UNIT 9 BASICS ELEMENTS OF ONLINE Basics Elements of

Online Journalism
JOURNALISM
Structure
9.0 Introduction
9.1 Learning Outcomes
9.2 Understanding Online Journalism
9.3 Characteristics of Online Journalism
9.4 Reporting for Online News Media
9.4.1 Traditional Reporting

9.4.2 Open Source Reporting

9.4.3 Distributive Reporting

9.5 Profile of Online Journalists

9.5.1 Integrated Production

9.5.2 Multi-Platform Delivery

9.5.3 Multi-Skilled Professionals

9.6 Trends in Online Journalism

9.6.1 Time Shift Journalism

9.6.2 Emergence of New Digital Platforms

9.6.3 Web 2.0 is Taking Lead

9.6.3 Publishing Online has Become Easy

9.7 Online Journalism in India

9.7.1 News Websites in India

9.8 Social Media for Online Journalism

9.8.1 Some Important Social Networking Sites

9.8.2 Blogs and Citizen Journalism Websites

9.8.3 Business Concern

9.8.4 Prospect of Online Journalism in India

9.9 Let Us Sum Up

9.10 Keywords
9.11 Further Readings
9.12 Check Your Progress: Possible Answers

9.0 INTRODUCTION

Online journalism refers to content created and distributed online. In other

words, this is a type of journalism that operates via the internet. Online
journalism should not be confused with 'citizen journalism. Online journalism 127
Online Journalism is the publishing of information equivalent to its print and broadcast
counterparts (such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television). It follows
the professional code of conduct similar to traditional journalism. This differs
from citizen journalism, which is not bound by any ethical and professional
code of conduct.
Digital media is a technology-driven and evolving medium. Innovations, new
ideas and concepts are added to it more frequently than in any other
traditional media. The introduction of mobile telephony has made access to
news a universal phenomenon. In India, there are more than a billion mobile
phone users, with over 389 million having access to the internet on their
handsets. According to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of
India (IAMAI, 2017), mobile internet users are expected to double in the
coming years. These days, more and more people are using mobile phones to
access news and multimedia content. For a better user experience, most
media organisations are making their websites responsive.

A responsive website appears the same on all devices, including the desktop,
tablets and mobile handsets, irrespective of their operating system. The
mobile has assumed such a central stage in digital communication that
organisations have now adopted the 'mobile-first concept. It means a website
is designed and developed keeping in mind the mobile handset users instead
of the earlier priority given to the desktop.

9.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

After working through this Unit, you will be able to:

• understand the characteristics and features of online journalism;

• know about the works of online journalists and prevailing trends in
online journalism;
• comprehend the status of online journalism in India, and
• gain an insight into social networking sites for online journalism.

9.2 UNDERSTANDING ONLINE JOURNALISM

With a few clicks, you can now access almost the entire world of journalism
and its wide variety of sources, along with multimedia materials. Before we
delve deeper into multimedia or online journalism, let us understand a few
definitions and keywords. Holly defines online journalism as original writing
and reporting that are delivered via the World Wide Web.
Today as we are witnessing that all types of work are getting transferred onto
the online mode, the media industry has also not lagged but has ventured
deeper into it and is exploring new opportunities of online news delivery and
related online news businesses. In the prevailing atmosphere of cut-throat
competition in the news industry, those news organisations who are not
adapting to the online medium are expected to lose their competitive edge
and may be unable to sustain for long.
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 Basics Elements of
Online Journalism

You must have experienced that while trying to search for any reading
material, picture or video on the internet, as you write certain keywords in the
search engine, you get results running into several hundreds of web pages.
Sometimes these links get you on to a blog, many times on to a news website
and occasionally to government websites. All these links do not belong to
online journalism. Only websites belonging to media houses or blogs created
by professional journalists for providing authentic information to their
readers can be categorised as online journalism. Actually, in recent times you
might have noticed that the line between professional and personal
journalistic writings are blurring significantly, mainly due to the proliferation
of social media and its popularity.

The online medium provides journalists with a vast range of options to gather
information interestingly and entertainingly. The internet provides an
opportunity for instant publishing, archiving, linking, and audio and video
with greater interactivity and provides instantaneous feedback. All these
features give online journalism an upper hand over other media. These key
features of online news medium greatly impact conventional media, e.g.
newspaper, radio, and television. Online media is posing a challenge to the
conventional media and is also forcing them to adopt changes in their
newsroom operations and news delivery platforms.

The impact of this can be seen in most daily newspapers as they have begun
to use more box items and bulleted information. This is only to make the
newspapers easy to browse. Renowned page designer Mario Garcia was 129
Online Journalism engaged to re-launch one of the prominent newspapers in India in the recent
past. In a briefing, Gracia suggested that the page should be designed so that
it should be easy to browse. The broadcast medium also tends to use the
interactive and feedback features of the online medium. If you listen to the
radio, you will find that the radio jockey asks you to choose your song online.
And TV news channels are using an online poll, and particularly many prime
time discussion shows are incorporating feeds from a live discussion on
social media.

This raises an important question - whether the new media can be seen as a
threat to conventional media or not? This is a point of debate among scholars.
Some believe that online medium will replace conventional media as it has
all the qualities of traditional news media. In the online medium, you can
read text, listen to audio and watch the video at your convenient time and
pace. But others believe that various types of media will continue to co-exist,
and the online medium will complement all others. Even at present different
types of media exist together. However, there are growing examples from the
west where print editions are getting significantly reduced in size while their
digital media presence is growing. In India, the current scenario is quite
different. We are witnessing a unique scenario where on the one hand, print
editions are growing in the regional languages, and equally, online journalism
outlets are expanding.

9.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF ONLINE

JOURNALISM
You have learnt the key features of online journalism; now, let us understand
the important characteristics of online journalism.

Online: As the word suggests, it operates on an online platform that can be

seen or updated in real-time. Here breaking news and events can be updated
as it happens - like live telecast in television news channels, live updates in
news websites are quite common nowadays. While we have had this facility
in Radio and TV also where we gather around and take updated information,
the difference here is that it can be seen on your computing devices and even
hand-held gadgets like mobile with some added features.

Shifted time: Online journalism also takes advantage of shifted time. Online
publications can archive stories for now or later. Users can read those stories
at any time of their choice. In other medium, this facility is not available
easily. In the conventional print media, if you want to read any previous day's
or month's newspaper, you have to access the news organisation library. One
should collect newspapers daily and archive them periodically – which can be
quite a tedious task.

Multimedia: Online journalism can include multimedia elements: text and

graphics (newspaper and books), sound, music, motion elements and
animation (broadcast medium), 3D, etc. One of the most significant
opportunities of multimedia journalism is combining various media elements
for a news story. At present, most media organisations provide derivatives of
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their 'parent' products. Newspapers provide digital text, radio organisations Basics Elements of
provide audio clips, and TV channels provide streaming video links. But Online Journalism

multimedia is providing these news entities with an opportunity to adopt

other designs also. There are several sites where we can see this adaptation.
Now radio channels are providing audio files and complementing them with
images and texts - the All India Radio (AIR) and the Voice of America
(VOA) websites are testimony to this.

Newspaper organisations provide digital text and audio clips and motion
pictures - almost all major dailies are practising this method. TV channels
complement their video files with text – similar to newspapers, and all
leading news channels are running their news portals. Seizing this
opportunity, online sites are now trying to take full advantage of the array of
media formats available. Websites are now complementing a story with flash
animation, a photo gallery, video and audio clips.

Interactivity: Online journalism is interactive. Hyperlinks are the primary

mechanism for this interactivity on the web. Through hyperlinks, different
media options are added to a news package to bring more in-depth analysis.
Through hyperlinking, various elements of lengthy and complex works are
added together in a story. The work of an online journalist consists of
hyperlinking of own web pages or, at times, links to other websites.

Interactivity also provides users options to comment and add some

information to the existing content. Online sites also conduct an online poll to
bring in more.

Interactivity. This feature of online journalism is helpful in several ways:

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Online Journalism • It makes users’ spend more time on the web page.
• It makes the users’ experience more enjoyable.
• It helps users to gain more information.
• Users perceive the site navigation easily.

Immediacy: As per Encyclopaedia of Journalism, 'News is like bread-it is

best served fresh as it goes stale quickly.' This statement points to the fact
that immediacy is a key component of journalism. Journalists are responsible
for providing information as quickly as they can, and what better way to do it
than through the internet. It is the fastest medium, and through this,
information can be disseminated from personal computer to mobile. With the
ability to upload content anytime through a basic internet connection, online
media is as immediate as we can get.

But then the question arises-whether immediacy wins accuracy. What can be
the priority? On the internet, information can be uploaded by any individual
on any social networking site or a blog. Individuals cannot be expected to be
guided by professional ethics and a code of conduct applicable to
organisations. In this scenario, any wrong information uploaded can create a
chaotic situation. Hence, online users need to know how to find reliable
information.
Hyper-textuality: Hyper-textuality is a prime 'tool' used to introduce
interactivity in a web page. Hypertext is a web link that can be used to
provide a variety of information on one page. These links carry a variety of
media content (audio, video, graphics, animation, etc.) in a story. Through
hypertext, journalists enrich their content. So, this distinctive, unique
characteristic of online journalism helps differentiate online media differently
from other forms of media. Traditional journalism provides for the linear
presentation of a story, while online media brings multi-linearity to the story.
It also enables users to be participants when they click their way through a
hyperlinked set of pages.

Check Your Progress: 1

Note: 1) Use the space provided below for your Answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this Unit.
1. List three usages of hypertext in a news story?
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9.4 REPORTING FOR ONLINE NEWS MEDIA Basics Elements of
Online Journalism

The impact of online media has been so huge that even reporters of
conventional media have begun to use online tools for reporting. Journalists
take the news lead from social media pages and uncover the story. For this
purpose, they keep following various personality profiles on social
networking and micro-blogging sites.

We now come to another platform - a citizen blog. People from diverse

backgrounds have their blogs. They keep writing on a variety of issues. Some
blogs carry people's comments on an issue popular in mainstream media, but
some are imported from the reporting point of view. For example, many
known personalities keep sharing their experiences on the blog and even their
viewpoints on certain subjects, which also carries news value. Journalists
keep following their blogs to get leads from there.

There are also examples where journalists are referring to blogs for news
coverage. The importance of blogs was understood during the Iraq war when
journalists were denied open access to most parts of that country with a
camera. Even at that time, some journalists managed to send real-time
information from the war-torn zone. Another interesting case is from the
USA. The news stories on Monica Lewinsky were first exposed in a blog
named drudgepost.com. This was a blog of a journalist who, upon his
organisation declining to take up that story in print, was forced to post it on
his blog and the rest, as they say, is history. The point here is that the
enormous potential reach of such social networking sites can be tapped as a
good resource for reporting, which journalists are regularly doing these days.
Online reporters have yet another

challenge in that they have to involve readers in the reporting also. Here
journalists do not have any other option. Interactive features of the internet
have the inherent potential to involve the readers, and it becomes the
responsibility of an online journalist to facilitate their desire. There are three
ways of online reporting.
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Online Journalism 9.4.1 Traditional Reporting
In the traditional reporting method, the online reporter uses online tools like
interviews, observation, looking through documents, reading online and
aggregate opinions. The only difference here is that all these news collection
activities are carried out online. By using email or chat, they take interviews,
journalists keep browsing different websites and make observations, read
online documents and finally create a story by aggregating opinions.

9.4.2 Open Source Reporting

Traditionally reporters do not share the story idea with their readers while
investigating and finding facts in the field. Reporters do not want to lose a
potential scoop to their competitors. But reporters in open-source reporting
take the opposite route. They share their story idea beforehand and ask users
to share their opinion, information and source. After getting information,
reporters go through all information provided and come up with a final story.
However, readers' information doesn't need to be used in the final story. It is
up to the reporter to use his/her discretion and judgement regarding the
information provided/collected.

The open-source reporting is based on the participatory communication

theory, which is based on the belief that the group knows more than an
individual. Open-source reporting suggests opening up the reporting process
to engage a community of readers in making a report, giving more
information and analysis than a single reporter. This type of reporting is best
suited for small media organisations with limited resources.

9.4.3 Distributive Reporting

Distributive reporting takes open-source reporting one step further by relying
on readers to submit information. Here, the community itself adds the multi-
faceted body of work, often covering all story angles. It is done especially in
stories that affect a large population. For example, the US geological survey's
"did you feel it?" earthquake shake maps, where people posted their personal
experiences. Another example is the Flickr collections of readers'
photographs having the same tags.

This type of reporting helps cover a story that has a huge impact and affects a
large population. In such a case, the possibility of readers having first-hand
information is more likely, and through distributive reporting, all possible
information can be tapped easily.
As distributive reporting involves readers in story formation, it increases the
responsibility of a journalist. If it is not handled properly, it will turn into
anonymity, with fake reports and defamation. But keeping the participation
theory in mind, this can turn into the best reporting method if the readers'
identities are appropriately checked. Journalists have to design this kind of
reporting effectively. Distributive reporting can generate a large volume of
information in a fraction of the time.

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Check Your Progress: 2 Basics Elements of
Online Journalism
Note: 1) Use the space provided below for your Answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this Unit.
1. How is reporting for online news medium different from reporting for
conventional media?
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2. Compare and contrast the open-source reporting and distributive
reporting.
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9.5 PROFILE OF ONLINE JOURNALISTS

Many people consider online journalism as their dream job. Still, to become
an online journalist, you need to have the skills of a reporter, editor, designer
and other skills related to the internet medium. Before understanding the
profile of an online journalist, it is necessary to understand the various
dimensions of online journalism. Online journalism broadly covers three
dimensions: integrated production, multi-platform delivery and multi-skilled
professionals.

9.5.1 Integrated Production

Online content is created in a multimedia format that combines any one or
more of the following media elements - text, graphics, pictures, audio and
video with interactive features. Different departments carry this out. It also
covers video editing, audio editing, designing and text editing. All these
departments work together to come up with a final product. Integration
between all these departments is very necessary for quality work. Whereas in
the print media, all departments work independently, and the level of
integration is pretty low.

9.5.2 Multi-Platform Delivery

Online-contents are delivered through different platforms. Online readers
may access content on personal computers and mobile also. Sometimes they
subscribe to social networking platforms to get regular updates. Online
journalists need to be ready for multi-platform delivery. Contents created for
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Online Journalism personal computers would be different from contents created for mobile.
Updating the social networking page is equally important. While digital
technology has made multi-platform delivery much easier, it is important to
note that regular human intervention is needed to improve the quality of
content. In integrated production, every story can be produced initially to fit
different platforms at the same time.

9.5.3 Multi-Skilled Professionals

To undertake multi-faceted work, the online medium needs multi-skilled
professionals. The work of an online journalist can be broadly divided into
six parts:

Provide quality work: The Internet has made working easy for journalists.
Here everyone can do it. It is a challenge for good online journalists to
perform well and provide quality work with the help of various internet tools.
Showcase work: After coming up with quality work, the next challenge is to
showcase the work to potential readers. There are several ways in which
journalist work can be disseminated. By choosing the suitable method to
showcase, the journalist can greatly enhance the reader's experience. Work
can be shown through written text, multimedia, using picture galleries and
graphics.

Interact with readers: Online medium offers great potential for

interactivity. Here journalists can talk to their readers in real-time. As an
online journalist, one should ask the readers what they do not know and, after
assessing their needs, should work accordingly. The online journalist should
always try to engage the readers on their turf, never try to preach to them, and
help the readers engage meaningfully amongst themselves. They should let
the readers reach a journalist when they wish and facilitate interpersonal
communication by providing contact email or social media ID to the readers.

Help readers get the complete picture: In an online medium, there is

always a possibility that users may not be able to assess the desired
information, or they may get one-sided information or incomplete
information due to a lack of background information. An online journalist
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should always try to practice responsible, sustainable journalism. It can be Basics Elements of
done by recycling and reusing the background information. Make sure to Online Journalism

provide relevant background information through a hyperlink and also make

it easily searchable.
Plan well for the story: Make a list of story assets. Then make a list of
descriptions of the types of readers who will be interested in the story. Then
try to find a path that will suit every reader. Storyboarding is important as it
helps to frame the story efficiently.
Be poised at the time of breaking news: At the time of breaking news, try
to be the first but never forget to cross-check the information from different
sources. Always remember, giving no information is better than providing
wrong information. At the time of breaking news, a journalist should be
ready to take information from the readers. Tell the readers what the
journalist knows so far and give them some more information related to the
story if possible.

To complete such a diversity of work in the online field requires multitasking

professionals in the newsroom. In other words, more professionals in the
newsroom can do more than their normal share of work. A multimedia
journalist would develop editing, reporting, design and other skills. Hence,
three levels of multi-skilling are required of an online media professional:
Media multi-skilling - it means the journalists capable of producing content
for different media;

Issue multi-skilling – they need to report on news related to different

thematic areas. It means a journalist covering crime should feel comfortable
covering politics also.
Technical multi-skilling - they are responsible for performing most of the
production tasks. For example, reporters may need to do editing work and, if
needed, work as multimedia professionals also.

Check Your Progress: 3

Note: 1) Use the space provided below for your Answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this Unit.
1. State the qualities of multi-skilled professionals in online journalism.
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9.6 TRENDS IN ONLINE JOURNALISM

With new technologies in the digital world cropping up every day and the
changing desires of users, it is creating new trends in online journalism. 137
Online Journalism These trends are not only helpful in tapping more users but also in providing
new experiences to users.

9.6.1 Time Shift Journalism

The days when we waited for a re-telecast of a programme on television are
over. Similarly, we do not have to make arrangements for the individual
recording of some popular show. Because now in the age of the internet, all
we need to do is search the internet for the content and watch it at our
convenience. The reason is simple, and now it is time for time shift
journalism or time-shift content. Also, when we first encounter a piece of
information and the time we consume it can be different. That is why the tab
like ‘read later’ or ‘watch later’ have become quite common.

9.6.2 Emergence of New Digital Platforms

New technologies are emerging to meet the consumers' demand and give
opportunities for a new experience of news. The emergence of several new
devices like tablets and smartphones are becoming very challenging for
online journalism. Compounded with this challenge is the increasing number
of operating systems; for example, there are two major types: iOS and
Android in the mobile market. These new devices are changing the way that
we consume news. Online media houses have to be compatible with these
changing technologies. Many media houses are coming up with new
applications to meet these challenges. But as the product life cycles are
getting shorter and shorter in this digital age, it is finally up to different news
organisations and other online entities to try and figure out how they can
produce the kind of product that will fit into these sorts of niches.

9.6.3 Web 2.0 is Taking Lead

Web 2.0 is the new talking point in online media. It enables users to play an
active role in content creation. In the world of web 2.0, content power is not
with media but with the masses. Web 2.0 provides the basic structure of
participation, such as:

The architecture of participation: these are online facilities for user-generated

content such as blogs and wikis. The popular website based on web 2.0 is
Wikipedia, where every registered user can contribute/edit/delete the content
as per the existing Wiki community norms.
Crowdsourcing: this is a collaborative form of reporting where with the help
of web 2.0, a group of people work together to gather information. Each
contributor researches on the part of the overall piece.
The premise is that the group knows more than an individual at any time, and
new technologies enable such an effective form of collective and
collaborative action. This is encouraging citizens to take an active part in this
new form of journalism. Besides, this will strengthen the democratic process
as Beth Simone Noveck argues that the way people are coming together, not
just to create content, but also to create power.

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9.6.4 Publishing Online has Become Easy Basics Elements of
Online Journalism
Publishing online has become easy with the advent of many online platforms
and new technologies. Publishing content on blogs and social networking
sites has become very common and popular among youth. On social
networking sites, too, the youth are dominating. Another new thing which is
becoming common among youth is 'mobile phone blogging'. This is location-
based instant blogging. They use their camera to shoot or click a photograph
and post it instantly. It has made online journalism more competitive. The
success of a website depends not only on the quality of its content but also on
gathering content online by following online platforms like blogs,
microblogging websites and social networking websites.

By using these facilities, websites following web 2.0 are trying to elicit more
participation from their readers. These websites focus on the submission of
users rather than staff reporters or editors. Such contents are gathered from
various online options: blogs, photos, podcasts, video sharing, reviews,
forums, etc.

9.7 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN INDIA

The history of the internet is very short in India. It started in 1995 when
Videsh Sanchar Niger Ltd (VSNL) introduced the internet in six cities in
India. The first cyber cafe in India was launched in 1996 in Mumbai, and in
the same year, rediff.com was launched. The first Hindi web portal in India,
named Webdunia, was launched in 1999.

As of December 2018, India had 566 million internet users, about 40% of
internet penetration (Kantar IMRB, 2018). Out of these users, 493 million
were active internet users. If we further bifurcate the data, 293 million users
were urban and 200 million from rural areas. And as we all are aware that the
Indian government has been trying to push internet access to the Panchayat
level and has also been promoting computer literacy in the rural areas to
implement the e-panchayats programme. In such a scenario, it is obvious that
the number of internet users in rural India will go up manifold in the coming
years.

Hence, the future of internet journalism looks bright in India. More

penetration of the internet is bound to bring more users. So internet
journalism in the country should be well prepared to serve people from
different classes. However, looking at the current situation, it seems that the
internet has to cover a long way.

9.7.1 News Websites in India

In India, many news websites seem to be mere extensions of the prime media
product (Newspapers or News channels) itself. Websites are created to carry
detailed stories of a wide range filed by the reporters and editors of the
newspaper. Quite a few independent sites are also operating, but their
economic base is not very strong. Because of that limitation, they are unable
to hire trained online journalists. They are still entirely dependent on agency
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Online Journalism feeds and newspapers reporters. Many news channels also have their
websites. Courses related to online journalism are not taught in various
institutions.

9.8 SOCIAL MEDIA FOR ONLINE

JOURNALISM
Social networking sites provide online space to create their online profiles
and update them with their activities. While doing so, they can keep track of
updates of their friends and family.

People can also engage in group activities and display feeds information on
their home page. These feeds range from personal to news stories.

For journalists and news organisations, it is a platform that can connect with
people to share and receive as much information as they can. Journalists can
use this platform in the following ways:

1. Online journalists can showcase their stories here. It is a platform where

journalists can develop personal brands of themselves.
2. Online websites can create their page on social networking sites to share
some of the important stories there. With the help of this, a website can
increase its traffic.
3. Social networking sites can develop widgets and applications to give
important news feeds customised to individual needs and demands. For
example, hindustantimes.com has developed a special page named 'I love
my Delhi' where they keep posting important news and activities in
Delhi.
4. Journalists can develop their network to get information, and some lead
to an incident and make a comprehensive story. There are several
examples where the news organisations received the first information
through social media.
5. Online news websites should not always try to post links only, and they
should also try to share something as small write-ups. This will be
140 helpful in brand building.
 Basics Elements of
Online Journalism

9.8.1 Some Important Social Networking Sites

According to Alexa ranking (a popular online website ranking website), the
top three social networking sites are listed below:

Facebook: Facebook, founded in 2004, initially started as a service for

college students but soon opened for everyone. As of June 2019, worldwide,
it had 2.4 billion monthly users (Facebook Newsroom, 2019).

Twitter: Twitter was launched in July 2006. It has become synonymous with
social movements in many countries. Public figures seem to prefer this
medium as it helps them keep in touch with their audience directly. In 2018,
there were 321 million monthly users on Twitter (Washington Post, 2019).

LinkedIn: It was launched in 2003. It is a network site that targets

professionals and promotes itself as a platform to make business contacts and
find jobs. In October 2019, globally, there were 645 million users in Linked
In (Linkedin Newsroom, 2019).

9.8.2 Blogs and Citizen Journalism Websites

The blog is an area with a separate identity. In India, the news value of blogs
is very limited. Here, most blogs are an expression of personal opinion by the
blogger or commentary on a certain issue, which can be highly subjective and
biased.
Citizen journalism is where a person works on a report and puts it in the
public domain. But in India, this area is in a very nascent form and has a
long way ahead. At present various news sites give them a separate specific
designated space named citizen journalists.

9.8.3 Business Concern

It is also a well-known fact that global online journalism has created its own
niche space, making advertisements switch over. While many newspapers in
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Online Journalism western countries got badly affected during the recent global meltdown, the
internet remained unaffected. Publishers in developed countries are debating
over the adverse effects of the internet on the print business. But in India, the
scenario is quite different. Here, the circulation of some newspapers is
increasing. Print managers are exploiting the new information and
communication technologies and expanding their businesses. Many leading
newspapers have come up with local editions like Hindustan, Amar Ujala,
Dainik Jagaran (Hindi newspapers), Hindustan Times, Times of India, the
Telegraph (English newspapers) and so on. More and more readers are
showing interest in local editions.

Print editions are also adopting new marketing techniques to tap more
readers. The new marketing techniques are organising events and exhibitions
for readers and offering gifts and discounts to subscribers. Such techniques
seem to be increasing the visibility and circulation figures of the dailies.
Hence, the print medium seems to have responded well to the changed
circumstances. It has adopted the new technologies and increased its
circulation. Statistics have shown that more and more readers now prefer
regional language newspapers (IRS, 2018), which may be one of the driving
factors for many local editions of several newspapers coming up. Yet another
factor could be the growing literacy rate among the rural population.

9.8.4 Prospect of Online Journalism in India

Under these circumstances, there is a tussle between print and electronic
media for a greater portion of the advertisement pie. The online medium has
not received priority yet. Advisers are willing to consider web editions to
insert advertisements just as an add-on in some of the websites of leading
newspapers. This means that the web edition does not make substantial
revenue to run a successful website.

Check Your Progress: 4

Note: 1) Use the space provided below for your Answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this Unit.
1. What is the present status of online journalism in India?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

9.9 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit, we have discussed the key features of online journalism and its
characteristics. We discussed the reporting format for online news media and
methods for online story construction.

We came to know about the profiles of online journalists and trends in online
journalism. Also, we discussed online journalism in the Indian context and
how to use social networking sites for online journalism.
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9.10 KEYWORDS Basics Elements of
Online Journalism

Interactivity: is a kind of communication process that occurs between human

beings and computer systems. Based on a user's engagement, the computer
responds to his/ her demands; usually, online media content is displayed based on
a click/tap.

Scanability: the level o f ability or skill for a person to read a portion of

text. In online media, it refers to user’s glancing through web content
simultaneously scrolling the webpage.

WEB 2.0 refers to the second stage of development on the internet. It mainly
denotes the changes in users’ engagement with the internet (user-generated
content) and the emergence of social media.

9.11 FURTHER READINGS

1) About Us. (2021). HTTPS:// news.linkedin.com/about-us#statistics
2) Barbie Zelizer (2019) Why Journalism Is About More Than Digital
Technology, Digital Journalism, 7:3, 343-350, https://doi.org/10.1080/
21670811.2019.1571932
3) Bob Franklin (2014) The Future Of Journalism, Digital Journalism, 2:3,
254-272, https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.930253
4) Bradshaw, P. (2013). The online journalism handbook: skills to survive and
thrive in the digital age. Routledge.
5) Company Info | Facebook Newsroom. (2021). https://newsroom.fb.com/
company-info/
6) Eldridge, S., & Franklin, B. (2018). The Routledge Handbook of
Developments in Digital Journalism Studies. http://bit.ly/ojunit11a6
7) Grabowicz, P. (2014). The Transition to Digital Journalism - Berkeley
Advanced Media Institute. http://bit.ly/ ojunit17a4
8) IMRB, K. (2021). Internet in India. http://bit.ly/ojunit11a2
9) John, N. (2021). Indian Readership Survey 2019: India Today is the largest
and fastest-growing magazine. HTTP:// bit.ly/ojunit11a1
10) Parthasarathi, V., & Srinivas, A. (2013). Mapping Digital Media: India.
http://bit.ly/ojunit11a5
11) Sen, A., & Kleis Nielsen, R. (2016). Digital Journalism Start-Ups in India.
http://bit.ly/ojunit11a4
12) Shaban, H. (2019). Twitter reveals its daily active user numbers for the
first time. http://bit.ly/ojuni11a3
13) Siapera, E., & Veglis, A. (2012). Introduction: The Evolution of Online
Journalism. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/pdf/10.1002/ 978111831
3978.ch1

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Online Journalism 14) Višòovský, J., & Radošinská, J. (2017). Online Journalism: Current
Trends and Challenges. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.5772/68086

9.12 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE

ANSWERS
Check Your Progress: 1
1. It is available online and can be archived for easy access with added
multimedia features, immediacy and hyper textuality.

Check Your Progress: 2

1. While creating an online story, one should make readers feel more
informed, entertained and engaged. For that, scanability and compact
pages for the online story should be ensured. Also, the story should have
multimedia, tags/keywords, hyperlink based structure and interactive
features.
2. In online news media, all reporting processes are done online, e.g. by
email and chats, and the interview is done, different websites are
browsed to make observations. Open-source reporting and distributive
reporting are the main features of reporting for online news media.

Check Your Progress: 3

1. Multi-skilled professionals in online journalism provide quality work,
showcase work in the right way so that readers gain great experience,
interacts with readers, help them to get a complete picture of the story,
plan for the story and are poised during breaking news online.

Check Your Progress: 4

1. Many news websites are mere extensions of the prime media product
(Newspapers or News channels) itself. Websites are created to carry
detailed stories on a wide range of issues filed by reporters and editors.
Many independent sites are also operating, but their economic base is not
very strong. Because of that, they are unable to hire trained online
journalists. They are still fully dependent on agency feeds and newspapers
reporters. Many news channels also have their websites. But that is also to
carry popular video clips on the websites.

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