Future of Journalism & the internet

The main question hanging over the print media industry is whether the newspaper format, will live another 100 years? I would answer yes and no. As a transfer medium: no; as a creative medium: yes. Paper will be replaced as the transfer medium – by electronic paper. As a function, the newspaper is indispensable. On account of journalism. The Internet is not the new newspaper. It is a genuinely new medium. Not just a new transfer medium, but a new creative medium, too. This means that the Internet will establish itself alongside the media already on offer, not replace them.


There is a key difference between globalized Internet journalism and newspaper journalism. They have entirely different functions. On the Internet, I get faster access to more information about something I already know I am interested in. If I want to learn something about a specific illness, I go to the Internet. A few links later, I am on a special medical site, and a few seconds later a search engine has found the right doctor for my ailment. In the newspaper, on the other hand, I learn about things I did not even know I might be interested in. I wanted to read something about backache and ended up reading a text about holidays in Hawaii. The newspaper has breadth, the Internet has depth. The newspaper works horizontally, the Internet vertically. The second essential difference is that on the Internet, the user guides the journalist. In the newspaper, the reader is guided. The Internet has turned the hierarchy on its head. It is selflessly anti-authoritarian in character, profoundly democratic. Newspapers, by contrast, are confidently authoritarian.


Is this the future? Yes. It is part of the future. But what does it mean for newspapers? Do they have to become fast food, consumable on demand? Do they have to try to become like the Internet? I think not. Newspapers must focus on their own strengths, and that means being a horizon medium, creating and satisfying wishes and interests which readers did not even know they had. As in the past, this remains the newspaper's future, regardless of whether it is delivered on paper or electronic paper. One thing I am sure of is that the future of newspapers is digital.

Political Campaigns & the Internet

Blogging, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Online Donations, and Online Organizing and Communications are Key Aspect of Political Campaigns

In last year's mid-term American election, the Internet has proven to be the necessary tool for campaigning on all levels. Campaigns have developed sophisticated Internet tools to enhance their campaigns, targeting young and web-savvy voters.

Americans have embraced the Internet to connect to the political process. Online campaigning has revolutionized political communication, grassroots activism, supporter outreach, and fundraising. "With so many close elections this year, the Internet has played a pivotal role in fundraising, organizing, and get out the vote efforts," said Alexis Rice, Project Director of CampaignsOnline.org and Fellow at the Center for the Study of American Government at Johns Hopkins University. "Campaigns have embraced Internet strategies to stay competitive."

Blogging has become an essential part of political campaigns, with campaigns, special interest groups, and national political parities not only creating blogs, but hiring paid bloggers to write on their behalf on "independent" blogs. Campaigns utilized their own blogs to present their messages and brought supporters together to form a new online community. Campaigns have also reached out to bloggers in a similar way they have always reached out to the mainstream press, sometimes even giving bloggers more access to their campaigns than mainstream press.

Campaigns continue to depend on online donations and are utilizing e-mail and blogs to rally and communicate with their supporters and solicit donations.The use of social networking tools, like Facebook.com and Myspace.com, has become a new way to connect and get involve young voters in campaigns. Also, the video site, YouTube.com has become a place for campaign ads and video highlighting campaign activities.

"In the 2006 election, the Internet has again proved its power; showing it is a place to organize, inform, and raise funds easily," said Rice.

Of course nothing would beat the presence of the candidates to be present at a campaign event such as a rally speech. To show sincerity and clarity in their presenting what they can offer the people and such, being there physically would be a must. Therefore the internet has its limits Has Singapore started using the internet as a campaigning tool?

News ML?!?!

You must be wondering what NewsML is.

NewsML is an invented word, which combines "News" and "XML". As special XML-format the transmission standard NewsML is specialised in the application of news exchange. NewsML is to deliver content automatically and in a multimedia way from content providers to customers. In this, there are respectively own description fields for source, date, author, title and other classifications. NewsML was adopted by IPTC (www.iptc.org) in October 2000. In the IPTC working group were almost all important content suppliers - above all the German and international news agencies.

Essential for XML/NewsML is the quantum leap towards HTML. Whereas the time-honoured HTML only displays contents, XML structures these contents similar to a database. With XML the site description language is completed by the integrated structuring of data. Only by this information or news can be automatically processed.

However, data are often differently structured for each task and each customer and are therefore differently implemented in XML. Thus news have been stored and transmitted in different formats. For each connection of individual information sources special conversion regulations were necessary. The standardised NewsML-format now offers a real platform-independent exchange of news and is organised in such a way that it fulfils almost all conceivable demands on a standard for the exchange of news. In contrast to the NIFT-standard (a slightly out-of-date industry standard for the exchange of news) NewsML is particularly prepared for the multimedia age.

The special features of NewsML

Core of the NewsML are NewsItems, which can contain different media formats: texts, graphics, video etc. Since NewsML is media independent it is not only suitable for the transmission of TV-news but also for simple texts - in the same format. The NewsItems can be provided with meta information, which makes it possible for applications to understand the relationships between the NewsItems. By this, content can be distributed fully automatically - without any revision of editors or programmers.

All news are categorised in the NewsML-standard according to a general definition. For special tasks - like implemented by the NetFederation for one of their customers - this general catalogue can be adapted in a compatible way.

In detail NewsML offers the following advantages:

• The transport of different media formats is possible
• Updates and updating pursuance of news are facilitated
• The archiving and distribution of news is facilitated
• There are mentioned relationships between NewsItems, which for example can be used for the personalisation
• The structure of news consists of individual text parts, which are related to each other
• Text modules of news can be variably displayed or cut out (for certain stages of confidence)
• Duration of validity, topicality and priority of news can be transmitted
• Through the platform-independent exchange of news the distribution to technologically different formats and channels is possible