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The future of Journalism education...

I have written on this before and I am still adament that the future is online, but as I begin to read more and more blogs discussing this issue it is clear that the future of journalist it built on sand.

As a journalism student at City University I know that there needs to be more intergration of multimedia journalism into the curriculum. Fortunately for me I learnt about dreamweaver and photoshop in the first year of my course, which enable to use these tools to improve my ability to tell a story. Unfortunately I am sure that it is not the case on many journalism course in the UK.

The other issue is the industry use of multimedia journalism. Although for the Telegraph and the Guardian it has become a must at the moment it seems the industry has not grasped how to make use of the new technlogies in an innovative way. A lot of them seem to use video which repeats what is said in the article and doesn't advance the piece in a cohesive way which is vital when trying to grab the audience online. This means that if journalism students fail to learn early on about the developmet of the digital age now, this innovative shift to multimedia journalism will be muted and lack the exciting potential that it can offer to creating a better to tell a story.

Whether Mindy McAdams and Martin Stabe are right about the importance of learning how to be a multimedia journalist is not the argument. The argument should be focus on how we can use the tools that are available to us in a way to keep the media industry fresh, innovative and connected to the audience. I think there needs to be less criticism and more proactiveness amongst those that believe that journalism courses have become archaic. What is the solution to the problem that faces students who enter the job market withouth the digital tools?

If your journalism course doesn't offer a module on new media then it is vital to take the innitiative and DIY it. There are also websites such as the Poynter Institute and Mindy McAdams blog also provides information. It may be time consuming and in all honesty it should be incorperated in the course, but the world isn't perfect.

Cyberspace Unplugged

The age of wireless is upon us. As the growth of Wi-fi extends throughout the known world, we ask what does it all mean.

While many continue to rejoice at the advances of high-speed broadband technology, others have moved on to the next level- Wi-fi a.k.a. wireless fidelity. Broadband may have rocked cyberspace, but Wi-fi is setting it free.

No longer are internet users confined to a room or a building to check their e-mails or get the latest news, it can be done in a coffee shop, on train or even in the park. Wi-fi technology has enabled internet users to connect to the internet at broadband speed through a wireless network with ‘no strings attached’.

According to internet user Richard Edwards from London: “This technology given a chance will change the way we all can communicate through the web. My Wi-fi range is now 3 miles, with two £60 aerials. Through this I can call anyone via video in the world, and I have no telephone line in my street…my life is now in one box…the more Wi-fi the better.”

The wireless revolution, once a dream is becoming a reality. In the UK local councils and networks have joined forces to introduce blanket Wi-fi zones across the country. Norwich is just one of many cities where a scheme has been introduced to offer a free Wi-fi service for all.

Hashim Ul-Hassan an avid fan of Wi-fi says: “I believe these blanket Wi-fi zones can only be a good thing for our cities. Everyone from businessmen to the technology layman could be able to connect to the internet easily and most importantly free…no one wants to pay for internet on demand!”

With more than 10,000 Wi-fi hotspots in the UK, it comes as no surprise that Wi-fi provider iPass’s report on Wi-fi usage (based on its virtual global network) revealed that more people in London used Wi-fi hotspots than in any other city. iPass collected the data between July and December 2006 and found that overall worldwide Wi-fi usage had increased by 44 percent over the past year. They also concluded that the UK usage of hotspots had increased a staggering 75 percent.

The heightened drive towards Wi-fi hotspots around the UK has lead to a shift in the way people interact with the internet. In an interview with BBC News, George Polk, chief executive of The Cloud, a Wi-fi provider said: “Providing ubiquitous wireless broadband access, over a network that is available to millions of Wi-fi devices and other applications will have a major impact on the way we communicate, work and play in the city centres.”

While businesses thrive through this new technology, non-business internet users have also embraced the wireless age. Through communications companies such as BT offering BT Fusion Wi-Fi handsets people are introducing Wi-fi into their homes to allow usage of the internet anywhere in the house.

The growth of the Wi-fi enabled PDA, laptops, MP3 players and mobile phones has also driven the usage of Wi-fi. In January of this year Nokia and The Cloud began a partnership offering anyone in the UK purchasing a Nokia N800 Internet tablet free access to the internet for a month. This partnership indicates the mobile companies drive to take advantage of the new wireless technology. Techworld.com says: “The trickle of Wi-fi phones is becoming a flood, with products such as Panasonic and Lyinksys becoming available.” Here is a demonstration of the gadgets in action from skypeteer:






The increase in wireless enabled devices is having an impact in the usability of Wi-fi technology in the UK. In an interview with Techdigest.com Owen Geddes director of business development at Wi-fi hotspot network. Said: “I think Wi-fi and mobiles are largely complementary, but that’s quite a big subject in its own right. We have to look at the devices people want to consume media on.

“Do I want to watch some programming on a 1.5 inch screen? No. Do I want to watch it on a screen the size of a PSP or internet tablets? Yes”


As more people decided to switch on the internet instead of the television due to wireless technology, broadcasters are responding by providing programs on demand over the internet. Channel 4’s ‘4 on demand’ service and BBC’s up and coming iPlayer are examples of how broadcaster are adapting to the change in the way people interact with the media.

Stepforth New Editor Jim Hedger says: “The Internet and the web, while remarkably versatile, has become a vital link in distribution for the largest traditional media companies, including major TV networks.”

Wi-fi has been widely welcomes with open arm by thousands but some say it is unreliable, expensive and unsafe. A critic of Wi-fi Carl says: Wi-fi technology is risky- your laptop with Wi-fi technology us basically transmitting a signal all of the time saying ‘here I am come and use me/my account and as a bonus I might even give you my credit card details.

“Anyone with moderate IT skills can use another persons Internet remotely (a car parked outside your house or a neighbour etc). Even with encryption it is not totally fraud proof- security of Wi-fi is a problem.”

In an article for InfoWorld.com Leon Erlanger pits Wi-fi against 3G wireless technology:

The problem with Wi-Fi is that the service is decentralized and
chaotic. Wherever you’re traveling, you first have to find out where Wi-Fi is
offered and then hope it’s either free or falls into your subscription plan. If
not, you’re likely to pay somewhere between $8 and $12 for a day’s usage, which
can add up to more than a monthly 3G subscription if you’re a frequent business
traveler. Every corporate office has its own policies for visitor Wi-Fi access.
And there are times when you end up fighting with dead spots, slow performance,
and frequently dropped connections due to interference and overloaded access
points.

The big enticement of 3G is its locally pervasive availability. If
it’s offered in your metro area, you don’t need to look for a coffee bar or
pirate someone’s home connection. You can hook in from a park bench, a moving
taxi, or a commuter train, and you’ll always be using the same service and
software. When you’ve tasted that kind of freedom, it’s hard to give it up.
Performance is a little slower than Wi-Fi, but because you’re dealing with a
closed network, 3G tends to be more consistent. The big difference for now is
that upload performance is generally a fraction of download, whereas with Wi-Fi
they’re basically the same. If you intend to send a lot of large files, such as
photos or videos, you’ll notice the difference.

As with all technology Wi-fi has issues, it is still largely being used by business types who can afford to pay five pounds an hour for the luxury of being connected on the go but Wi-fi providers such as The Cloud with their flat fee of £11.99 per month to use their 8,500 around the UK is trying to reach the masses.

Bobby Sarin, COO, The Cloud said: “For too long, public Wi-fi has been over-reliant on high voucher pricing for revenue which has hindered frequent usage, despite Wi-fi’s high performance and popularity.”

Whether it’d be Wi-fi, Wimax, Bluetooth or 3G, wireless technology is pushing the nation into the wireless era.

Anna Nicole Smith: Infamous in death as in life…

A life that resembled a Hollywood movie ended on February eight in room 128 of the Seminole Hard Rock Café and Casino in Florida. As the lifeless body of former Playmate Anna Nicole Smith,39, was transported out of the hotel to Memorial Regional hospital, the US cable networks were there to capture every moment for the world to see.

The circumstances of her death still unknown, Anna Nicole Smith saga became the daily staple for avid viewers of U.S cable networks.

For two days following her death CNN, MSNBC and Fox News ranked her tragic death as ‘serious’ news devoting vast amounts of airtime to the events that had led to her demise. The Project for Excellence in Journalism (an organisation that gathers daily figures of media coverage) revealed that the Smith story was the number one news item on the cable channels for a week.

Some believe the coverage of Smith’s story to be riveting others argue that it is just another example of a celebrity-obsessed media. In an interview with Reuters, media writer for The New Yorker Ken Auletta said: "On the day she died I switched the TV to see World War III coverage of Anna Nicole Smith…I don’t see anything about Iraq, Korea…it was one of the more depressing moments in media coverage."

As Aulette lamented on the lack of focus on ‘real’ news during the Anna Nicole Smith media storm, in a commentary piece for The Equinox Keith O’Neil also expressed his anger at the coverage. "It seems that there has been more coverage over non-news stories than legitimate news. Anna Nicole Smith’s death is a prime example. Sure, there may be mysterious parts as to how she died, but does the trial over who her father is and who gets custody need as much attention from CNN, or MSNBC as a Senate hearing?"

Despite condeming the non-stop coverage of the Anna Nicole Smith Story, NBC Nightly news could not get enough...



Her death sent the media into a feeding frenzy. While the battle raged inside the Florida courthouse over whether to bury her body in the Bahamas or Texas, 100 journalists surrounded the courthouse ready to pounce on anyone with seedy details of the titillating story. According to a Pew Research poll 35 percent of American followed the Smith Story closely and two thirds felt that the press coverage was excellent. In a blog response about Smith’s news coverage a commentator wrote: "When it comes to it, controversy sells. We love celebrity mayhem. The more controversial, the better." This may be true but is it right for news network to devote blanket coverage to a story that has little or no impact on the public.

Denise Royal of the news website NowPublic writes: "The fact that the Smith story was the top story is not the fault of the news world. Good news systems are a mirror. They hold up a reflection of the world so that people can see themselves…Do not blame the messenger." If this is true than how news networks strike a balance pandering to the audience with shocking celeb stories and serious less gripping news stories?

Al Tompkins, a former reporter and TV news director who teaches journalistic ethics at he Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida said in the Baltimore Sun: " We have an obligation to cover not just the interesting but also the important …There is no excuse for allowing this kind of salacious news to squeeze out the really important stories. Anna Nicole Smith doesn’t rise to that."


Journalist such as Roy Greenslade and Dan Gillmore, champion the fact that "the once proud networks" such as CNN are sinking deeper into tabloidism pushing ‘serious’ news to the back of agenda. Dan Gillmore writes: "CNN might survive as a National Enquirer of cable, though how it will compete with Fox for that dishonour is unclear." Jack Cafferty of CNN also added his distaced live on air as he asked his co-host, " Is Anna Nicole Smith still dead...".

On the other side of the barricades resonates the voice of those who see no reason why news networks cannot cover both serious and celebrity stories. Journalist Liza Featherstone writes: "…Why should we have to choose between gossip and ‘real’ news? We Journalists are perfectly capable of following both Anna Nicole’s autopsy report and Al Qaeda—why should we assume that the public can’t do the same? This is a valid argument but it becomes blurred when other more important stories are sidelines because sex and sleaze sells.

Justin Ritter of Net X News points out that the media should stop cashing in on the sensational stories and put more emphasis on important stories that have serious implications for all of us. "As unfortunate as it may be, Anna Nicole Smith is dead. Let’s hope the news media didn’t die with her."

The death of a celebrity is tragic, but as Ankitha Bharadwaj of Youth radio said: "Not to be rude or anything, but she wasn’t exactly Gandhi. So why are people spending days obsessing over her personal life?"

New Tools?

Journalism education is so far out of wack that students are teaching themselves to blog, take pictures and do podcast. While the industry screams for more multi-media gatekeepers, the institutions are leaving students to add on the now so important components of becoming a 21st hack.
No longer is it acceptable to write a great new story or a feature now you have to know how to blog, do podcast and even take decent pictures...I know how outragious! As the Telegraph hub becomes the blue print for the future of the newsroom, its clear journalism institutions need to get to grips with the digital age before its too late. Mindy McAdams' blog Getting (and keeping) a job in journalism says the future is online:

"I am far from being the ONLY person who has already been saying this for years. Far too many people, however, are still plugging cotton into their ears and shutting their eyes.If a student in a j-school today thinks it is okay NOT to learn how to make Web pages, NOT to shoot video, NOT to gather audio, NOT to read and write blogs -- then that student is not getting a message that is very, very necessary. Now, let me hasten to say that some of those students are the very ones who are deliberately plugging their own ears and closing their eyes to reality. They are attached to a dream of becoming someone from the past -- maybe photojournalist Eddie Adams, maybe gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson -- a journalist who only took pictures or who only wrote (okay, Thompson did a lot besides just writing, and some of it pretty unsavory too, but as for the journalism, he was a writer)."

Don't get me wrong the art of writing is a vital skill to have if you want to get a byline on any publication, but lecturers need to acknowledge and embrace the digital age. It is time that more lesson plans included how to's on blogging, podcasting and taking digital images. These may be considered as just add ons to traditionalist who rather stay well away from the growing world wide web, but they are vital in today's media. Although you may use the internet everyday to check emails and talk on MSN, it represents more than just a tool to communicate. It is a great place to get juicy stories, but if you don't even know what Web 2.0 is and are unaware of the dangers of google are, you've got a problem. Judging by the growth of the presence of newsagencies and publications online, it would be suicidal to ignore the implication of the internet on the way we do our job.

Jen and Misty talk multimedia