Saturday 22 October 2011

The survival of investigative journalism.

Although convergent journalism is forcing journalists to create content faster and adhere to stricter deadlines, investigative journalism will still continue to hold its place in the world of media.
Online journalism requires stories to be lodged as fast as possible in competition with other news outlets, but investigative journalism pursues stories which are aimed at the people and places behind the headline news and often have a longer shelf life.
According to Lieb (2002 p. 43):
Some journalists make it a habit to follow up on stories they have covered in the past, and some news organizations have institutionalized these kinds of stories with regular follow-up features.
Although the first assumption can be that investigative journalism is about finding scandals and conspiracies and award worthy stories, it is also about pursuing new angles on previously done stories, giving them an edge or showing a deeper and more colourful side to them.
Investigative journalism may even be aided by the internet, according to an article in The Guardian which points out how information and sources can be gathered a lot faster for an in depth piece using social media.



Lieb, T 2009, All the news: writing and reporting for convergent media, Pearson Education Inc, New York.


Friday 7 October 2011

Ethical and legal issues in convergent journalism.

With online journalism forcing reporters into a race against a continuous deadline, many news sites try and get news stories, at least in brief, up on their sites as fast as possible. This often leads to breakdowns in communication with sources, incorrect reporting and increased chance of legal & ethical issues.


When writing any story, no matter whether it's in brief or a deeply researched feature story, journalists need to make sure they adhere to the MEAA Code of Ethics. Section one is particularly relevant to reporters who sacrifice accuracy for getting the story out as fast as possible:
Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts.  Do not suppress relevant available facts, or give distorting emphasis.  Do your utmost  to give a fair opportunity for reply.
With the speed now required when uploading information to the world wide web, the onus is now on the reporter to check for accuracy, legality and ethical issues.

According to Wilkinson, Grant & Fisher, reporters who have previously had a phalanx of editors to check their work are now often finding themselves forced to do their own editing as they rush to file their stories online (2009, p. 68)

References


Wilkinson, JS, Grant, AE & Fisher, DJ 2009, Principles of Convergent Journalism, Oxford University Press, New York USA.