
It was one blogger's turn to make the news for a change.
Mike Krahulik, author of the
The story talked about a teenager allegedly murdering a homeless man, then saying it was reenacted from a video game.
Krahulik gave his viewpoint, and made scathing comments about the child's parents. This sparked a response via e-mail from the boy’s stepmother, who told her side of the story.
She said that the child was already a dangerous person, citing numerous incidents, something that the CNN story did not report. This is a case where a civilian blog brought out more information in a story then a news organization.
By Garrett Frey
Today’s Generation and Online News
Journalists, it might be said, tend to overlook the demographics of readers that receive their information online.
They tend to overlook the fact that the younger generation grew up with the Internet and it was first introduced as not only a research tool, but also a haven for the younger generation to play games.
Jill Geisler, in “24/7 Culture: Tips from the Best (and Worst) of TV,” says that online journalist should “recognize your power.”
Online journalism is testing the power of blogging, but the trustworthiness of it becomes skewed for readers mentioned by professional journalists.
Children use the Internet for more for leisure, and the unusual and eye-catching becomes more important, than the need-to-know information that news offers. Children do not see online journalism as a source for their news, but rather as another outlet for reading or expressing their views on issues."
By Dreux Dougall
Web Doctors
Who would ever have thought there could be such a thing as a virtual doctor’s office? That is just what The Pediatric / Adolescent Gastroesophageal Reflux Association, also known as PAGER, and The HealthCentral Network, are trying to create.
Their idea comes from a misdiagnosis problem they are having regarding gastroesophageal reflux (GER).
According to the two, several million babies and small children have this potentially serious condition and are being treated as if they have minor stomach pains.
PAGER feels that it can help these children by creating a website that serves as a doctor’s office. The site will feature multimedia features such as “Care Central,” a customizable care-giving application which will be updated by doctors from the network.
This tool will allow people to view video of how to care for patients of GER as well as what signs and symptoms children with GER have that are distinguishable from a common stomach ache.
Along with “Care Central”, the site features a blog from non-traditional journalists. It is set up so parents can write about their experiences and what treatment has worked for them. The network’s experts will also post their remarks when parents have questions.
Revenue Growing for NYT Web Ads
In a popular trend affecting the media industry, web-based ads have become increasingly profitable. The shift from print to web-based multimedia has helped many new organizations as gain more revenue within the last year.
At the World Economic Forum last month, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said he doesn't know if The Times will even be available in a printed version in five years, speculating on the popularity of web-based media.
In January, The New York Times Company had the 11th-largest presence on the Web, with 42.6 million unique visitors in the
By Christopher Vaccaro
Is this the Golden Age of Journalism?
A couple of weeks ago, Chris Ahearn, the president of Reuters Media, said a new age is dawning for journalism.
"This future is one which will be regarded as a golden age of journalism, where reporters work with specialized communities of reliable and trusted sources and stringers, and where technology provides new tools and information that paper-based journalists could only dream about," Ahearn said.
"When I think about how I consume media now, versus ten years ago, I think there's a new opportunity for the kind of personal relationships people can have with journalists, editors and brands," Ahern said
“Change can only be achievable by taking cold, calculating risks that can potentially start a revolution on the different outskirts of journalism. As a community, we cannot put a stamp on this period as being the "Golden Age" of journalism,” Ahearn added.
MySpace Generation Changing the Face of the Political Campaign
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have announced their intention to use online videos in their campaigns for the Democratic nomination in 2008
They have taken this new technological step to win over their younger voters. They not only want to tap into their younger audience, but believe that providing these videos on websites like www.YouTube.com will make voters feel involved in this political process.
Obama has created an official campaign site entitled My.Barack.Obama.com, which has been placed in the social networking website www.myspace.com.
MySpace is a website that allows anybody and everybody to become a member and have their own web page and include music videos, songs and even personal videos posted for all to see.
Obama’s pages will enable his supporters to keep current on his progress and write blogs. They can search for like-minded supporters, add them as friends and join local groups.
There were 1,252 groups formed five days after the site’s launch. Also, under the events section on MySpace, supporters are informed of campaign events they can attend in their area. Supporters not only can attend events, but create their own. MySpace also gives members the ability to create their own fundraising website, which gives them an individual address that they can give to anybody in the group.
By Juliette Pariente-Cohen (juliette.parientecohen@gmail.com)
Newspapers are trying to adapt to this rapid rise in technology by adding online versions and create functionality that allows interaction with the public. These functions include blogs and videos.
The new additions have paved the way for a completely innovative and unconventional form of reporting. Sites such as Digg, News Vine, Tailrank and Now Public have implemented new technologies to achieve faster and more efficient news reporting. The sites claim to have no actual reporters but have over 50,000 mobile journalists, also known as “mojos.”
These mojos use new technologies such as smart phones to send text, videos, and photos from news events, and are able to do send in formation much faster than conventional reporters, who are bound by by quaint work processes, such as fact-checking and editors.
With the rise of technology and resources such as smart phones and mojos, the public can get the news as promptly as possible. Such changes make one wonder if reporting will ever be the same and if the conventional forms of reporting will be able to stand up to the ground-breaking, innovative methods.
Therefore the questionable shelf life of the printed news paper goes hand in hand with that of conventional reporting methods.
By Natalia Guzman
Storytelling in the Multimedia Age
News has moved into another realm of storytelling via websites. For instance, publications such as the Ventura County Times, are creating webcasts and posting them on their websites, These videos allow viewers to receive information quickly and easily. Vodcasts make it possible for news sources to update websites with breaking-news and other major highlights.
Research has proven that the public likes options in how it receives information and news. As a result, news sources are utilizing the Internet to keep on track with a technologically advanced era. Multimedia in journalism has advanced the use of interactive elements such as discussion forums and links to other information sources. Links create an easy way for viewers to access information they might want or need, and make it possible to do so quickly and effectively.
