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Online Journalism
Online Journalism
March 4, 2009
By Drei Bardos
I was lucky to get all of my subjects for the second semester during the first run of the computerized enlistment. A decision was confirmed�I would finally take up the Online Journalism 117 course which is very timely because I just got my laptop. The decision wasn�t because I ran out of subjects to be enlisted to but due to the unrelenting need for computer and internet literacy.
To say that journalism and mass media are synonymous to print, TV, and radio is already flawed. Nick Carr of guardian.co.uk cited McLuhan as the one who argued that the �electric media of television and computers would liberate us from the dependence on the printed word.� The advent of the Internet revolutionized the landscape of how information is disseminated. Broadsheets and other print media organizations allocate resources to produce their online versions. Moreover, Pinoy Weekly has permanently shifted from print to online. Social networking sites such as blogs and other photo and file sharing websites serve as venue for citizen online journalism. On the other hand, TV networks maintain websites for their news and public affairs. All of these manifest the emerging significance of online journalism in the media industry.
As media organizations embrace technological advancements, so as or so as should be the world of the academe. The junior and senior students of the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Mass Communication created a website titled Headlines and Deadlines which contain collective efforts from the students themselves. The site presents latest updates on University and College issues not just to promote vigilance but to practice the profession according to what these students have learned about online journalism.
In UP, Online Journalism course aims to teach the students the same principles in journalism but with an entire different landscape of media and approach to news. With online journalism, everything about the mainstream media is fused into one. Articles, photos, motion picture or videos could be contained in one content. This form of journalism requires students the skills that should certainly be enough to cope with the pressure of producing news. The HTML handcoding lessons were truly of great help to journalism students. However, this skill is useless with the absence of adequate facilities�from computers to internet connection which should be inseparable. But, with what is observed, computer and internet connection in the college do not seem to exist at the same time. I just wonder why does this happen to the college which is known to be the pillar of excellence in the field of mass communication. As technology advances, so should be the facilities these future journalists are using. The country might be one of the nations around the world which respect freedom of the press but this freedom is basically not enough with restrictions of access to the Internet which provides instant retrieval of information.
The creation of Headlines and Deadlines and the participation of students in social networking sites by signing for personal accounts may be effective ways of gripping the new technology and form of journalism but not enough for the betterment of the quality of creative and content inputs. Constant practice of using the technology and adherence to basic principles of journalism despite the changing forms of media are immensely encouraged.
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