Convergence and Consolidation in Journalism

Since the creation of the Internet the technological advancements have played a huge role in the convergence and consolidation in journalism. I like to look at convergence and consolidation as a cause and effect. The convergence of journalism has caused the consolidation of journalism (or media).

Convergence simply means the all of the digital formats of media now. Whether it’s a digital newspaper, multimedia journalism, blogs, podcast, ect. This is the recently ‘next step’ in journalism. Before this was the 24 hour new channel that was ready for any breaking news. And even before then was the radio news at 5 or the daily paper. Now we can have breaking news at the second it breaks. With a simple key command and two or three clicks you can find out where recent power outages are, who won what game, who killed who, ect. The old saying time is money comes into play here. Why would you watch a whole news report when you could go online and click on the story you want to read/listen/watch on the Internet?

It’s hard to believe that consolidation plays a role in journalism. One might think that there are two many reporters and news stories to know what to believe or follow. The funny thing is that they are all linked by one factor, who signs their paychecks. Take ESPN for an example. They have ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN.com, ESPNtheU, and ESPNNews to report breaking. You could watch all of them and get the same story in a different format, different images, and different reporters. The point is there are five different stations just to report sports news. Also the kicker is Disney/ABC owns ESPN. So stories, reports, and sources between reporters. In conclusion there are many styles of journalism. From newspapers to the Internet and radio to 24-hour news channels, consolidation and convergence has been changing the world of journalism.

Bush Bashing

Hello Followers,

For some, you might find this blog to be dry and uninteresting but today I have to blog about what Raiha wants us to write about. Today I will be critiquing an article from FoxNews.com, titled “5 Things Obama Can’t Blame On Bush”, by Liz Peek. I will be critiqued Liz Peek on her writing components of he article.

The first thing that stood out in her article was the use of her own voice. For an example, “the Florida orange freeze (no--scrap that one).” Her choice of using “ ( and )” showed us her personality through out the article. It is not that professional but it catches the reader’s attention and keeps them reading. However I didn’t like how the article was just her ranting on because she was mad at how President Obama and his team blame everything on G.W. Bush. She was very repetitive in the way she would write her paragraph. She would make a good point on how it wasn’t Bush’s fault but destroy it with something like, “… George Bush’s fault! Puhleeze...give the people some credit.”

She was very one sided on how she presented everything. From what she wrote and the fact she works for FOXNews, I’d say she is a full-blooded republican. It works for this type of article because she is standing up for another republican. A democrat would feel insulted and wouldn’t want to read another one of Peek’s articles ever again.

I do have to say that she was very clear and kept to her point that it is not all Bush’s fault. The only thing I’m questioning is how accurate all of her information is. Yes it could all be true but some of it could be her opinion because she is so bias. Therefore I see her sticking to her one sided articles, reporting for the republicans!

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/01/21/liz-peek-george-w-bush-obama-blame/

Ethic!? the real one

Before I made this post I decided to do a little bit of an investigation. I went to various websites to see what their top stories were. I noticed a common theme through out all of them. Exploit celebrities and tell the world about all the bad things that are happening. Seriously when was the last time you read the paper and found a heart warming story about people helping people? The part that angers me most about the press is how they make news out of gossips from our nations icons. On tmz.com they have a link that brings you to multiple pages about Tiger Wood’s scandal. This just doesn’t interest me. He made a mistake and there is no reason the press needs to get involved. He needs time to work things out with his wife (if he wants to) and he needs to get his life back on track. He doesn’t need the press releasing stories about how he has been sleeping around. Now any woman that has slept with him will come out with a story just to get their 5 minutes of fame. He’s lost sponsors just because the company can’t have someone that is no longer liked by the public. I know that if any average Joe cheated on his wife it wouldn’t be streaming into our TVs, computers, and radios. That man would have to deal with his mistake and try and resolve the issue. I think these celebrity reporters need to get a life, stop stalking celebrities, and do some real reporting rather than gossiping.
It is a shame that America seeks entertainment from these types of stories. They’ll tune out what is around them just to find out with who is sleeping with who, who is the hot new couple, and who broke up with who. The press has destroyed many celebrity’s lives just from leaking out gossip about something someone did. It’s not ethical and it shouldn’t happen to anyone. It just blows my mind that someone’s personal business is now considered BREAKING NEWS!!!!

Ethics!?

Day 1

Good Morning WWW (World Wide Web),

My name is Daniel Oakes but through out my blogs I will refer to myself as Young Daniel. I'm a 21 year old and am currently in my Senior semester of college. The PLAN is to graduate this spring and hopefully get a job in my field of study, which is surveying engineering.
Currently I'm enrolled in a class titled Writing for the Mass Media. Thus the reason why I'm creating this blog. By taking this class I hope to have a better understanding on how and why media works the way it does. Also I would like to strengthen my writing. I'll be looking forward to Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays at!!

-Young Daniel