Assignment: 《USQ JRN3001: Blog post 2: Key factors affecting the preparation and delivery of online news?》

Online journalism is the mark of a new standard for journalism. Journalists have to battle with time to either be first to presents news online or be creative in delivering the news. Audiences, medium and time are three vital factors.

According to Bovee (2009), journalists have to identify their primary audience when writing a news piece as some message are more significant to certain audience than others. As online audiences are harder to define so sometimes journalist scramble to be the first to post however failed to properly present the data to specific target group. Joanna Geary warned “You’re not writing for yourself, you’re writing with a specific reader in mind.” Journalist are not only limited to uploading news online, but to engage with the audience properly and realised that papers should be actively concerned with their niches according to Joanna Geary (2010). Online readers’ wants to engage news and information on their own time thus a news article with polls and interactive comments sections can increase audience engage levels.

Secondly, online journalism are not restricted to the newsroom and publication of textual news, multimedia technology have played a part in giving different mediums for journalist to make use of. Regina McCombs said “All the energy pours into a first rendering of the story in a format that might not be the best format for that story!” She relates back to the use of seven types of multimedia format such as video, textual, photos, graphical, audio, data interaction, and audio slideshow. Each has its own characteristics to satisfy passive or active audiences hence journalist of 21^st century using such medium is capable of conveying a better message across the monitor compared to textual content. Poynter Institute of USA mentioned that multimedia skills are essential for journalist to stay up-to-date with audiences. That is why, these mediums are crucial in delivering online news to audiences.

The time is obviously the biggest obstacle for a journalist especially in ‘online journalism’. According to Lieb (2010), stating that the days of the deadline has passed for journalism and the daily or hourly cycle we used to work with no longer exists. Consequently, we need to keep updating the news as soon as the latest information is attained. For instance, when some matters or topics reach at 9 am, online journalists have to write the news and upload it at 10 am. Journalist usually run a quick summary and uploads them as fast as possible online before newspapers can be churned out.

In conclusion, we need to take note of the key factors, which is audience, medium and time. Journalist must be skilled in using these three factors to appeal online audiences and give them what they need.

Bibliography:

Anon (2011). A correction saved their bacon. ABC.net: Media Watch. Retrieved from 8 August 2012, http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3132383.htm

Burdon, D (2011). Toughing It Out. The Morning Bulletin. Retrieved from 8 August 2012, http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/1101_bulletin.pdf

Courtland Bovee, & John V, Thill (Eds.) 2009, The three-step writing process. Business communication essentials. (pg. 55, 57). USA:Prentice Hall. 

Geary, J (2012). Rupert Murdoch quotes. Retrieved from 8 August 2012, http://www.joannageary.com/

Lieb, T 2009, All the news: writing and reporting for convergent media, New York US:Pearson Education Inc.

McAdams, M (2006). Online Media Types. Macloo.com. Retrieved from 8 August 2012, http://www.macloo.com/journalism/media.htmMcAdams, M (2012). Cheat Sheet for Multimedia Story Decisions. Teching Online Journalism. Retrieved from 8 August 2012, http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/cheat-sheet-for-multimedia-story-decisions/

McCombs, R (2008). Professional Experience. Reginamccombs.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved from 8 August 2012, http://reginamccombs.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/regina_mccombs_public_resume01111.pdf

McCombs, R (2012). The Craft of Multimedia Journalism. Poynter.News University. Retrieved from 8 August 2012, http://www.newsu.org/multimedia-journalism-craft

Susannah (2011). Key Factors Affecting the preparation and delivery of online news. Journalism & The Media. Retrieved from 8 August 2012, http://journalismmedia.blogspot.com/2011/08/key-factors-affecting-preparation-and.html

Thomas, K (2010). Understanding your target audience. KT’s Journalistic Musings. Retrieved from 8 August 2012, http://kateethomas.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/understanding-your-target-audience/

University of Southern Queensland, JRN 3001 Online Journalism "Module 2 - Finding and Planning News" Queensland, Australia, viewed 10 August 2011.