My start-up online news publication will certainly have a smaller budget than the New York Times or CNN.com. In order to overcome our lack of cash, and compete with these news giants, my publication will adopt a plan similar to the one laid out by Spot.US. We will call upon our readership to donate money to support our news site. No user would be willing to send a single dime for a story that was already covered by the Times or any other larger publication. So, like Spot.US, we will use this money to focus our efforts on stories that have been ignored by other sites. It is our idea that people will jump at the opportunity to donate money to fund a story that is important to them. Unlike Spot.US, users will not be donating money for every story they want to see in print. Spot.US has a policy where they ask for approximately $25 to aid a journalist to report on a single story. My publication finds this procedure far too risky and potentially upsetting to certain users. What happens when a reader donates money and is unsatisfied with the final piece? What happens when a contributor feels a piece is too brief or did not go into adequate detail? In an attempt to snuff out complaints and problems before they arise, my publication has come up with a different approach to gathering funds. Our site will be free for all web users to access. However, in order to have any input into what stories get reported on, a user must pay a $60 annual membership. After donating this annual fee the user will be free to post on our bulletin board where subscribers will be asked to leave messages for our staff. Subscribed users will be able to leave story leads and other ideas on this bulletin board.
As Josh Korr says, online publications cannot take the endless resources around them for granted. These sites can't just be a basic rehash of what appears in a newspaper or magazine. These web pages need to have videos, interactive options, and most importantly helpful links. Korr addresses the fact that online users rarely want incredibly long, dry pieces overflowing with facts and figures. Deploying reporters overseas or across the country is quite pricey. And, as I said before, my publication does not have a deep wallet. With this in mind, we must note that a subscription to the AP is also expensive, and may be a budgetary concern. One of my ideas is to concentrate mainly on hyperlocal reporting. We will deploy the majority of our reporters to cover local stories. But, we shall not forget the larger picture, and we absolutely will not neglect to report on important national or international news. Our idea is to provide a basic, inexpensive synopsis of major breaking stories that we cannot extensively report on. We will then feature dozens of links at the end of our brief synopsis. The links will send users to other publications or even blogs that cover the information we cannot obtain ourselves. This will save us money, still inform our users, and provide a greater readership to gifted bloggers. It will also definitely appease the young adults mentioned in Jim Kennedy's article. These users want reliable, thorough coverage of stories. They do not want snappy sound-bytes or snippets of useless information. We will provide our users with the extensive coverage they crave. We may not be able to do justice to every story by ourselves, but we will link to other sites that offer the vital information we lack.
Our local reporting will closely mirror the journalism done by Jame Gannon at the Rappahannock Voice online paper. We are aware that our task will be time-consuming, exceedingly demanding and offer very little financial reward. At the same time it is refreshing to be a small online publication for these reasons. We will have no ties to any companies and no loyalties to anyone else but our readers. For these reasons, we will be able to expose touchy stories, in the same way the Voice broke the story about the Inn in Little Washington. On a side note, our dot com name will let readers know we are an online news publication. It will be far more obvious than www.rappvoice.com, which sounds like some kind of hip-hop chatroom.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Online Publication
My online publication will never take the sheer power of citizen journalism for granted. The assigned readings detailed several problems with this style of journalism, (factual errors, biased reporting, offensive language, etc), but my publication will overcome these annoyances. We will follow the loose guidelines detailed by Jeff Howe, and march into a new era of reporting. The main problem seems to be that citizens do not want to engage in traditional journalism. This, however, is no real problem at all. I will hire traditional journalists to do traditional reporting. I will employ the use of citizen journalists to cover a wide range of more obscure topics. As Howe noted, you simply can't tell a citizen journalist what to report on. They don't want to go out on a plethora of bland assignments. They don't want to translate their work into inverted pyramid style. Basically, these citizen journalists don't want an editor dictating what they can or cannot write about. In order to effectively utilize the manpower of "the crowd," my team will rarely interfere with grass roots reporting.
We will allow these men and women to go out into the field and report on whatever interests them the most. In turn, this practice will spawn an unprecedented amount of news stories oozing with passion. Some of the stories may not qualify as actual news. Some stories might just be plain unprintable. However, every single one of these stories submitted by citizen journalists will have one common element in common: Their authors were wholeheartedly interested in the subject matter. There is no need to force members of the crowd to report on issues they don't care about. Disinterested reporters will produce dry articles bereft of any feeling. Journalists devote more time and effort to a story that means something to them.
This method will also allow citizen journalists to go out and do some hyperlocal reporting. These writers will be members of their communities first and members of our news team second. They will be able to walk back roads and hidden alleys, unearthing gold that no traditional reporter would be able to discover. They will find stories that would have been completely overlooked by professional journalists. This will engage readers and highlight fascinating issues that typically get ignored in the press. It will shine the lime light on small neighborhoods and small problems. This reporting will surely attract members of these communities, and my website will infiltrate quaint communities across the nation.
As mentioned before, my site will feature blogging capabilities. Blogs offer the interactive opportunities readers crave, and allow reporters to directly address their readership. My reporters will be able to tweak their coverage or style of writing based on their particular audience. (Our reporters will get to know the interests and desires of their audience while conversing with them through blogs and online comments). These blogs will spark a mutually beneficial relationship between author and reader. In certain cases bloggers act like proofreaders. They highlighting errors, correct factual mistakes and occasionally point out offensive jargon. In turn, bloggers offer exciting story leads and inform authors what types of issues they want to be addressed.
These blogs will be exceedingly helpful on my site. They will allow my reporters to cover issues a more casual, informal way. This style of writing will be more appealing to readers who tend to shy away from the rigid reporting of the inverted pyramid style. The informal writing will also allow reporters to work more quickly and pen more stories. Authors will not have to worry about shaving down their work to meet strict space constraints or have to spend as much time dwelling over their choice of words. The blogs will also allow my reporters to post stories that did not fit on our actual website.
We really must make our presence widely know throughout the blogosphere if we are going to stay afloat. Popularity amongst bloggers can singlehandedly boost a story into the forefront of online culture. This is exactly what happened to the article about Paris, Texas, which was detailed in the assigned readings. The article got a few thousand hits upon its initial publication, and then completely fell off of the radar during its second week of existence. But, the moment bloggers got a hold of the wonderful piece, it instantly became a must-read story, and generated over 100,000 hits. My reporters will provide links to our best stories via blogs, and try to establish a well known presence amongst avid bloggers. Doing so may save certain well-written pieces from obscurity.
As I noted, our site will pull certain story ideas and leads from blogs. At times, we may even post entire articles from some of our talented bloggers. However, we will at all costs avoid another Steve Jobs heart-attack incident. In order to do this we will employ several rigorous editors and fact checkers to sift through information on our blogs. As the assigned readings warned, bloggers are not classically trained journalists. They, unlike traditional journalists, do not have such an immense obligation to uphold the truth. This is why we plan to hire an extra line of editors to fact-check blogs and the sincerity of story leads. We will strive to make our editing and fact-checking as powerful and productive as it is in most print publications.
My site will also infiltrate social networking sites to generate buzz and public affection. My staff will brainstorm and create an alter ego for our news publication similar to the "Colonel Tribune" mentioned in "Digging into Social Media..." The face of our character will have to be instantly likable and trustworthy in the same vein as the Colonel. However, our approach will have to be slightly different, so our plan doesn't come across as a blatant rip-off of that fake soldier. We will probably document the experiences of a charming intern across several social networking sites. The intern will have to be young, somewhat awkward, enthusiastic and driven. Younger users will instantly relate to an intern becoming the face of our publication. It will be an obvious risk. However, taking this risk will immediately make our site far more appealing to the young, college-aged audience we are trying to attract. We will post his or her information across sites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. These sites will feature photographs of the intern in daily situations throughout the office. The shots will show him or her carrying coffee, rushing around like a madman on a caffeine high, dropping papers on the floor, etc. He or she will be a caricature of every intern who ever worked in an office environment. The photographs and information may appear funny or trivial, but will definitely spark interest amongst young people who are trying to start their careers in the same way. While searching the intern's sites and reading his or her hilarious commentary, readers will come to know more about our online publication. Our office will be an open one. Our daily problems and concerns will be posted on the intern's social networking sites. It is our hope that this will make us appear more trustworthy to our readers, and stimulate interest young readers we are trying to attract. If nothing else, it will certainly make our site far more interactive than most traditional online publications.
We will of course allow our staff members to operate their own social networking pages. The assigned readings discussed several problems where members of news teams jeopardized the reputations of their respective news rooms while posting opinionated comments on Facebook, Twitter, etc. These social networking sites were created so online users would have an easy outlet to express his or her personal views. We will not limit our staff's freedom of speech, for fear that their online postings will negatively influence our publication. Instead, we will simply ask all employees to include a disclaimer on their social networking sites. The disclaimer will basically say that all views and opinions addressed on the site in no way reflect the views of our online publication.
My site must also come to terms with the fact that we don't have a colossal budget. We will not always have the money to send a reporter out to a remote site to cover a story unfolding hundreds of miles away. This is another reason why we are relying on citizen journalism. Individuals in these far-off communities can easily sit at home and write about the events unfolding outside their windows. We will save an incredible amount of time and an incredible amount of money on transportation. At times, however, citizen journalism will not come through for us. In these times we must remain open-minded and offer links to other sites that do offer information on a particular story we did not cover. We must not be stubborn, like so many online magazines, that refuse to link to other sites. Our readers will greatly benefit from this practice, and know that if we do not have certain information, we will direct them to a site that does.
We will allow these men and women to go out into the field and report on whatever interests them the most. In turn, this practice will spawn an unprecedented amount of news stories oozing with passion. Some of the stories may not qualify as actual news. Some stories might just be plain unprintable. However, every single one of these stories submitted by citizen journalists will have one common element in common: Their authors were wholeheartedly interested in the subject matter. There is no need to force members of the crowd to report on issues they don't care about. Disinterested reporters will produce dry articles bereft of any feeling. Journalists devote more time and effort to a story that means something to them.
This method will also allow citizen journalists to go out and do some hyperlocal reporting. These writers will be members of their communities first and members of our news team second. They will be able to walk back roads and hidden alleys, unearthing gold that no traditional reporter would be able to discover. They will find stories that would have been completely overlooked by professional journalists. This will engage readers and highlight fascinating issues that typically get ignored in the press. It will shine the lime light on small neighborhoods and small problems. This reporting will surely attract members of these communities, and my website will infiltrate quaint communities across the nation.
As mentioned before, my site will feature blogging capabilities. Blogs offer the interactive opportunities readers crave, and allow reporters to directly address their readership. My reporters will be able to tweak their coverage or style of writing based on their particular audience. (Our reporters will get to know the interests and desires of their audience while conversing with them through blogs and online comments). These blogs will spark a mutually beneficial relationship between author and reader. In certain cases bloggers act like proofreaders. They highlighting errors, correct factual mistakes and occasionally point out offensive jargon. In turn, bloggers offer exciting story leads and inform authors what types of issues they want to be addressed.
These blogs will be exceedingly helpful on my site. They will allow my reporters to cover issues a more casual, informal way. This style of writing will be more appealing to readers who tend to shy away from the rigid reporting of the inverted pyramid style. The informal writing will also allow reporters to work more quickly and pen more stories. Authors will not have to worry about shaving down their work to meet strict space constraints or have to spend as much time dwelling over their choice of words. The blogs will also allow my reporters to post stories that did not fit on our actual website.
We really must make our presence widely know throughout the blogosphere if we are going to stay afloat. Popularity amongst bloggers can singlehandedly boost a story into the forefront of online culture. This is exactly what happened to the article about Paris, Texas, which was detailed in the assigned readings. The article got a few thousand hits upon its initial publication, and then completely fell off of the radar during its second week of existence. But, the moment bloggers got a hold of the wonderful piece, it instantly became a must-read story, and generated over 100,000 hits. My reporters will provide links to our best stories via blogs, and try to establish a well known presence amongst avid bloggers. Doing so may save certain well-written pieces from obscurity.
As I noted, our site will pull certain story ideas and leads from blogs. At times, we may even post entire articles from some of our talented bloggers. However, we will at all costs avoid another Steve Jobs heart-attack incident. In order to do this we will employ several rigorous editors and fact checkers to sift through information on our blogs. As the assigned readings warned, bloggers are not classically trained journalists. They, unlike traditional journalists, do not have such an immense obligation to uphold the truth. This is why we plan to hire an extra line of editors to fact-check blogs and the sincerity of story leads. We will strive to make our editing and fact-checking as powerful and productive as it is in most print publications.
My site will also infiltrate social networking sites to generate buzz and public affection. My staff will brainstorm and create an alter ego for our news publication similar to the "Colonel Tribune" mentioned in "Digging into Social Media..." The face of our character will have to be instantly likable and trustworthy in the same vein as the Colonel. However, our approach will have to be slightly different, so our plan doesn't come across as a blatant rip-off of that fake soldier. We will probably document the experiences of a charming intern across several social networking sites. The intern will have to be young, somewhat awkward, enthusiastic and driven. Younger users will instantly relate to an intern becoming the face of our publication. It will be an obvious risk. However, taking this risk will immediately make our site far more appealing to the young, college-aged audience we are trying to attract. We will post his or her information across sites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. These sites will feature photographs of the intern in daily situations throughout the office. The shots will show him or her carrying coffee, rushing around like a madman on a caffeine high, dropping papers on the floor, etc. He or she will be a caricature of every intern who ever worked in an office environment. The photographs and information may appear funny or trivial, but will definitely spark interest amongst young people who are trying to start their careers in the same way. While searching the intern's sites and reading his or her hilarious commentary, readers will come to know more about our online publication. Our office will be an open one. Our daily problems and concerns will be posted on the intern's social networking sites. It is our hope that this will make us appear more trustworthy to our readers, and stimulate interest young readers we are trying to attract. If nothing else, it will certainly make our site far more interactive than most traditional online publications.
We will of course allow our staff members to operate their own social networking pages. The assigned readings discussed several problems where members of news teams jeopardized the reputations of their respective news rooms while posting opinionated comments on Facebook, Twitter, etc. These social networking sites were created so online users would have an easy outlet to express his or her personal views. We will not limit our staff's freedom of speech, for fear that their online postings will negatively influence our publication. Instead, we will simply ask all employees to include a disclaimer on their social networking sites. The disclaimer will basically say that all views and opinions addressed on the site in no way reflect the views of our online publication.
My site must also come to terms with the fact that we don't have a colossal budget. We will not always have the money to send a reporter out to a remote site to cover a story unfolding hundreds of miles away. This is another reason why we are relying on citizen journalism. Individuals in these far-off communities can easily sit at home and write about the events unfolding outside their windows. We will save an incredible amount of time and an incredible amount of money on transportation. At times, however, citizen journalism will not come through for us. In these times we must remain open-minded and offer links to other sites that do offer information on a particular story we did not cover. We must not be stubborn, like so many online magazines, that refuse to link to other sites. Our readers will greatly benefit from this practice, and know that if we do not have certain information, we will direct them to a site that does.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Blogs and News Publications
The assigned readings stress the idea that technology is dulling the sharp minds of the men and women of the 21st century. Obtaining information has never been easier or less time-consuming. We go to websites craving instant satisfaction. We search for our desired slice of news, and leave the rest of the information pie untouched. Tonight's authors mainly blame Google. On this immensely popular site, all a user has to do is type his or her search content and click on the first link that appears. In the golden days before the Internet, before the art of skimming a book was replaced with high speed scrolling, before the Dewey Decimal system caved under the weight of the almighty search engine, the process of finding information was much different. The sheer simplicity of discovering what you want online is one of the main complaints addressed by tonight's articles. Now people can filter out all the information they don't want when doing an assignment or reading an online news article. When paging through a book students are forced to come into contact with additional information. Books and print newspapers greatly assist in educating readers by bombarding them with extra facts, figures and content while skimming for the page they want. As tonight's authors note, this happens far less on the Internet. In a way, Google allows people to obtain information with tunnel vision. People are far less likely to stumble across additional, fascinating information when completing a narrow search on Google.
A way to combat this trend on my news site, may be to try and stage instances of serendipity. In a risky maneuver my site will briefly eliminate the traditional search function user have grown so attached to. Of course, my site will still have a search function. No doubt, users would become exceedingly frustrated while navigating a site without a handy search tool. The difference is, our search tool will not just spew out articles related to the words typed into the search window. Only the first three hits will be related to the user's search. The other hits will be randomly selected from our daily news stories and our archives. This will give some of our readers a chance to make exhilarating discoveries, in the same vein of traditional newspaper readers. At the same time, this function will not anger people who are in a hurry, because the first three hits will actually relate to their desired search. Hopefully this function will stimulate the deep learning tonight's authors feel users are missing out on in the Internet era.
My online publication will also have to be visually appealing. The articles said that most users only spend a few minutes or mere seconds on news sites. One author called this "snacking" and compared the process to his young daughter channel surfing from the couch. As the authors revealed, if users do not like your site, they will have no problem clicking away from it, just as a TV viewer would change a channel. For this reason we need to draw users in immediately. Our site cannot appear clunky or too jammed up with text. Too many users complain of information overload, as so many news sites try to cram in as much news as possible in a tiny window. This is why, as I have mentioned in prior blogs, my news team will adapt a classic newspaper, front page style for the homepage. The look will remind readers of the traditional newspapers they no longer read over breakfast. The design will hardly overwhelm users with an absurd amount of detail.
The articles also mentioned that the majority of documented visits to a website are purely accidental. Users mean to end up at some other site and somehow stumble upon the wrong web page. Our site will be far more popular if we can somehow convince these accidental wanderers to visit for a while. This will also be accomplished by our unique homepage. As I mentioned, our homepage will adopt the look of the front page of a newspaper. The only difference is that this page will feature far more pictures than text. Like the articles said, users only digest small portions of information at a time. They clearly prefer shorter articles to longer ones. So our front page will feature wonderful photographs with the tiny snippets of information that users adore. However, if the user decides to click on the photo or short textual description, they will be taken to the entire article on a different page.
We will also send members of our staff onto the Internet to delve deep into the blogosphere. Blogs generate a major amount of attention to sites. These other sites are not always blogs, but often picture databases, or in our case, a news publication. We will have staff members entering blogging communities and discussing our site, attempting to generate a positive buzz, which will catch on and send bloggers to check out our news site. From there these bloggers will come to our site and have the opportunity to tackle new issues on the blog available on our webpage.
Allowing time for staff members to penetrate the blogging community will be beneficial, whether it generates more users or not. This is because, as the articles said, poignant news stories are often lurking within blogs. Some of these blogs will undoubtedly be filled with rich information that will give my staff of journalists a wealth of ideas. These visits to blogs will surely produce many story leads.
As Persephone Miel addressed, despite the broad circulation of the Internet, some populations are still widely ignored. My site will do its best to engage these users and report on the issues that are important to them. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan showed the world how powerful blogs can be. They were able to rally support against their crooked government by using blogs to expose their dictator's wrongdoings. The blogs arranged meetings, informed readers that their leader was a tyrant, and allowed citizens to unite in a way that was forbidden outside of the blogosphere. Every year my news site will do a massive fundraiser in an attempt to raise money for countries with limited Internet access. We will donate the money to campaigns, like the one Miel is associated with, while striving to spread information to the remote parts of the world. We will also report on foreign countries that are too often neglected by traditional news sites, in favor of national stories.
A way to combat this trend on my news site, may be to try and stage instances of serendipity. In a risky maneuver my site will briefly eliminate the traditional search function user have grown so attached to. Of course, my site will still have a search function. No doubt, users would become exceedingly frustrated while navigating a site without a handy search tool. The difference is, our search tool will not just spew out articles related to the words typed into the search window. Only the first three hits will be related to the user's search. The other hits will be randomly selected from our daily news stories and our archives. This will give some of our readers a chance to make exhilarating discoveries, in the same vein of traditional newspaper readers. At the same time, this function will not anger people who are in a hurry, because the first three hits will actually relate to their desired search. Hopefully this function will stimulate the deep learning tonight's authors feel users are missing out on in the Internet era.
My online publication will also have to be visually appealing. The articles said that most users only spend a few minutes or mere seconds on news sites. One author called this "snacking" and compared the process to his young daughter channel surfing from the couch. As the authors revealed, if users do not like your site, they will have no problem clicking away from it, just as a TV viewer would change a channel. For this reason we need to draw users in immediately. Our site cannot appear clunky or too jammed up with text. Too many users complain of information overload, as so many news sites try to cram in as much news as possible in a tiny window. This is why, as I have mentioned in prior blogs, my news team will adapt a classic newspaper, front page style for the homepage. The look will remind readers of the traditional newspapers they no longer read over breakfast. The design will hardly overwhelm users with an absurd amount of detail.
The articles also mentioned that the majority of documented visits to a website are purely accidental. Users mean to end up at some other site and somehow stumble upon the wrong web page. Our site will be far more popular if we can somehow convince these accidental wanderers to visit for a while. This will also be accomplished by our unique homepage. As I mentioned, our homepage will adopt the look of the front page of a newspaper. The only difference is that this page will feature far more pictures than text. Like the articles said, users only digest small portions of information at a time. They clearly prefer shorter articles to longer ones. So our front page will feature wonderful photographs with the tiny snippets of information that users adore. However, if the user decides to click on the photo or short textual description, they will be taken to the entire article on a different page.
We will also send members of our staff onto the Internet to delve deep into the blogosphere. Blogs generate a major amount of attention to sites. These other sites are not always blogs, but often picture databases, or in our case, a news publication. We will have staff members entering blogging communities and discussing our site, attempting to generate a positive buzz, which will catch on and send bloggers to check out our news site. From there these bloggers will come to our site and have the opportunity to tackle new issues on the blog available on our webpage.
Allowing time for staff members to penetrate the blogging community will be beneficial, whether it generates more users or not. This is because, as the articles said, poignant news stories are often lurking within blogs. Some of these blogs will undoubtedly be filled with rich information that will give my staff of journalists a wealth of ideas. These visits to blogs will surely produce many story leads.
As Persephone Miel addressed, despite the broad circulation of the Internet, some populations are still widely ignored. My site will do its best to engage these users and report on the issues that are important to them. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan showed the world how powerful blogs can be. They were able to rally support against their crooked government by using blogs to expose their dictator's wrongdoings. The blogs arranged meetings, informed readers that their leader was a tyrant, and allowed citizens to unite in a way that was forbidden outside of the blogosphere. Every year my news site will do a massive fundraiser in an attempt to raise money for countries with limited Internet access. We will donate the money to campaigns, like the one Miel is associated with, while striving to spread information to the remote parts of the world. We will also report on foreign countries that are too often neglected by traditional news sites, in favor of national stories.
Monday, February 2, 2009
New Online News Publication
If I were to create an online publication, my first step would be to hire a full batch of young people straight out of college. Some might find this to be a foolish move, considering these young adults would be bereft of solid news room experience, and lack a stockpile of journalistic lessons in the field. In turn, I would argue this lack of experience is actually wonderful thing. My staff would be filled with the type of students present in the assigned articles: Energetic journalists, eager for positive change, who are tired of overcooked news stories reeking of sensationalism, and ready to successfully splice 21st century technology with hard-hitting news.
The articles point fingers at social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace for distracting people from important news content. As David Mindich noted, these sites do little to inform users about anything other than severed relationships or what parties to attend on a Saturday night. Our site will reverse this negative trend. My website will be part news publication part social networking site. This will offer our readership the opportunity to befriend their favorite journalists, write posts regarding their latest articles, offer praise or criticism, present future story ideas, and overall, feel like they are part of a true community. It will also allow users to add their favorite photographs and news stories to their articles. Online journalism has never felt as permanent as print journalism. Stories are too quickly replaced by new articles, and photographs are lost in cyberspace. This will allow readers to save their favorite stories in a way that jells with the 21st century. Instead of clipping an article, or hanging a picture on one's fridge, readers can easily tag their favorite content and add it to their profile. Of course, this site will be easily accessible and compatible on all modern cellphones. We will not be satisfied to only offer this service on one style of phone, but strive to make it available on most cell phone models: (In the readings, one publication was criticized for being content with having limited access on a lone cell phone device). We will also follow in the wise footsteps of certain publications mentioned in the readings, by offering daily news oriented podcasts, which can be played on any Mp3 device.
The site will also possess a home-spun feel. As the articles noted, many people feel turned off by flashy gimmicks and expensive productions. These tactics remind the audience of big news corporations that they distrust. We will purposefully ignore production trends made popular by Fox News and other shows/big papers. It will have the feel of a local paper, where readers feel like they know the staff.
One way readers will get to know the staff is through video blogs. We will tear a page out of Gary Vaynerchuk's book and offer videos, informally aimed at our audience. These video recordings will not be limited to hard-hitting news. Vaynerchuk addressed his favorite wines. Our staff may discuss their favorite sports moments, culinary dishes, movies, political goofs, etc. The important thing here is that these staff members try to develop a relationship with our viewers. Once again, our aim is to emphasize the importance of community. The articles really stressed a reader's desire to feel connected and heard. To establish these relationships our video bloggers will return every email sent by readers, make themselves available in print and video chat rooms throughout the week, and allow comments to be posted below their video footage.
In the articles, readers said they adored the Daily Show for its willingness to expose shady politics. Our site will do the same. We will function first and foremost for the people. We will not solely aim for a high readership or try to appease our advertisers. Primarily, we will serve as media watchdogs, and look out for the well being of our users.
The authors also listed another reason for the popularity behind the Daily Show: honesty. (This goes back to the idea of serving as a media watch dog, and not just running stories that are sexy or become widely popular.) But, isn't it funny that one of the most trustworthy news sources available is primarily a comedy show, which doesn't preach objectivity? That show constantly takes sides and produces exceedingly biased material. Viewers eat it up, because the show never pretends to be what it isn't. Shows on CNN and Fox News are merely presented under the guise of objectivity. Some of the hosts on those networks are more biased and opinionated than Jon Stewart, a man who works for Comedy Central. Our site will always be honest with viewers. We will not limit ourselves to strictly fact-based, bland stories which are completely bereft of passion. We will offer our share of one-sided stories. We will present articles that point fingers or poke fun at world leaders. But we will allow readers to make up their own minds. We will always make it abundantly clear that a particular story contains opinionated statements.
My site will also offer a front page style format. Readers seem to miss the front page. It is truly maddening to have to sort through the hundreds of articles presented on the New York Times web page. This will allow a movement lost in the online world: serendipity. Our readers will be able to stumble upon interesting, bizarre, and heart-breaking they never knew they wanted to read. As the articles said, people are frustratingly focusing on news that fits nicely into their agenda. By adopting a front page format, we will be able to inspire just as many serendipitous moments as are offered in print formats. The front page will be a hodge podge of different. Readers may come to the site only hoping to read news that reaffirms their political affiliations. Instead, they may be confronted with human interest stories and cultural studies above or below their intended readings. This force people to step outside the narrow agendas discussed in the assigned articles. We will also appease the authors of these articles by not limiting ourselves to national US coverage. All too often international news gets buried or omitted. Our front page screen will be an even blend of foreign and domestic culture, national and world events, American football, and soccer.
If possible the site will also feature family oriented news activities. These activities will encourage youngsters to get involved in the news at an early age. Children are no longer witnessing their fathers reading the paper during breakfast, or watching news during dinner This feature will allow today's children to experience news with their family first hand, with a series of news related games, fun quizzes, and youth oriented podcasts and videos. All too often children are ignored in the news. So, my site will have a section that extensively covers news which affects young people in America today. We will be filling a niche that has remained empty for far too long.
The articles point fingers at social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace for distracting people from important news content. As David Mindich noted, these sites do little to inform users about anything other than severed relationships or what parties to attend on a Saturday night. Our site will reverse this negative trend. My website will be part news publication part social networking site. This will offer our readership the opportunity to befriend their favorite journalists, write posts regarding their latest articles, offer praise or criticism, present future story ideas, and overall, feel like they are part of a true community. It will also allow users to add their favorite photographs and news stories to their articles. Online journalism has never felt as permanent as print journalism. Stories are too quickly replaced by new articles, and photographs are lost in cyberspace. This will allow readers to save their favorite stories in a way that jells with the 21st century. Instead of clipping an article, or hanging a picture on one's fridge, readers can easily tag their favorite content and add it to their profile. Of course, this site will be easily accessible and compatible on all modern cellphones. We will not be satisfied to only offer this service on one style of phone, but strive to make it available on most cell phone models: (In the readings, one publication was criticized for being content with having limited access on a lone cell phone device). We will also follow in the wise footsteps of certain publications mentioned in the readings, by offering daily news oriented podcasts, which can be played on any Mp3 device.
The site will also possess a home-spun feel. As the articles noted, many people feel turned off by flashy gimmicks and expensive productions. These tactics remind the audience of big news corporations that they distrust. We will purposefully ignore production trends made popular by Fox News and other shows/big papers. It will have the feel of a local paper, where readers feel like they know the staff.
One way readers will get to know the staff is through video blogs. We will tear a page out of Gary Vaynerchuk's book and offer videos, informally aimed at our audience. These video recordings will not be limited to hard-hitting news. Vaynerchuk addressed his favorite wines. Our staff may discuss their favorite sports moments, culinary dishes, movies, political goofs, etc. The important thing here is that these staff members try to develop a relationship with our viewers. Once again, our aim is to emphasize the importance of community. The articles really stressed a reader's desire to feel connected and heard. To establish these relationships our video bloggers will return every email sent by readers, make themselves available in print and video chat rooms throughout the week, and allow comments to be posted below their video footage.
In the articles, readers said they adored the Daily Show for its willingness to expose shady politics. Our site will do the same. We will function first and foremost for the people. We will not solely aim for a high readership or try to appease our advertisers. Primarily, we will serve as media watchdogs, and look out for the well being of our users.
The authors also listed another reason for the popularity behind the Daily Show: honesty. (This goes back to the idea of serving as a media watch dog, and not just running stories that are sexy or become widely popular.) But, isn't it funny that one of the most trustworthy news sources available is primarily a comedy show, which doesn't preach objectivity? That show constantly takes sides and produces exceedingly biased material. Viewers eat it up, because the show never pretends to be what it isn't. Shows on CNN and Fox News are merely presented under the guise of objectivity. Some of the hosts on those networks are more biased and opinionated than Jon Stewart, a man who works for Comedy Central. Our site will always be honest with viewers. We will not limit ourselves to strictly fact-based, bland stories which are completely bereft of passion. We will offer our share of one-sided stories. We will present articles that point fingers or poke fun at world leaders. But we will allow readers to make up their own minds. We will always make it abundantly clear that a particular story contains opinionated statements.
My site will also offer a front page style format. Readers seem to miss the front page. It is truly maddening to have to sort through the hundreds of articles presented on the New York Times web page. This will allow a movement lost in the online world: serendipity. Our readers will be able to stumble upon interesting, bizarre, and heart-breaking they never knew they wanted to read. As the articles said, people are frustratingly focusing on news that fits nicely into their agenda. By adopting a front page format, we will be able to inspire just as many serendipitous moments as are offered in print formats. The front page will be a hodge podge of different. Readers may come to the site only hoping to read news that reaffirms their political affiliations. Instead, they may be confronted with human interest stories and cultural studies above or below their intended readings. This force people to step outside the narrow agendas discussed in the assigned articles. We will also appease the authors of these articles by not limiting ourselves to national US coverage. All too often international news gets buried or omitted. Our front page screen will be an even blend of foreign and domestic culture, national and world events, American football, and soccer.
If possible the site will also feature family oriented news activities. These activities will encourage youngsters to get involved in the news at an early age. Children are no longer witnessing their fathers reading the paper during breakfast, or watching news during dinner This feature will allow today's children to experience news with their family first hand, with a series of news related games, fun quizzes, and youth oriented podcasts and videos. All too often children are ignored in the news. So, my site will have a section that extensively covers news which affects young people in America today. We will be filling a niche that has remained empty for far too long.
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