TIRU TAOFEEC KOLAWOLE

LAGOS STATE POLYTECHNIC

SCHOOL OF PART-TIME STUDIES,

IKORODU, LAGOS

MASS COMMUNICATION HND II

MATRIC NO:  136072046

WRITE ONE PAGE REPORT ON ONLINE JOURNALISM AND MEDIA LAW

What is online journalism?

Journalism is evolving rapidly in a “mixed media” of traditional newspapers and broadcast stations combined with a “new media” of on-line journalists.

These developments in journalism are driven by vast economic and technological changes. Some of these trends have profound ethical import for journalism. This section provides a brief description of some trends that impact on journalism ethics.

Journalism is any non-fiction or documentary narrative that reports or analyzes facts and events firmly rooted in time (either topical or historical) which are selected and arranged by reporters, writers, and editors to tell a story from a particular point of view.

Journalism has traditionally been published in print, presented on film, and broadcast on television and radio. "Online" includes many venues. Most prominent is the World Wide Web, plus commercial online information services like America Online. Simple Internet email also plays a big role.

Online journalism is a process that has been in use for the past years by newspapers industries, journalist e.t.c.to report facts produced and distributed through the internet. It has been noticed that people no longer buy the printed out newspapers except they want to keep it for reference purposes but the internet users sees it has a readily available and less costly network.
What are the distinguishing characteristics of online journalism as compared to traditional journalism?
real time
Online journalism can be published in real time, updating breaking news and events as they happen. Nothing new here -- we've had this ability with telegraph, teletype, radio, and TV. Just as we gather around the TV or radio, so we can gather and attend real-time events online in chat rooms and auditorium facilities.
shifted time
Online journalism also takes advantage of shifted time. Online publications can publish and archive articles for viewing now or later, just as print, film, or broadcast publications can. WWW articles can be infinitely easier to access, of course.
multimedia
Online journalism can include multimedia elements: text and graphics (newspapers and books), plus sound, music, motion video, and animation (broadcast radio, TV, film), 3D, etc.
interactive
Online journalism is interactive. Hyperlinks represent the primary mechanism for this interactivity on the Web, linking the various elements of a lengthy, complex work, introducing multiple points of view, and adding depth and detail. A work of online journalism can consist of an hyperlinked set of web pages; these pages can themselves include hyperlinks to other web sites.
Traditional journalism guides the reader through a linear narrative. The online journalist lets readers become participants, as they click their way through a hyperlinked set of pages. Narrative momentum and a strong editorial voice pull a reader through a linear narrative
With interactivity, the online journalist can pre-determine, to a certain extent, the reader/participant's progress through the material, but manifold navigation pathways, branching options, and hyperlinks encourage the reader/participant to continue to explore various narrative threads assembled by the reporter/writer/editor.
Readers/participants can respond instantly to material presented by the online journalist; this response can take several forms. Email to the reporter or editor resembles the traditional letter to editor of print publications, but email letters can be published much sooner online than in print.
Online journalists can also take advantage of threaded discussions that let readers respond immediately to an article, and to the comments of other readers, in a bulletin board-style discussion that can be accessed at any time. Readers can become participants in the ongoing co-creation of an editorial environment that evolves from the online journalist's original reporting and the initial article. Blogs (short for "Web log", a Web-based journal) make this easy.
The Internet is a time-saving research resource for journalists and editors, especially for reporters looking for background, if they care to dig and look. You also see a lot of articles, columns, syndicated features now about the Internet in print and broadcast publications.
While audiences for online journalism remain smaller than the audiences for mass media journalism, online journalists have the same influence on their audiences that mass media journalists have -- by choosing which stories to report; by choosing which facts, quotes, and other story elements to include and which to exclude; by choosing to tell the story from a particular point of view.
The Web's interactivity and hyperlinking gives the journalist more opportunities to examine multiple points of view in a particular piece than traditional, analog media. The lack of serious space limitations permits online journalists to develop a story more fully and to publish source documents and background material.

What is MEDIA LAW ?

Media Law is a legal field that relates to legal regulation of the telecommunications industry, information technology, broadcasting, advertising, the entertainment industry, censorship, and internet and online services among others.

Media Law is the subdivision of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton advertising.