MJ - Modern Journalism Module Overview

Modern Journalism Module Overview

Introduction

Social Media app tiles

Technology of today presents an interesting change for journalists. As more people consume news online and through the use of social media, news organizations face the dilemma of how to attract new readers and viewers while still trying to hold on to their existing, and usually aging, print or broadcast audiences.
Through the use of technology the line between who produces and consumes the news has changed. Today, many of those that are consumers of the news have camera cell phones and other mobile video devices that allow them to become the on-scene reporter. Tools, such as Twitter, can distribute the information quickly and can skip traditional media by getting out the word within a matter of seconds.
A great strength of the Internet and social media is that it allows for a community of users to have a voice. In journalism, recognizing diversity and inviting feedback adds depth to a story. It makes sure that nothing is overlooked in mainstream media coverage 

Essential Questions

  1. What impact has social media had on reporting the news?
  2. How is journalism evolving?
  3. What impact has citizen journalism had on the traditional news organization?
  4. Is professional journalism a career of the past?
  5. What is the difference in reporting a written story and a visual story?
  6. What are some advantages and disadvantages of each news format?
  7. What information does one news format provide that another might not?

Key Terms

  1. Anchor - The newscaster who hosts the studio portion of the newscast. The anchor is the dominant voice in the presentation of the news to the audience.
  2. Bias - Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
  3. Blog - A blog is usually maintained by an individual or a business with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.
  4. Broadcast - A single radio or TV program; the transmission or duration of a program.
  5. Citizen Journalism (participatory journalism) - This type of journalism is based upon public citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information.
  6. Facebook - Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study, and live around them. Facebook is one the largest social networks in the world.
  7. Forums - Also known as a message board, a forum is an online discussion site. It originated as the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board.
  8. Hashtag - A hashtag is a tag used primarily on the social networks Twitter and Instagram as a way to annotate a message. A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by ''#.'' Example #yourhashtag. Hashtags are commonly used to show that a tweet, a Twitter message, is related to an event or conference, online or offline.
  9. Lead-in - In broadcasting, a few words or sentences read by the presenter, telling listeners or viewers about the report which immediately follows.
  10. Newsfeed - A news feed is literally a feed full of news. On Facebook, the News Feed is the homepage of users' accounts where they can see all the latest updates from their friends. The news feed on Twitter is called Timeline (not to get confused with Facebook's newer look, also called Timeline).
  11. MySpace - MySpace is a social networking website that became the most popular site in the United States in June 2006 and was overtaken internationally by its main competitor, Facebook, in April 2008.
  12. Podcast - A podcast, or non-streamed webcast, is a series of digital media files, either audio or video, that are released episodically and often downloaded through an RSS feed.
  13. Reporter - A reporter is a type of journalist who researches, writes, and reports on information to present in sources, conduct interviews, engage in research, and make reports.
  14. Retweet - To share or forward (someone else's message) on Twitter.
  15. Social Media - Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.
  16. Social Networks - This is a term used to describe social media communities such as Facebook or MySpace.
  17. Sound effects - Sounds added during the editing process on radio or TV.
  18. Sound Bite (SOT) - This is an edited slice of a newsmaker speaking. This is often measured in seconds.
  19. Twitter - This is a microblogging tool that allows you to send a short update and/or a complete short post of 140 character or less.  These messages are often called tweets. 
  20. RSS - RSS (Rich Site Summary) originally RDF Site Summary often called Really Simple Syndication, uses a family of standard web feed formats to publish frequently updated information blog entries, news headlines, audio, video. An RSS document (called ''feed,'' ''web feed,'' or ''channel'') includes full or summarized text, and metadata, like publishing date and author's name.

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