The Internet Manifesto
Set up by a group of German journalists the Internet manifesto sets out 17 declarations on the role of the internet in the future of journalism.
Rightly so albeit in a long-winded, autocratic manner the manifesto points out that journalism must adapt to survive in the media age.
The Internet provides a totally different sphere to anything else. The internet is part of the everyday life of the majority of adults in today’s society (at least in the western world) it allows the audience to create their own personal news universe, transcends boundaries and knocks down the walls of ‘fortress journalism’.
Anybody can post anything on the Internet creating an unforeseen depth of information and it is this that threatens ‘real’ journalists.
Therefore it’s important that newsrooms embrace this multifaceted platform and interact with the user. “Those who want to survive in this new world of information need a new idealism, new journalistic ideas and a sense of pleasure in exploiting this new potential.”
There will always be a differentiation between good journalism by well established if you like trustworthy news sources and the rest. I for one have attempted to follow breaking stories through user-generated content and the benefits are un-paralleled but this is always followed up by a visit to the BBC or one of the national newspapers websites.
“The Internet debunks homogenous bulk goods. Only those who are outstanding, credible and exceptional will gain a steady following in the long run. Users’ demands have increased. Journalism must fulfil them and abide by its own frequently formulated principles.”
One journalist has responded to this in her blog
and outlines an ironic but obvious flaw – those people who are not adapting to the multimedia age and thus don’t spend a great deal of time on the Internet probably haven’t seen the manifesto as it is on the Internet.
“So writing down journalism manifestos and putting it online isn’t the answer, because too many of the people who need convincing aren’t looking there that often.”
She goes on to list five commonly heard phrases in the newsroom. The simple answer is if you don’t have time – make time and if you don’t know how to do something – ask. “Someone who says, “I’m too busy to…” (Shoot a video/record some audio/set up a survey…) is limiting themselves to one avenue of story-telling – text”. When planning a story a good journalist should be thinking of what multimedia tools could be utilised to enhance the piece and increase its accessibility.
In short we live in a multimedia age. In the past the tools of the trade have been a pen and paper now we have a whole array of tools out our disposal. Like technology has evolved journalists must to.
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