*The Integrated Newsroom - Literature Review*

2.4 World Wide Web - An Interactive Medium

Sirs, I have tested your machine. It adds a new terror to life and makes death a long felt want. (To a gramophone company who asked for a testimonial)

- Sir Herbert Tree, famous Victorian music conductor (1853 - 1917)

Perhaps a similar fear strikes the hearts of non-users of the World Wide Web (WWW). Though the number of users hooking onto the WWW is growing exponentially by the hour, some are reluctant to venture into this media form, whilst others are simply overwhelmed by the possibilities the WWW holds in store. John Katz, First Amendment Centre scholar and Wired media critic, aptly described the WWW as "almost a living organism that it is replicating and growing and expanding beyond the range almost of human beings to control it." He adds; "When the World Wide Web began this idea of linking ... from one Web site to another, it really went nuclear. It became an information fusion." (Kees 1999).

Though the Web is very much in its infancy, having only come to mainstream availability in the early 1990s, it has grown tremendously as a medium. It has revolutionised the world of computers and communications. The WWW has grown at a faster rate than any prior communications technology. Radio hit the 50 million mark in listenership 38 years after its introduction and television took 13 years to achieve a similar figure, however the WWW surpassed that in just four years (Aikat 1998, p.95).

At the time of writing, there were more than 4,322 (Editor & Publisher Interactive) newspapers on the WWW, serving an estimated daily audience of 100 million readers (NetRatings Inc. Online). Media analyst Steve Outing, who has traced the number of WWW-based newspapers, estimates there were fewer than 100 in 1994, growing to 750 in 1995, to 1,587 in 1996. Outing started the original online media directory which is now maintained by Editor & Publisher magazine (Editor & Publisher Interactive).

The steady growth of newspapers in the online environment may lead some to think that the WWW is a mass medium capable of reaching a mass audience. However Evan Schwartz (1997, p.27) argues otherwise, asserting that the WWW "is a niche medium, a personal medium, and an interactive medium". There may be tens of millions people using the WWW but unlike network television at prime-time, there may not be a significant number at a particular website. With such an expansive "digital landscape" on the WWW, no particular web site can dominate the audience (ibid p.27 - 30). All forms of news act as a major magnet attracting users to the WWW on a daily basis. Presently, nearly every newspaper of considerable size and reputation has adapted itself to the WWW. According to some editors the familiarity of news online has drawbacks. Reuters NewMedia editor, Andrew Nibley, said that this accessibility has removed the mystique journalism used to have for readers (ibid p.27 - 30). Today WWW users have direct access to both wholesale news put out by various news wire services and retail news, provided by newspaper organisations (ibid p.28).

To remain profitable and fulfil their basic purposes, it is claimed that newspaper organisations need to look into providing "value-added" news. "It must add something of significant value - something that gives their news product a clear edge over everyone else's" (ibid p.29). Before exploring the changing environment of journalists, their newsroom, and news audiences, it would be useful to look at and in some cases, re-define terms relevant to online journalism.

Computer Assisted Journalism - CAJ as defined by Nora Paul of the Poynter Institute of Media Studies, computer assisted journalism can be broken down into what she refers to as the 4 R's.

Computer assisted reporting involves going online to access large electronic databases.
Computer assisted research, involves using online services such as search engines to assist in checking facts and uncovering information.
Computer assisted reference involves looking up online reference material such as dictionaries, thesaurus and encyclopedias.
Computer assisted rendezvous occurs when journalists "listen in" on listservs and newsgroups to gather information. (Quinn 1999, p.14 - 15)

Brandt (1996, p.3 - 6) describes computer-assisted reporting as journalists;

using computers not only to write stories but to do far-reaching research through online databases, to gather large numbers of records, to analyse those records, and to use that analysis to launch stories from a higher level and with deeper context than ever before. Computer-assisted reporting doesn't replace proven journalistic work practices. It supplements those practices and elevates them.

He adds that the journalist who refuses to pick up the necessary skills to deal with electronic data is a passenger denying the opportunity to drive the information superhighway. The old-fashioned journalist will never get to the destination on time - or worse, will be brutally run over by competing media (ibid p.5). This type of journalist dismisses the opportunity to examine original data and runs the risk using information carrying someone else's interpretation, personal spin or bias, a trait which is often difficult to detect.

Techno-Journalist - In 1996, Editor & Publisher's Steve Outing used this term to describe journalists in this new media. In this context, the journalist combines various WWW-technology including audio, video and teleconferencing features. Similar terms include online journalist and Internet journalist.

Online journalism - Koch in Journalism in the 21st Century (1991, p.65 - 72), describes online journalism in the late 1980's as practitioners using databases, defined as electronically stored libraries of journals, reports and reference material.

To be relevant today, the term, online journalism needs to be updated to integrated journalism referring to the production of a WWW-based news and features publication for users with access to the Internet. Current definitions look at the process of data collation or source material using available computer technology and term it as computer aided reporting. However the production process and final output in this context is still by and large unchanged, with the journalist producing stories for traditional print or broadcast media. Integrated journalism's key similarity to traditional journalism seems to be the interview process, which occurs in person, by phone or e-mail. However the search and delivery of information is almost entirely electronic, for example; the online newspaper can be a combination of various traditional media - print, radio (sound bites) and television (moving images). InternetNews.com (http://www.internetnews.com) and CNET.com (http://www.cnet.com) are good examples of stand alone online news sources that do not have a print or broadcast counterpart and accurately depict integrated journalism.

Electronic Newsroom - This term was initially coined to describe the introduction of live broadcast facilities in the television newsroom. It was then adapted when computers, software and hardware were introduced to the print newsroom as desktop publishing. In this sophisticated news production process, the news story was transferred electronically from the moment it was filed to its final appearance in layout format (Mehra 1988). It is suggested the term Electronic Newsroom, should be updated to Integrated or Internet Newsroom. Similar to a traditional newsroom, this is the journalist's working environment, however in this case, it combines all forms of news media. Sound, moving images and traditional copy are amalgamated for uploading on a WWW-based publication.

The impact of the WWW on journalism is difficult to measure. Katz says that today, "anybody with a computer [can now virtually command] all the information in the world. The idea of defining what a journalist is, as opposed to anyone else is becoming harder by the day." (Kees 1999). A controversial example of this phenomenon is Matt Drudge who began publishing the Drudge Report in 1995. His website (http://www.drudgereport.com) broke the news of US President Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky before any traditional newspaper in 1998. Drudge took advantage of the Internet's ability to disperse information quickly and as a solo journalist bypassed the traditional news filtering and sub-editing process common in any newsroom.

Columbia University scholars John Pavlik and Paul Sagan argue that most WWW-based publications have been evolving and classify their development into three stages. Presently most publications are considered to be in stage one, where content is simply transferred from the original publication to the Internet (1997, p.30 - 38). WWW-based publications which loosely fit into this category are Queensland's The Courier-Mail and The New Paper in Singapore. Their WWW presence is a stripped-down version of their print counterparts.

Russell Neuman makes an interesting point: "a great deal of what draws serious institutions of journalism to the Internet and the World Wide Web, it would appear, is more of an economic defensiveness than a professional enthusiasm" (1995 p.63). In Silicon Valley, this trend of news organisations jumping on the online bandwagon is sometimes referred to as the FUD Factor. This environment of "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt" was the conscious creation of marketeers in the technology industry. Denise Caruso dates this trend to the 1990s when technology vendors created an illusion that newspapers and television would be replaced by exciting interactive services delivered on the WWW (1997, p.30 - 38) and claimed these organisations would suffer if they did not react to the market trend. This lack of a professional enthusiasm towards developing novel content has resulted in some cases as shovelware, a term commonly used to describe this trend. Carol Pogash in the American Journalism Review, says most online newspapers are producing shovelware - print stories reproduced wholesale on the WWW, "with few changes other than key words painted with hypertext blue that offers readers links to stories with greater depth" (1996, p.26).

In 1996, WWW-based publishing evolved to stage two where the integrated journalist creates original content and augments it with attributes such as hyperlinks (allowing readers to instantly access another website with a click); interactive features such as search engines, which locate material on requested topics; and a degree of customization - the ability to choose what categories of news and information you receive (Pavlik and Sagan. 1997, p.30 - 38). Established WWW-based publications such as The San Jose Mercury News' Mercury Center; The Boston Globe's Boston.com and The Nando Times, an affiliate of The Raleigh News & Observer, are currently at stage two. They are characterized by original news content coupled with a combination of interactivity, audio and video designed specifically for the Web as a new medium of communication.

At stage three, publishers are rethinking and experimenting with new forms of storytelling. "Often this is immersive storytelling, which allows you [the reader] to enter and navigate through a news report in ways different from just reading it. Sometimes this might be done through new technology" (ibid p.30 - 38). Pavlik, Sagan and Katz cite The New York Times as an example, where CyberTimes (the paper's technology section) is experimenting with omni-directional imaging, allowing WWW users to explore a 360-degree field of vision. This development allows one to 'enter' a live news event or to view a still or moving picture in three-dimension (ibid).

A parallel can be drawn between this three-stage development of online news to the evolution of the computer interface and the rise of the WWW's popularity. The computer interface was initially developed for the crude First generation hardware-centric mainframe computer then adapted to the current Sixth Generation computers which thrive on artificial perception and cognition (Brown, 1994). Brown explains the effects of technology on human users by pointing out the semiotic relationship between user and the computer interface. It is based on the semiology of the American philosopher Charles Saunders Pierce's three classifications of signs: Symbolic, Iconic, and Indexical. The Symbolic interface relies heavily on the keyboard's command/control languages. An intimidating experience for some, this interface is hard to learn and requires the user to have a working knowledge of the interface's intricacies. Its key users would probably be an exclusive group aware of its accessibility and able to utilise its facilities to achieve specific tasks/goals. This can be likened to the WWW's initial users who were mainly scientists, academics, researchers and computer programmers (Schwartz 1997, p.14).

Brown further explains the Iconic interface which has traces of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and Windows, Icon, Mice and Pull-down-menu (WIMP) features. Although the user can quickly learn basic functions, "they are unlikely to acquire knowledge of the wider application, functionality and sociopolitical implications of computer technology" (Brown 1994). The third sign classification; Indexical interface is "very high bandwidth, rich and natural and seductive." It can potentially combine user-friendliness with a wide capability and skill and knowledge development. At this stage, the user has progressed to intermediate or advanced levels (Brown 1994).

With the introduction of the easy-to-use Netscape browser, the user profile of the WWW user began to resemble the population at large according to an April 1996 survey by Georgia University of Technology. The vast majority were non-technical people and 68.5 percent male as compared to 88 percent in the early days (Schwartz 1997, p.16). WWW-based publications could be going through similar stages where initially readers and news organisations are slowly introduced to the idea of transferring content and being fed their news diet on the WWW. As they adjust to this notion and are accustomed to the technology, a number of features are added to entice the reader. As the user begins to accept and comprehend the technology, advanced-level features are incorporated allowing them to control the process and the news organisations begins to experiment with new techniques of delivery and slowly begin to maximise the full potential of the WWW.

Two key strategies giving readers specific control of their news diet are known as pull and push technologies. Professor Peter Verwey explains that pull technology occurs when WWW users request information by clicking on links or typing URLs in their browsers. Push technology on the other hand, sends information to the user. In this case, the user is given a free program to read the news and each time he/she is online, updated information based on their personal specified preference is delivered to the user. A successful pioneer of this technology is Pointcast which delivers real-time, personalized news, sports and financial information directly to the user (Quinn 1999, p.142).

Hal Berghel (1998) from the University of Arkansas raises a few social and privacy issues related to push technology. Passive viewing, he explains, is where WWW users might stare at a push channel window while on the telephone or working with another computer application and the numbing effect, which occurs with rapid information uptake. Here the user is so overwhelmed by the information he receives that he loses interest in it. He refers to Boyle's Law of Cyberspace, "where data will always fill whatever void it can find." Network overload, a primary concern of information providers, can be carefully avoided, but information overload at the WWW user's level will remain.

American Journalism Review journalist J.D. Lasica (1997, p.48) adds that new technology may force publishers into abandoning their pulp mindsets and embracing it. By this Lasica means publishers need to realise that if needs are not gratified on the user's computer screens, they will be led to products which can deliver real-time, personalised news and information (push technology in this case). And if consumers are unable to find breaking news in their regular WWW-based publications they will switch to other channels.

Contrary to predictions that the WWW would cause traditional newspapers to go out of print, Roger Fidler (1994, p.131 - 135), former Director of Knight Ridder Information Design Laboratory in USA and present Kent State University's Information Design Laboratory coordinator, says that "newspapers are well positioned to emerge stronger than ever" (ibid p.132). He states that newspapers can regain their position as a key information provider, however they have to evolve and cannot remain as they are. He calls this trend mediamorphosis and says that social, economic and environment pressures will force newspapers to rethink their strategy.

To be competitive with other forms of media, digital print media must combine the interactivity of personal computers, and the compelling qualities of television without sacrificing the readability and ease of using paper ..... they must be comfortable and convenient to use while lying in bed, riding on a subway, dining in a restaurant, or sitting in a park bench.

(ibid 1994, p.132)

In his book, Mediamorphosis Fidler discusses Institute for the Future director Paul Saffo's 30-year rule. Saffo observes that for at least the past five centuries, it has consistently taken an average of 30 years for a new idea to fully seep into a culture. Though it may seem innovations are introduced rapidly today, he contends that "more technologies are coming up at the same time. It's the unexpected cross-impact of maturing technologies that creates this powerful acceleration we all feel" (Fidler 1997, p.8). Saffo cautions industry leaders against complacency. Though the excitement of a new technology can be dampened by setbacks and disappointments he says, history has shown that consumers can take to a new technology very quickly if they perceive it to be useful. He calls the industry's scepticism of the future; technomyopia.

Technomyopia is a strange phenomenon that causes us to overestimate the potential short-term impacts of a new technology. And when the world fails to conform to our inflated expectations, we turn around and underestimate the long-term implications. First we over-shoot and then we under-shoot.

(ibid 1997, p.10 - 11)