BFT's Blog

James Stovall’s (The guy to the left) Web Journalism, after the preliminary chapters, delves further into the unlimited potential of online news reporting. Chapters 5, 6, 10, and 12 combine tips for old-fashioned reporting with advice on how to apply such techniques to internet reporting.

Chapter five focuses on the basics of news writing. Whether you are writing for print copy, a television news program, or a blog, there is a uniform writing technique according to Stovall:
-The writing must be precise and accurate as best as possible.
-The writing must be clear and readable
-Get to the point. Write concisely and don’t use too many words.
-Know your audience. Cater to their needs.
-Use the inverted pyramid to list information (most important info at the beginning)

This chapter was helpful because Stovall did review the basics, but also gave interesting web advice in terms of using hypertext, links, and graphics. He explained that the internet allows a reader to see more forms of media so we as writers should exploit that.

Chapter six discusses editing. A print editor has the most important job because he or she decides what stories should be printed, whether the structure and grammar of a story are proper, and what appeals most to a reader. An online editor has many similar responsibilities, plus additional ones. The editor must decide on the headlines for the site as well as sidebars. He must decide on sidebar information as well what links would properly aide a story. This was an interesting chapter because it explained how technology not only changed the median in which news is reported, but it changed the roles of those involved in news reporting as well.

Chapter ten focuses on web design. It is so important, as it is with print media, that the presentation of a website or weblog is aesthetically appealing to the reader. The color of the background and text could affect the reader’s eye. The layout should be easily accessible to the reader in terms of finding links and archives. The print should be large to highlight what an author would want someone to read. An editor should utilize graphics, texts, and blank space to make the site as appealing to the reader as possible. This was informative for our own work in this class so we can figure out what is most aesthetically pleasing to readers.

Chapter twelve discussed the major legal issues concerned with web journalism. Decency, privacy, free speech, and intellectual property are all hazy fields which have created many legal battlegrounds that are unsettled. There are few definitive laws regulating the internet which has caused major unresolved legal issues. Decency was an important issue because youths have access to inappropriate materials which the government is trying to regulate. This chapter was interesting because the internet is a relatively new medium and the government has not clearly defined its limitation. It will be interesting in the future to watch how law will affect the future of web journalism.