Newsroom for a New Age: Managing the Virtual Newsroom

Having separate newsroom is an advantage in a broadcasting network. Also, the advantages of maintaining a separate new media staff include creating a mechanism to generate original news reporting for online publication. Newspapers that have not set up a separate new media staff have put incredible demands on their reporters, who must now report for both the newspapers and online. Success has been achieved at least in part by integrating the online and print staff. It is important to get print reporters more involved in the online arena even if they don’t actually report for the online product.

The slow integration of Internet access in the newsroom was partly the result of a belief that the internet is not a terribly important tool for the modern journalist. This view is dying, but there remains another reason for the slow integration of Internet technologies into the newsroom: the presence of computer systems that were custom-built for the newsroom with specialized text-editing software that many newsroom managers find too expensive to replace. The biggest problem that arises with maintaining a separate new media staff is that in many cases the line between editorial and advertising is blurring.

Regardless of how the online operation is structured, new media present an unprecedented opportunity for creating collaborative approaches to reporting. The advent of much-improved wireless communications, such as personal communications services; improved news-gathering tools; such as high-resolution digital camera or experimental imaging sensors such as Columbia University’s Omnidirectional camera; and powerful lightweight portable handheld personal computers combine to give reporters in the field as many computing and communications capabilities as their central newsroom counterparts.

The introduction of a commercial device for mobile news reporting demonstrates the viability of what the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center has called the “virtual newsroom”. A virtual newsroom exists without any physical boundaries. Through electronic mail, remote electronic access to databases, and the ability to transmit multimedia content via the existing public telecommunications infrastructure, journalist are able to work entirely from the field without ever needing to enter a central newsroom location and to exchange messages, stories and picture files with editors anchored firmly in cyberspace.

The world’s first all-digital newsroom was KHNL-TV of Honolulu, Hawaii, launched on April 17, 1995, as a joint development with Avid Technology. New management models emphasizing communication with members of a highly decentralized, distributed newsroom are a clear imperative of research on mobile journalism technologies. The unsettled newsroom management issues including figuring out how to:
-- transition of a 24 hour news cycle
-- maintain efficient and reliable communication when technological advances have made high-speed and ubiquitous communication the de facto standard and;
-- produce effective news packages that utilize the full pallet of new media software tools but don’t overburden the news consumer with endless plug-ins, downloads, software glitches, and hardware up-grades.

New technology can produce many unexpected consequences. A study conducted for the Media Studies Center in 1988 by newsroom veteran Adam Clayton Powell III, now vice president of technology studies and programs for the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center, revealed that the introduction of videotape in TV newsrooms in the 1970s did more than simply provide an easier way to edit moving images.

Transforming Storytelling: From Omnidirectional Imaging to Augmented Reality

Newspapers are for the editor and broadcasting is for the producer. To the extent that these statements are true, we can say that Internet is for the journalists. The internet offers a broad spectrum of capabilities like interactivity, on-demand access, user control, and customization. Using the tools available in the Internet, online journalists can tell stories using whatever modalities and communication features are needed and appropriate for their story. On the other hand, audience can receive personalized news that places each story into a context meaningful to her or him. The only real limits on the Internet as a journalistic medium are bandwidth, connectivity, and credibility of content.

There’s a new form of news that is emerging, it is best described as contextualized journalism. It has five basic aspects, (1) breadth of communication modalities; (2) hypermedia; (3) heightened audience involvement; (4) dynamic content; (5) customization.

Communication modalities include text, audio, video, graphics, and animation, as well as emerging capabilities such as 360-degree video. These modalities enable the journalist to tell each story in a way uniquely suited to it, no longer constrained by the limited modalities available in previous analog media.

Online Journalism has only slowly begun to incorporate many of these multimedia capabilities. There are several reasons for this. First, except for many television network-based sites, most online news operations do not have extensive traditions in creating multimedia content; neither do they have a culture or set of resources to begin producing such multimedia content easily. Second, some news operations tend to view online reporting as merely an extension of their existing activities, and if they are print based, they tend to not view video and audio as terribly relevant. Third, many operations do not have staff with multimedia capabilities and backgrounds and are likely to hire reporters similar to those who have worked for the parent print operations, where the emphasis is on the written word; graphics, images, audio, and video are not part of their training.

A room with an omnidirectional view. Video-and photojournalists, cinematographers, and other videographers have used the frame of the photographic lens to define the linear narrative of visual storytelling. Three fundamental developments have made possible a paradigmatic shift in visual storytelling. First, digital video, it is set to become important not just in production but also in storytelling. Second, a new generation of image and sound acquisition devices will open up the possibilities available to those creating images and video, offering options ranging from panoramic views to three-dimensional immersive environments. Third, the growth of network media, including today’s internet and tomorrow’s digital television, will furnish a wide range of creative and interactive alternatives to visual storytellers.

Columbia computer science professor Shree Nayar has invented a camera with an unusually large field of view, Omnidirectional Camera. This camera employs a CCD camera (a camera with a charge-coupled device) and standard lens but records light gathered from the surface of a specially crafted parabolic mirror. Nayar has also developed an omnicamera formatted for the World Wide Web and accompanied by a Java applet that permits multiple viewers simultaneously to pan, tilt, or zoom anywhere in the field of view. Omnicamera involves no mechanical or moving parts; the view is controlled by software. An omniview camera can survey an entire scene with virtually no blind spots. An omnicamera permits multiple viewers to survey different parts of a scene.

Can Newspapers Find Their Niche in the Internet Age?

Newspapers can’t find their Niche in the Internet age unless they combine the strengths of print and cyberspace; traditional media traditional media may have trouble surviving (David Shaw).

Internet is the most used source of information nowadays. Students are at the top of my list. They access facts and ideas when they are doing their research, project, paper/book reviews, etc. They even get videos from the net and use it in class presentation. And then everyone else comes next. People don’t refer much to the radio or television or newspapers. When they want to get information, the first thing that will pop into their minds is the internet/computer. Because with just one click, poof! You got the answer to all your questions; you got the information about your research, etc. People are attracted to the unique features of the internet; they are fed up with what they see as the bias, inaccuracy, sensationalism and arrogance of traditional media.

It is true that if newspapers can improve their print publications to the advantage of what the internet can’t do and at the same time create their own website to capitalize on what the internet can do, they could thrive both journalistically and financially. The internet after all is just a delivery system — electrons and wires rather than ink and paper. “It doesn’t change the nature of what we do. It just changes the tools we use” (Owen Youngman).
Newspaper executives and the people who work for them must see themselves as being in the information and communications business, not the newspaper business.

Newspapers not only have the experiences staffs necessary to gather the news, but they must also have the editorial standards, the connection to their communities and the record of public service that would seem to give them a head start in any race to establish a journalistic beachhead in cyberspace. But cyberspace is infinite. There are no time or space limits — and ultimately no gatekeepers. Anyone can disseminate information instantly, throughout the world. The news consumer has to be smarter; he must do his own filtering of news, etc. The web is so informal and errors are easily and quickly corrected, many people writing for the web are less concerned with accuracy than are most traditional journalists (David Weir).

The internet is a bigger threat than TV. It is growing faster than TV did and it offers far more services than TV does—and it has come along at a time when newspapers are in a weaker competitive position than they were when TV began making its inroads. In fact, when a big news story breaks, many people already turn first not to newspapers or TV but to the internet. The internet is competing with newspapers for more than news, though. It is also competing for advertising, which provides about 80% of the income for a typical newspaper.

The Evolution of the Newspaper of the Future

Rooted from The Evolution of the Newspaper of the Future by Chris Lapham, there are two powerful forces that have emerged to change the mass communication model. First is the use of computers as a means of processing, analyzing, and disseminating information. Second is the constantly accelerating capacity of that technology to enhance communication so it is almost unbounded by time and space. True enough, people nowadays prefer getting information from the computer/internet. I think the reason is that because they have an access through the internet everywhere, like there are some places here in Manila like restaurants, coffee parlor, etc. where they offer Wi-Fi services. People with their laptops can access through the internet for free without an external modem, internet card and a telephone line. Another is no matter how far your loved ones may be and how long an important issue has been, you can still find it because of the constant accelerating capacity of technology to enhance communication.

It is true that this new communication revolution is shifting power to the people because they can publish anything they want, they can post their videos through youtube.com, they can get the things they want that are not available here in Manila because of e-bay and so on and so forth.

But a media critic and former executive producer of the CBS Evening News, Jon Katz said that online papers don’t work commercially or conceptually. They take away what’s best about reading a paper and don’t offer what’s best about being online. The point of the newspaper is to filter the worthwhile information, then print it.

Journalists of today must give their best in researching, reporting and analyzing news information before they publish it because in doing so, it can improve the quality of the data in analysis components. They must not publish inaccurate news to the masses because that will never be a success to him/her and everyone else in the newsroom.

A part of me agrees with what George Gilder said that the computer is a perfect compliment to the newspaper because it really enables the existing news industry to deliver its product in real time. It hugely increases the quantity of information that can be made available like archives, maps, charts and other supporting material. It also opens the way to upgrading the news with full screen photography and videos, while hugely enhancing the richness and timeliness of the news, etc.

Theories of Mass Communication

As a Communication major, I agree in the introduction that says, “Mass communication is a major source of information, companionship and entertainment.” Because based from the course I am pursuing, these are the points wherein we are told to focus on. We need to give accurate information, specifically news which is the most important part of media because people relay on the broadcast journalists and therefore should only give them true and honest news. Mass Communication is a major source of companionship because unlike other people, they leave. While media stays with you as long as you want it to. When no one is around and when you are feeling bored, you can just press the remote and poof! There goes your favorite TV program/movie that will accompany you through the rest of the day. Also, mass communication is a major source of entertainment, mainly because you get to entertain by your favorite TV shows, movies, music TV, etc. When you have a problem and you tend to escape from it, you turn on the television and watch comedy shows/movies. In that way, you escape from your problems by the entertainment that the comedy show/movie provides you.

Let us go to the theory of Marshall McLuhan called, Technological Determinism. The theory states that technology – specifically, media – decisively shapes how individuals think, feel, and act and how societies organize themselves and operate. I say that in a way, McLuhan is right primarily because that is what’s happening to the world nowadays. What people get from media/TV is what you get from them. They tend to imitate the things, actions, etc. that are shown on screen. Like the way celebrities act, the way they dress, their make-up and many more. Some people also imitate the way politicians argue based from what they see on television. Some argue with a point to get into while others argue for nothing. I think that everything now, we can get from technology-media.

In contrast to the Technological Determinism theory of Marshall McLuhann that is broadly concerned with any and all media that affect individual and collective sensory adaptation came Cultivation theory. The theory focuses on ways in which the specific medium of television cultivates basic world views. It also concentrates exclusively on television, a medium it regards as a uniquely influential socializing agent of the culture. It also says that watching television over a long period of time has effects on viewers’ beliefs and world views. This I agree because there came a time wherein I watched television the whole day, it was a Sunday and everything else fell based on the TV programs I was watching. It was like everything I see on screen, I agree. I didn’t feel like objecting, I became a passive audience. It really affected my beliefs and views in life. It was like everything they say is true and honest that I accepted everything positively.

Will New Media End Mass Media?

Will new media end mass media? Before I answer the question based form what I have read and my opinion let me first tell you the examples of traditional mass media and new media. Traditional mass media is composed of print, radio, television and film, while new media is composed of electronic book, compact and digital video disks, e-mail and WebTV.

Now, based from what I have read by Miguel Q. Rapatan, FSC, he answered and I quote, “This question should be examined in relation to the personal and social beliefs we have about the function of technology in society.” On the other hand technological idealists foresee new media reshaping the form and distribution of mass media. This change will lead to the “de-massification” of traditional media audiences and the creation of more opportunities for personal media. However, changes brought about by new media may be significant but they will not be drastic. George Lucas, renowned filmmaker of the Star Wars trilogies proclaims that, “I love film, but it’s a 19th-century invention. The century of film has passed. We are in the digital age now, and trying to hold on to an old-fashioned technology that’s cumbersome and expensive – you just can’t do it.”

I agree to what George Lucas’ said, mainly because I am not into old-fashioned technology in films. I want films to be more exciting to watch, I want the filmmakers to add new flavor in the world of great art. Like a pair of an old shoes, but even though it is old, I can still walk on it comfortably and even better I can go different places with it and in the end, satisfaction fills me in. It s always hard in any aspect of life when you still hold on to a particular thing wherein you get the same things over and over again, never changing. Of course the world is changing and you also want changes in your life, better changes.

The conclusion in this reading concludes that people are more strategic in their use of media whether it be mainstream or new. With creative accommodation, media technologies become sites of negotiation where constraints become fields for different levels of interactivity. On the other hand, my conclusion is that new media will end mass media if and only if new media will still find its way to make good technologies that will help people big time. People nowadays are into make-my-work-easier and better-please kind of thing than help-me-with-my-work-please kind of thing. People want all their works to be done with just a snap away that is why new media or modern technologies of today sell big time.

The "Duende" in your Hard Drive

A duende or a dwarf is an abnormally small person, often having limbs and features atypically proportioned or formed. It is also a small creature resembling a human, often ugly, appearing in legends and fairy tales.
With that being said, I expected this reading entitled, “The Duende in your Hard Drive” by Ramil Digal Gulle which is a very catchy title by the way, is a duende playing the role of a computer virus in the hard drive. I had no idea about the story that was why with the word duende in the title made me push through the reading.
The story is about Mr. John Bolen, the head of “firm of electrical engineers” and Alfred Knipe who is an exceptional but sloppy electrical engineer who is also a frustrated writer. Alfred Knipe being an electrical engineer and a frustrated writer proposed an “electronic calculating machine” – having an adjustable coordinator between the ‘plot-memory’ section and the ‘word-memory’ section being able to produce any type of story a person desires by simply pressing the required button. Mr. Bolen on the other hand was a bit skeptical about Knipe’s proposal. The reason was because he worries about the commercial viability of the proposed project. But Knipe didn’t give up, he pursued with the proposal and tried to win his boss’ approval by affirming him that he got it all worked out and this project will make them around forty big stories being bought each week – forty thousand dollars. When Knipe realizes that Mr. Bolen was about to be convinced, he added that his machine could produce a short story in only thirty seconds.
The conflict in the story is when Knipe was worried that readers might react negatively when they knew that the machine authored those stories. He then said to Mr. Bolen that there are two ways to solve that problem, (1) they will put their own names as authors and then invent names as the authors of the stories, (2) later on, they will ask real popular writers to sign a contract with the company approving not to write another word, but to lend their names as authors of the stories produced by the Great Automatic Grammatizator. And more and more writers are enticed to sign the contract with Mr. Bolen’s company.
The story made me a bit disappointed because I was at first very curious and excited about reading it because of its appealing title but when I got to finish it, I realized that it was just another story that I probably have already heard or a kind of in a way similar movie that I have already watched. The story is like this impossible-to-be-liked-person who is striving to be what he wants to be by doing everything that would win his boss’ attention and trust. And there is this “boss” who is doubtful about this person because as I already stated, he is impossible to be liked so as his actions and ideas. Plus, I couldn’t connect the title to the story. Am I really that disturbed or is it just because the story isn’t really good as based from the commentary that I have read at the latter part of the second page? Is the duende the money/benefits that the big company will get from Knipe’s doubtful proposal or invention? Because it seems like the company is at the peak of success and with Knipe’s proposal, its ratings and profit will pull them down to the ground. Also, I am a little bit perplexed about the last sentence of the ending of Dahl’s story that says, “this very moment, as I sit here listening to the howling of my nine starving children in the other room, I can feel my own hand creeping closer and closer to that golden contract that lies over on the other side of the desk. Give us strength, O Lord, to let our children starve.” Isn’t starve means have nothing to eat? Why would he ask his children to starve when the first sentence goes like he’s going to sign this golden contract because he doesn’t want his children to ever howl again? That last sentence confuses me.

First Step into the Blog-world

Finally! I have created my first and only blog. I am hoping to update this everyday and be able to come up with good write-ups.

Thanks to Mr. Sanchez for making this happen. To my parents, my ate, ISP bonanza my sponsor, the people who became major distractions during the finishing touches because they kept on calling me up, texting and calling me out for a Saturday Night Parrrtey! And of course, to our Almighty God for keeping me focused when all of my friends were a major pain in the ass and for giving me strength to refuse a Saturday Night Out! Whew!