Fine Gael and the BBC website – On Chris’s Blog

 This entry concerns a recent post by Chris Murphy, in which he commented on the Fine Gael website and its apparent similarity to the BBC’s. Chris notes the BBC’s international success and speculates that Fine Gael’s similar format is an attempt to look more professional.

There has been quite alot of talk on the blogosphere about this issue, including posts on Politics, and the original post on Maman Poulet. Steph, a web designer and developer whose blog may be found here observes: “Their developers didn’t even bother to change the class names in the CSS files”.

Wiki Hoax fools Mainstream Media

This post is in reference to a story published online by the Irish Times. I found a link to it on the frontpage of Reddit, the social news website that was the focus of an earlier blog entry. The story, found in today’s (06/05/2009) Irish Times is about an experiment carried out by a UCD student.

Shane Fitzgerald, a final year sociology and economics student was attempting to demonstrate how journalists used the internet as a primary source, and how the internet has a major role in connecting people in today’s society. On the night of the death of the French composer Maurice Jarre, Fitzgerald fabricated a plausible quote and posted it on the website, attributing it to the deceased man.

Hoax!

The End of Online Freedom

The power of the Internet has grown continually ever since its conception. While those in power can exercise a large degree of control over the mainstream media – TV, radio, the Press – the Internet is a medium like no other. For this reason, it’s power is feared by the individuals who dominate these MSM sectors, and by governments. It is only natural then that these same entities would seek to control and regulate the internet - and this is happening all the time.

The traditional image that many of us have of the internet – as the last bastion of truly free speech – is rapidly vanishing. There are few places left on the net that the ‘Wild West’ of old still exists. It being killed off by laws that restrict online freedom and invade personal privacy, as modern society gradually moves toward the 1984 model envisioned by Mr Orwell. Interestingly, the rhetoric behind the various actions taken by governments against internet freedom is virtually indistinguishable from anything else that we’ve seen in the history of human government: It’s for our protection/freedom, etc. With the internet, the reasoning has fallen broadly into three categories:

Online Radio Journalism – On Ruth’s Blog

This blog entry is about a post made by Ruth Hogan, whose blog may be found here. The post was entitled ‘Radio Journalism Online’. Ruth describes how a relatively new medium like the internet has been able to support the older Mainstream Media, and the convergence of media through through online journalism. She argues that the increase in the number of people using computers has resulted in an increase in the number of people who access radio online, as opposed to the more traditional manner. She says: “The internet did not harm the radio listenership as many expected”.

Ruth points out that many Public Service Broadcasters, such as RTE and BBC now allow users to listen online for free, and that most radio stations now offer such a facility. She notes that this has the added advantage of allowing users to catch up on shows that they may have missed.

Blogs and Twitter now on the Curriculum

Several weeks ago (I have been slow getting round to it), the frontpage of the Guardian carried a story regarding draft proposals for an overhaul of England’s primary schools’ curriculum. The story may be found online here. As we all know, the Guardian is a faultless publication that is above any criticism, and it has been under-represented in my blog.

Moving on. The proposals would stipulate that children would leave national school comfortable with an all round knowledge of media technology – including that required to perform basic citizen journalism.  This includes the ability to use Twitter and wikipedia as sources of information, and also lessons on how to do blogging and podcasts. The Guardian also notes: “They must gain “fluency” in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell.”

 

Reddit – On Sean’s blog

 

The focus of this entry is a post made by Sean McTiernan back in February, on his blog ‘Sean Versus Online Journalism’, which may be found here. The post was about Reddit – a website that allows users to put up links to other websites that would be of interest. The links that receive the most attention appear in a hierarchical format on the front page.

 

Blog: Sean Versus Online Journalism

After explaining the basic format and function of the site, Sean goes on to explain the possible implication that Reddit might have for online journalism. He notes that it allows specialist blogs or independent sites to gain an equal footing with bigger Media outlets, such as online newspapers and the like. Furthermore, the apparent absence of an editorial agenda should provide a more objective news source, as theoretically, there will be stories from a wide variety of sites.

Project Censored

Project Censored is the name of an non-profit investigative project established in 1976 by Carl Jensen. Project Censored is a media research group that ‘tracks’ news and how it is covered. The internet has allowed the project to develop successfully by means of its official website, which attracts around 1 million views per month from a global audience.  Its tagline is: “The news that didn’t make the news”.

Project Censored Front Page

Students from the university maintain the site with the guidance of the staff at Sonoma State University - where the project is based. Its director is Peter Phillips.

Does the internet hurt journalism?

The Atlantic recently published a story based on a poll, entitled: “Media insiders say internet hurts journalism“. The poll, commissioned by The Atlantic and National Journal asked 43 “prominent members of the national news media” about the impact the internet has had on journalism. Two thirds (65 percent to be precise) said that the internet is doing more harm than good.

The Story:Poll of Media Elites

 

NewsTrust

NewsTrust is a non-profit online news rating service whose aim is to promote “quality journalism, to help people make more informed decisions as citizens.” The website features both news and opinion that has been rated by its members, based not just on poularity, but also on “journalistic quality”. The site was established in 2005 with the objective of informing audiences, and partly to address the problem of people’s mistrust of internet news due to the abundance of amateur online journalism. Newstrust’s tagline is: “Your guide to good journalism”.

 

NewsTrust Blog

Democracy Now!

Democracy Now.org is the website for the news, current affairs and analysis programme ‘Democracy Now! The War and Peace Report’ hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. The programme is broadcast on over 750 radio, tv, satellite and cable networks in the USA. The website provides access to the programme on an international scale by posting the show on the front page every day – giving users completely free access to streaming audio or video, as well as downloadable mp3s or podcasts.

Democracy Now! Front Page