Impact of the Internet on News Media Professionalism
IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON NEWS MEDIA PROFESSIONALISM, MINDSETS AND BUZZWORDS
INTRODUCTION
In 1998 the Web-based bookstore Amazon.com claimed to offer more than 100 new books on the topic of the World Wide Web. Books which can be considered to be quite outdated at the time of writing this particular essay. The relevance of these and other publications lies therefore predominantly the tools they can offer in understanding the impact new media technologies have on different aspects of society over time. Certainly the Internet has gained in popularity among scholars in the communications field, especially after the special issue of the authoritative Journal of Communication on the topic in 1996, special issues of journals like Convergence and the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (online) and the introduction of a new journal on the topic called New Media & Society. In terms of journalism the trade periodicals in most Western countries – Der Journalist in Germany, De Journalist in The Netherlands, the Columbia Journalism Review in the US, the British Journalism Review in Great Britain and the Australian Journalism Review in Australia to name but a few – have addressed the topic over and over again since the first journalistic Websites came online (since 1992 in the US and elsewhere, see Lapham, 1995).
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The central questions which have been addressed to some extent in these publications can be summarized as:
1. What kind of business model works for journalism online (i.e. where can we make profit)?
2. Will traditional newsmedia or even traditional news values dissappear because of the Internet?
3. Should there be journalism at all online?
4. If the answer to question 3 is "Yes", what kind of journalism should it be and what kind of skills are required of journalists working for and with the Internet?
PURPOSE OF STUDY
This paper aims to offer some thoughts on how to answer this question in three steps. First a brief sketch of the
INTRODUCTION
In 1998 the Web-based bookstore Amazon.com claimed to offer more than 100 new books on the topic of the World Wide Web. Books which can be considered to be quite outdated at the time of writing this particular essay. The relevance of these and other publications lies therefore predominantly the tools they can offer in understanding the impact new media technologies have on different aspects of society over time. Certainly the Internet has gained in popularity among scholars in the communications field, especially after the special issue of the authoritative Journal of Communication on the topic in 1996, special issues of journals like Convergence and the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (online) and the introduction of a new journal on the topic called New Media & Society. In terms of journalism the trade periodicals in most Western countries – Der Journalist in Germany, De Journalist in The Netherlands, the Columbia Journalism Review in the US, the British Journalism Review in Great Britain and the Australian Journalism Review in Australia to name but a few – have addressed the topic over and over again since the first journalistic Websites came online (since 1992 in the US and elsewhere, see Lapham, 1995).
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The central questions which have been addressed to some extent in these publications can be summarized as:
1. What kind of business model works for journalism online (i.e. where can we make profit)?
2. Will traditional newsmedia or even traditional news values dissappear because of the Internet?
3. Should there be journalism at all online?
4. If the answer to question 3 is "Yes", what kind of journalism should it be and what kind of skills are required of journalists working for and with the Internet?
PURPOSE OF STUDY
This paper aims to offer some thoughts on how to answer this question in three steps. First a brief sketch of the