Reporting for a global audience can be a steep learning curve for an inexperienced journalist. Unlike traditional media which usually limits the consumer to one or two news sources at a time, online news needs to grab the attention immediately or lose viewer to a competitor. Never has finding a different news source been easier, and catching the attention of a reader immediately been so paramount.
A major issue when reporting for a global audience involves mistranslation and different uses of slang terms that vary from country to country. Depending on an online translation tool, like a news outlet in Norway, can result in a simple sentence such as "mass killing" turning into "mass killing of vermin". Many news sites picked up English translations of the article, resulting in red faces but fortunately no long lasting ill effects.
Another major issue when reporting information that can be viewed around the world, involves the legal and ethical aspects. Recently France banned the promotion of Twitter and Facebook in all national media outlets, basing the ruling on the theory that this provided advertising for the two online monopolies. Although this is an extreme measure, it's important to remember that something that may be legally allowed in one country may be cause for legal action in another.
No comments:
Post a Comment