In digital, YouTubers create incredible
videos, citizen journalists present a case that learning journalism is redundant,
whilst bloggers can beat their chest that they stopped a democratic nominee
from running for US president.
When digital is remembered for its many
characteristics, one key point is how it showed up traditional journalism to be
found wanting. It’s almost not enough that you can now blog, podcast, be a
videojournalist, social network and code, because that has become the norm.
So what separates a trained journalist from
a citizen journalist? That’s a question worth debating. But in the meantime,
what’s expected from you when you write an article for online.
Here’s ten tips.
1.
Anything can become a story,
but inherent in the story must be its news worthiness. A story about cats in
trees is a news story -– depending on the circumstances. Yet it may not carry
as much newsworthiness as a crime story, a financial story, a health story, a
legal story etc. The more topical and newsworthy the story, the more you make
yourself an asset in the newsroom. Newsworthiness is also dependent on the
audience.
2.
Events exists, stories are
found and synthesised. There is a premium an editor attaches to a story
constructed from primary sources, compared to one which Ex- BBC Chief Pat Loughry refers to
as “air conditioned journalism”. In the latter case, the story is a recycle of
existing stories on the main news networks. If they already exist on mainstream
news ask the question, ‘what value am I bringing to this existing story?’
3.
An air conditioned story,
however, can be transformed by showing originality, finding a new angle and
contacting your sources to move on the story. That also shows initiative.
4.
We can make the assumption that
some bloggers, who have not trained as journalists, can write truly well, so
what does the journalist offer in the writing form? Answer: a comprehension of the conventions
that make an article receptive to an audience. These conventions can generally be
observed on BBC’s News online or the HBR
blog link.
5.
The conventions of writing
online include an adherence to Jakob Nielsen’s rules (see Blackboard).
6.
Attribution separates an
article from being an opinion piece. Opinion pieces have a place in journalism,
but the bread and butter of journalism is ‘objective’ writing.
7.
Links matter and the quality of
links matter too. Knowing what to link from in your text is a skill worth
knowing.
8.
Presentation is key. It
provides the feeling of professionalism. Presentation involves some basic
attributes and how a pro-looking news page looks. There is no fixed template,
but the more relevant media play a role in supporting the writing, the more appealing, often, the
story looks.
9.
Demonstration of discussion in
the crowd or colleagues. This may have little consequence until the journalist realises,
in hindsight, they were not being self-reflexive enough – which will be
illustrated on their log.
10. Journalism is a cultural
convention influenced by social conventions and literary styles that change
over time. These conventions matter, but so does your individual style.
Sometimes your own style requires being toned down; sometimes it doesn’t. It’s
a matter of choice. Either way enjoy your writing and how you’ve learned to be
critical of your work.
p.s and yes there are no links on this post :(
p.s and yes there are no links on this post :(