Covering the News in 2010

As you might have heard, there was a 6.5 magnitude earthquake on the northcoast of CA Saturday afternoon (1.9.10). Of course, since my mom lives in the area, I was concerned when I found out about it and called to find out if she was safe and to find out what other news she had about the event. While on the phone, I booted up the computer and checked local news outlets. There were cursory stories about the fact that the earthquake had happened, but, other than an animated graphic of where the earthquake was centered, there wasn't much. Frustrated, I turned to...Twitter.

Now, I know you're thinking that Twitter isn't a news outlet. Clearly it is not. However, what I did find is that if I did a search using the hashtag #earthquake hundreds of tweets popped up. For the next four or five hours I watched what was happening. Initially, most of the posts were pretty serious where individuals and organizations seemed to want to just get the news out there. The "Ferndale Enterprise," a weekly print paper, came through as the go-to news outlet through their Twitter account, @Frndenterprise. By the way, local TV stations were off the air for hours following the quake.


Later, posts became less serious and eventually tapered off. The one video that claimed to be of the earthquake might, in fact, have been from an earlier earthquake in another part of the state. (FYI: you will not be able to click through on the link above at school. The article is at Mashable which monitors social media. Social media outlets are blocked by the school district).

So, here's what you need to think about: How is the way we get our news changing and what does that mean for journalists? We are a print driven publication. Do we need to seriously start thinking about how or whether we need to get involved with social media? Why (or why not) do we need to get online in a more directed fashion? How will this impact us as a staff? Do we need to have staff members whose sole job it is to explore the possibilities of social media? Leave a thoughtful comment here. Please make sure you put an identifiable name with your comment so you get credit. Check the comments to make sure that yours is there!Your comment is due by noon on Tuesday, January 12, 2010.

63 comments:

Samson Tong said...

As technology improves, it becomes much easier for journalist to find out more information on events and stories. Twitter and social networks do have information about events, like the earthquake in northern Californian, but a lot of them are opinion based. A writer would not have any way to prove the information. Having the journalism department get online would make a positive impact and would reach out to different individuals.

Andrew Gabriel said...

The way journalists get their information are rapidly changing.With the technological advancements the world is making, journalists have to conform to this change. They have to conform by the way they spread their information, not so much how they get their information. Journalists should get their information off of social networks that way they can see how serious this matter is and how it is impacting the people that are effected. We need to get information directly from online because it minimises the time it takes to spread the news to the public. This would impact us because it gives the staff a much easier way to get the information. We need staff members whose sole job is to search the web, because there is so much information in the web, it would be near impossible to search through all the different blogs and tweets.
-Andrew Gabriel

Unknown said...

In the past few years, there has been a very big shift in the way we get news. As technology develops, there are more ways to connect viewers with people. Basically, over the past few years, there has been an emphasis in social networking as part of journalism.

One interesting place to consider is Twitter, when in November 2009, the site began to emphasize the news and information part of their service. Likewise, local news stations like CBS and KRON ask their viewers to submit photos and story ideas via social networking sites.

It is therefore necessary to start thinking about other ways we can connect with our readers and other ways to be involved in social media. People will become interested in news if they are involved in making or reporting it. In order to maintain a division of labor, we could possibly find staff members who are interested in exploring social media, given the school district will understanding enough to not block possible social media services.

Chris Mendoza said...

Computer, the internet and electronics are the future. It is a resources gradually being accessed in every home, community, and country. On the internet there is more to do, thus more people are turning in journalistic views from print publication to online becusae of its vastness, variety, speed to acuire articles, access, and opportunity. At this point in time, it is good to have a social accompaniment to the newspaper.It would be easier and faster for readers to comment and what not. All staff should contribute online, but there should be leaders to organize what and how.

colby said...

News is constantly changing as time continues to advance. Social media is the new way to give news in a quick and effective way as many people have access to these social sites. Although social media can be taken into consideration, the news the school gives out might not be given out as effective as print. With print, people can pick it up and read while if it were online in social media, people would actually have to use some kind of device to access the internet to view the news which might be time consuming for many. Even if the social media idea is attempted, journalists will not be affected as they will still be sent to retrieve stories.

Terilyn said...

More and more people are using online sources for news nowadays, and that means print journalists are seeing a decrease in readers. We should get involved in social media because many students on sites like twitter would be able to stay updated about the Template. However, we should still continue to have a monthly print newspaper since the Template is a school paper, and I doubt many students would go online to read high school news. If we continue to distribute the paper during school time, the Template has a higher chance of being read by our students. On the other hand, for Hercules citizens and parents who may be interested in what is going on here, more online involvement would be beneficial. If we were to do this, we would need staff members who are assigned to social media specifically- that way, we are sure both our electronic and print counterparts are equally excellent.

Icarus said...

Everyday more people turn to social networks and the internet for information and news. In a way, this provides a faster route of information to travel, but also this information is oftentimes unreliable or biased. It makes it easier for one to see if any news or event happened but information or details about that are much better from first-hand sources or other people instead of relying on social networks. This impacts our staff because people can find out about events and news faster, which lets them quickly approach the scene or find out more information, preferably not from social networks and from people instead.

Beilul Naizghi said...

In light of new faster information technological advances, journalism itself has become a social media affair. We definitely need to get more involved in social media, if we are to be competitive. Putting us on online will make our stories known far beyond our community of Hercules, therefore automatically giving us a larger audience. This could benefit us greatly in terms of more varied feed back, more relevancy to our readers (HHS students), and more experience using the technological media outlets of the web. As a staff, it is of the utmost urgency of our publication that we incorporate social media as a media outlet. There are many interesting things that could happen, and the ability to reach many of our students by way of one website, or post, could be very important. Just look at what happened last week at Brooklyn Tech High. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/nyregion/05tech.html

Stephanie Chan said...

The way we get our news is changing rapidly. For journalists, this means they need to follow and adapt to the consumers likes and dislikes.

It seems to be that brevity is the key element for news nowadays. For example, Twitter, is the perfect outlet for short and concise messages as they only allow 140 characters per "tweet".

All in all, there is no time to read the newspaper anymore. However, there is still some time to read brief and concise messages about the world and social issues.

Stacy Chan said...

Even though print is a flat medium these days, it is still essential to preserve this type of publication. However, with the ever-changing culture, journalists should try to be more adaptive and explore other fields accordingly. They should certainly look into the social media phenomenon.

Twitter, for example, would be a great tool to cover breaking news. As much as I would like to see thorough content on these social sites, I believe it is unnecessary to create a team that solely covers social media. Opportunities to work with these social media sites should be open to all.

Kimmy said...

Everyday, technology's knowledge improves. As this goes on, readers are gratified by these wonders. Readers turn towards technology to find information faster, rather than wait for a newspaper to come out. Social networking systems, such as twitter, facebook, and tumblr, help information spread faster to other people. These networking systems help spread information, but the information given may not be real. It is better to look at official networks rather than information given by citizens that may be giving lies.
Although receiving information online is faster, reading a real newspaper is more productive because of it's exact information. Making an official online newspaper may help impact the newspaper. Doing both an online newspaper and a print publication are both news worthy.Having an online newspaper may impact the staff because it means that the journalists must gain information faster with trustworthy sources.

Leah said...

Social networking sites provide people with a quick, easy and convenient way to view news. Online news is a quick way to find out about daily news, and monumental events. The way in which people view news must change to conform to this fast-paced world. This change in news is recent and very significant in everyday society. With facebook statuses and twitters consisting of no more than a sentence or two, they make information very concise and accessible.

Chloe said...

As journalists, we have the very simple job of pursuing news. If the news is online, then, logically, we should follow it there.

The Template should become involved in social media because our student body is. In essence, if society is online, to reach society, we need to go online, too. If we are to become more involved online, it is important to have designated staff members exploring this area in order to eventually create a counterpart to the Template that is just as good.

With a newspaper as well as an online source, we can reach students, parents, and the community more effectively.

Unknown said...

Social networking sites like twitter shouldn't be a primary source of news in an emergency. Other news sources should be able to respond in the case of emergency. If we look up our news on twitter it might end up replacing our normal news sources. News and social networking should be separate.

Unknown said...

Nowadays, the fastest way to find news is through the use of the internet. With important news breaking information that is now immediately displaced on the internet through sites such as twitter and other social networks, the internet is now definitely an option in getting current events. As journalist, we provide the public with the TRUTH. The downside to the internet is that there is so much info that it is sometimes hard distinguish what is the truth and what is some made up words. To use the internet as a source is a smart and fast way to get info, but it is wise to always double check if it tells the truth.

Unknown said...

Now-a-days we are getting our information online. As journalists, having our news posted online will most likely be a more efficient. As the media technology evolves, so must we or else our printed news will quickly become outdated. I personally think we should avoid dealing with the social media, for many, if not all, of the news that is said to be going on online are most likely could be exaggerated rumors or is based on ones own opinion. however, having a part of the staff get involved with the social media is not a bad idea. this will provide us with the public's opinion, their thoughts about certain subjects and any stories that may be true.

Unknown said...

Well, now a days, there's always something new. Something always take over the old version. I honestly think that internet is just another way for people to get news. It may be the fastest, but sometimes it's not as reliable as like TV reporters and whatnots. I still think that newspapers are still the most reliable source. Probably not the fastest, but I still think it's better.

Unknown said...

How is the way we get our news changing and what does that mean for journalists? We are a print driven publication. Do we need to seriously start thinking about how or whether we need to get involved with social media? Why (or why not) do we need to get online in a more directed fashion? How will this impact us as a staff? Do we need to have staff members whose sole job it is to explore the possibilities of social media?

Journalists, of all people, should be on top of the latest changes in technology. I know a lot of people who think Twitter is the stupidest internet invention ever, but Twitter is actually brilliant. For example: the shooting at the Turquoise party in October. No one saw it coming but when it happened, since most people tweet on their phones, people ran out of the party tweeting that their was a shooting, and within seconds, all their friends and followers knew about it.

As a staff, we have a Yearbook Facebook account to communicate and collect opinions from the student body. This is very convenient for both the staff and the students to work together in getting coverage for the yearbook. However, as journalists, we should start exploring new social media outlets to better our journalistic skills and explore more coverage for better, more groundbreaking stories.

Unknown said...

Today's media is in love with the Internet. With the birth of social media like Twitter & Facebook, news sources are increasingly utilizing these sites to reach out and expand their audiences. I think it would be beneficial for our publications to become involved with social media. We will be able to reach more of our students, as well as people outside of our school. Social media is becoming more and more appealing to the general public. If we do this, it would be wise to delegate a few staff members in the beginning. But as time goes on and our use of social media develops, more and more staff members can become involved. Many of our staff members are familiar with social media anyway, so it won't be a shocking change.

xo, Julia said...

With technology continually developing, the internet is rapidly becoming the go-to source for news and information. Inventions like wi-fy and cellular 3G make the Internet much more accessible than newsprint and publications, and so individuals naturally turn to social medias for updates. It is a lot easier for one to pay a visit to Twitter than to search for a newsstand. In addition, the Internet is much more up to date than publications. Putting a paper together is a time consuming process, whereas posting something to the Internet is as easy as typing up a sentence and clicking "submit." It would be extremely beneficial for our staff to create a team whose sole responsibility would be to manage an online version of our paper. Not only would our readership increase, but The Titan Template would also become much more current. We would become a source for what IS happening, as opposed to what happened last week. In this manner, our newspaper will become much more than a recap of events. We can tap into current trends to ensure our publication's survival in the future.

Indep_Elim_Y said...

Having an news online would help news travel faster. Usually people are asking, "When is the newspaper going to come out?" They want to know what new things are going around. If we set up something online, the news would be instant. People would have a more effective way of getting news. They don't have to wait for a print just to see what's happening. Nowadays, the younger generations rely on the internet for their news feed. With an online news page set up, people can get news more efficiently. As for the staffs, setting up the online page wouldn't make much of a difference, except needing people who know how to operate/maintain the site. Other than that, our news story would get out much quicker than ordinary print.

Unknown said...

It's quite interesting how technology is shaping how journalists keep track of and gather information. One usually refers to a recorder, camera, or camcorder as journalism technology. However, Twitter can sometimes be on point. It always up to date with the latest news because it's spread through the grape vine. Who knows, there might be a Twitter specifically for journalists one day.

Unknown said...

News was only sent out to the public through newspapers or the websites of the newpapers in the past. Now there are social networks where anybody can publicize any topic, including current events, and they are becoming quite popular. Journalists should just take advantage of these social networks and speak to the people through these websites. Staff members should surf these websites to gather uncovered information from official news sources.

Patrick Li said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stephanie Ny said...

Journalism is changing with new technology. As the Internet becomes a more popular way of getting out news, print publications decline. This means more jobs in the field of journalism.

Social media has become a part of the everyday lives of millions of Americans. Twitter, tumblr, Facebook, Myspace - they're all daily routines for many youngsters - and even older people - out there. In order to expand our audience, we should have student staff members diving into and finding out more about how we can reach out to news readers through social media. Let's face it: more people will be likely to read the news if it's right there on their Twitter and Facebook pages than if it's on paper.

Patrick Li said...

It is so much easier for people to get information because of the social networks. The internet is for porn. Our staff should take advantage of this and use it to gather more information to make the stories better.
(if you don't get the internet is for porn part, I'll link you a video later of the video!)

Unknown said...

As the world is gradually advancing, so is the method of gathering and spreading news. People often look to technology to learn about cuurent evets that are happening. And we have to adapt to these changes to fulfill our roles as journalists. Many, mainly the younger generation, does not read the print newspaper. The younger generation is more amazed with technology, and if we feature a online newspaper, then this might increase the number of people keeping track of what is going on. But to keep track of what should go online and what should go on the print paper, we should have staff members who are interested be in charge to make sure that it runs smoothly.

Carla said...

Technology is consistently growing and improving, and with this, journalists and publishers need to take into consideration the thought of expanding to socal networks. Yes, I am clearly aware that social networks are not always reliable news sources, but it is nonetheless quick and effective. Not everyone takes the time to pick up a print newspaper and read all the current happenings. It is time to expand our wings into online/social networks. Journalists must readily accept the fact that it is one of the easiest and most publicized way to inform people. With online news, Hercules High School journalism students can easily access updates, read current events, and write daily news updates with ease, so why not? There's no reason not to. As to whether we need to have staff members who are specifically assigned online/social networking assignments, it would be a lot less difficult to have specific people working on specific jobs. There should be assigned students, but that should not limit others into trying to write articles online. No matter how we twist it, online journalism could never hurt. It'll only make a positive change for all of our staff.

Unknown said...

Nowadays, the social networks like facebook or twitter is more popular and there are more and more people reading the news the internet instead of reading newspaper, so I think we can hold a news group on facebook or twitter so that people can read the news while they are visiting the social networks.

BreNahNah said...

Technology now allows not only journalists, but humanity, to easily find out about different stories. This is a technologically driven era and this era also uses social networking more than ever before. The world is beginning to turn to technology more often and journalists need to do the same. This will keep them up to date with the latest information. Like Samson said, it'll be hard to prove the information's credibility; however, it's a valuable and key resource in today's world. It will alter the way news is reported, and it's important for journalists to be aware and prepared for this inevitable, upcoming change.

Rachelle Lan said...

The internet has been the fasting growing technology ever. In this new generation of electronics, more and more people are using it because anything is available. With the help of the internet now we are able to get news quicker with the help of social networks before journalist get them printed. With this rapid change I believe that having a online journ would help improve how kept up in the media we are, but it would take time for it to happen and we would need a whole new different staff. In the past, we have attempted putting up a online news on koobogie but that was never continued. It takes someone who is motivated to really start one and continue it.

Rachel said...

People nowadays dont really read a newspaper anymore and instead rely on the internet for the stories. I never read print anymore. I find it so much easier to just look online while I'm on facebook, and I know I'm probably not the only one. Although our newspaper is read by a good amount of the student body/staff, an online newspaper may reach more people.

Unknown said...

The Internet is a growing industry and within it are different forms of communication. Many social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become known for obtaining the quickest form of news now. However, this news is not always factual and most is opinion based. It takes quite a bit of time to reasearch the statements that jounalists want to use as they have to prove whether they are factual or not. However, having an online department for the journalism room would be somewhat beneficial for us as we have many avid readers who use these social networking sites.

Wendy said...

I personally think that we should get involved with social media. As the advance of technologies, most people have computers, even cell phones can go online. People are, therefore, allowed to obtain news during lunch hour or during a ride home. Internet provides recent and latest news for readers and allows user to obtain information more faster than print newspaper. Readers can leave comments about the issue and exchange their ideas and thoughts about the incidents. News can be saved and reviewed for years. However, print newspapers are dirty, difficult to organize and keep records for students who are doing research. They are not durable and change color easily. Although they are not as useful as Internet news, print newspapers are needed. They allow students, who have no computers, to get access to the news. If we start writing news online, staff may need to write news in a faster pace with less mistakes as possible. As mentioned above, I think we need to have staff members whose sole job it is to explore the possibilities of social media.

Aundrea_Giacomelli said...

The way we receive our news is changing from the newspaper to online. We need to start thiking about how to get involved with the social media, because the social media is what we're connecting with most. We need to get online in a more directed fashion ad target the top viewing sites. Most people just get their news on their choice of their social network when friends post comments. An online journalism staff would grab the attention of different people. Having a staff for searching the web would be a good idea.

Unknown said...

Nowadays, more and more news is available to the public through online resources and social networking sites. As a (somewhat) monthly print publication, we should be concerned about how effectively we're getting news out. As in the bomb threat incident, journalism could have been much more useful if we could inform people live, as the incident is happening, so that either students (with access to the online source) or parents could be kept informed as the story developed. As it is, we can only get them the news a few days or weeks later, when the paper is released. Granted, most students would probably not use an online school news source, but parents and the rest of the community would. Furthermore, social networking websites would be effective for both parties. Parents and students alike could "subscribe" to a news feed or follow school news on Twitter, and be updated with the latest important news. Still, the physical print paper would be kept going because it is most effective way to inform students, as they would most likely not feel like going online just to read school news. If we were to start an online news feed or publication, we would probably have to dedicate some portion of our staff to learning how to set up and run the pages. These people could be recruited from being writers (especially since we have such an excessively large pool of writers) as long as we have someone to guide them and teach them how and what to do.

Dchia23 said...

The way we consume news is changing rapidly. For example, social networks such as twitter, facebook, myspace, and tumblr are expanding rapidly. This for news reporters means instead of just reading online news or watching the television, browsing these social networks is another way to obtain the latest news.

Getting involved with a social network in order to get the latest news out could be a bit difficult. In order to be able to get all of the information to everyone in the school this means they either need an account on the website or post daily posts with the latest school news. Having an online journalism team would be the next step for journalism, yet alone the first.

wishic0uld said...

Technological advances have made so many things obsolete yet have opened just as many new doors. As the world advances and changes, so must journalists. It is important to continue with the age old art of print news, but it is just as important to keep up with the times. I think it would be a great idea for one person or maybe even two to be assigned to find different media outlets for the newspaper. As the article above shows, sometimes internet media outlets are even better and faster at getting the news out. Since the main goal of a newspaper is to inform as many people as much as possible, weekly tweets, blog posts, tumblr posts, and any other popular outlets online could be a way to get some news out more often than the school newspaper, and it could also reach a larger audience.

Jennifer D said...

During the past couple of years, technology has advanced greatly, and still continues to do so today--through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Reaching the internet is easy as acquiring it on your phone or iTouch. Now that the internet is easily accessed, people are turning towards the internet to receive their news, rather than picking up the newspaper.

Our newspaper should continue on with an online newspaper to follow this trend, considering it is more convenient and a faster way to get updated with the news that happens every minute.

Courtney Mariano said...

Technology is constantly growing and developing. I feel that the newspaper staff should change as technology changes. Although I feel that we are a strong print publication, it would be beneficial for the staff, school, and community if there were a copy of the print newspaper online. The Internet is much easier for people to access, and it makes updating on the current news faster. The newspaper staff definitely needs a group of staff members who explore the possibilities of social media in order to make a larger impact on the community.

Unknown said...

Sure, technology aids the source of information for journalists. I don't think that is a refutable statement. But, what we must consider is: what is a valid source? How cautious should we be when accepting resources from certain news sites, or even Twitter? Very. With an increase in internet sources, one must consider this. Take, for example, the "video" of the earthquake. Most would believe that this was, in fact, a video from the earthquake when it is not.

I'm not saying we shouldn't move toward social media. The general trend that will inevitably push us that way. It's the validity of sources we need to explore, but how to obtain the most helpful ones.

Unknown said...

People receive faster and more updated news information from the Internet than from other sources these days. Internet and technology proves the improvement of human beings and thus provide a platform for collaboration. As a result, it is inevitable and necessary for the school to make use of social media for rapid and more convenient information access and sharing. Using the social media will also increase the coverage of news.

Unknown said...

Technology is definitely allowing the media to get the word out in a more immediate fashion. In additon, a majority of people on earth use the Internet as their source of news or facts. Since a large community can be found online, having journalists post material online would not be a bad idea. Journalists should take advantage of online and social media to get our immediate news out. As a monthly publication, it is difficult to cover all the news we hear and have because sometimes it is not timely. Since the Internet is quick and with it being a common staple among the lives of just about everybody, it would be effective for student journalists to utilize this popular resource.

athena said...

As a print driven publication, we do not get the latest news out fast. Online resources are being used more often to inform people of what news is important and such. Social networks help determine what news is important to the public, but i don't think they are a very stable method of communication of information. The internet is a a vast sea of information and it is inevitable that we will be using it much more as a publication. Right now staffing wise, we would not be able to make this dream of online efficiency occur.But hopefully in the future we will.

Eddy said...

Well, people love to have breaking news immediately. The best way to get them is through the eyes of the average Joe. Twitter and the like is an excellent example that people run the media now. Although there is no statistic information or critical, in-depth information of a certain happening, at least people know what happened first hand. Journalism, however, will probably have to assign someone to stay on these social sites to find out information of local news and people's opinions. I don't know, something to think about I guess. We're moving fast in the technology field.

Unknown said...

It's amazing.
As we have more technological advancements and have new ways to communicate with the world, news travels faster.

Journalists' jobs might be in danger. A lot of people have already made the transition from print to online newspapers, and now that many are using Twitter "spread the word," would it even be necessary to go buy a newspaper?!

Unless journalist get super proactive with online reporting, I doubt they will be able to keep their jobs

Unknown said...

Technology is improving everyday and people are turning to other sources besides the norm. People are moving towards the easiest way to get things done the fastest. There are more options today in technology than there was ever before.

Unknown said...

Yes, the truth is that most people no longer buy a newspaper and just go online to find out infomation in the world. Newspaper companies are losing money because of this. But the truth is, we do not eed to be concerned. students at Hercules High don't have to pay for the paper, they read it when there is extra time in class and seem to enjoy some of the articles. to be honest no one at the school would take time out of their day when they go hoe to read the news at Hercules High online. They have better things to do like facebok, and youtube. That is why I feel our newspaper publication is very successful, but the time and effort put into stories that are just published online, are useless because not even all of the newspaper staff reads it let alone the entire school.

Unknown said...

Teenagers are more likely to get their news online than from a newspaper. I think it is still tradition to keep print newspapers; however, since we are a high school publication, we should consider taking advantage of social media to grab more student interest. This would spark an increase in the number of students who actually take a look at the news we gather. A great advantage of having our news online is we would be able to publish news immediately. It would be interesting to have staff members experiment with social media as our news source.

Teresa-Mae said...

Society is becoming more reliant on technology, and this reliance is reflected not only in the way we network, but also in the way we gather news. For journalists, this means that the focus should be shifted from print to the internet. Though it is not a necessity to get involved in social media, it serves as a more efficient way of distributing news and a faster way of eliciting a reaction from audiences. If staff does end up retrieving information online, it is important to ensure the validity of the information, and assigning the said as a job doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Unknown said...

Considering the line between journalist and social media user is growing thinner and thinner, all journalists can do is keep up with the times. If social media is what people could possibly look to for current news, then there should be people working with that. Print will still be around schools. Not every class has a computer, and not everyone is guaranteed to go home and open up to our newspaper online. But social media could offer quick news that doesn't exactly fit into the newspaper. It's better to have all the options and make it work for you some way, rather than shun it and miss out.

Unknown said...

We should extend our publications online so we can have a bigger audience since publications are growing old due to the fact that you can look things up online in like two seconds. Also because the world is growing in technology and science because they improve everyday.

Donnie said...

As journalist we need to definately hop on board with the social media. Technological production is soaring and we don't want to get left behind. Story ideas and an abundance of information can come from the internet which will help production. Social networks can be used for clarification and facts. Therefore, I do believe that we need to have a staffer that explores the social media. The more the scources, the better.

Stefan said...

From what I've observed, the most some people see about news is skimming the pop-up which appears after signing onto MSN, or reading the headlines of Yahoo News when logging into their email. Everything else seems to be learned through word of mouth. One person actually reads a news article, tells their friend on Facebook or Twitter, said friends tells their friends with a few details missing, and others exaggerated, and BAM!

This is how news of the swine flu spread, as a result, many beleived they would die guranteed if they caugh it (Which is far from true). While news spreads faster on social networking sites, or the internet in general on forums or chats, not all the news is accurate.

Haley K. said...

As a journalism staff, it is our responsibilty to report factual events and cover these events in stories as precisely as possible. If social media is a source capable of performing this task, then so be it. There is, however, one setback that could possibly refrain the staff from properly covering a story because social media is not 100% factual or relaiable.

Nevertheless, it is important for journalists to get up-to-date with technology, only if this technology is completely reliable.

Unknown said...

The way we get our news is changing from newspapers to news websites and now onto social media/networking sites. This means that journalist may have to go to other places to publicize there information if it is necessary. The social media provides people that are on site of the on incident and that are constantly updating what is going on. We need to get online in a more direct fashion for fast and sometimes even more reliable information that some news casting websites don't have. This will question what we publish and what's published on the social media and raise questions involving which is true and which is not. We do need to have some staff members whose sole job is to explore the possibilities of social media.

Unknown said...

As the years have past technology has advanced and continues to. Now people around the world can easily go on the WORLD WIDE WEB and get information about the news. We as a journalism class can use this to our advantage. Although the student body already reads our newspaper as they come out it would be a good idea to use our internet site and make it more known. Since the majority of us as a class get most of the news from the internet; does this mean the rest of the student body does? It would be wise to take a survey and ask students what they would prefer be means of reading the news paper; online or on paper? After recieving the results we should consider if we should put everything on the internet and then post it on a social networking site.

Unknown said...

In the past, people found it a hobby to read books and write daily entries in their handy journals. As technology improved and advanced from cassette players to iPods, large monitors to portable laptops, and walkie talkies to touchscreen smartphones, the internet soon became people's best friend. Just as iPods and laptops help eliminate bulky CD cases and multiple cords for easier use at hand, the Internet can be accessed with the click of a button.

Since the Internet is much more accessible than encyclopedias and print newspapers, many people turn to the Internet for information, specifically to social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and Tumblr. Preparing for the publication of a newspaper is time consuming and requires a great deal of work and effort from a large staff. In addition, breaking news is difficult to get through when the distribution of the newspaper is weeks after the date of the unexpected news. Therefore, it would be extremely great if the staff could have a team of members who focuses on managing an online version of our newspaper. Although Kaboogie was not too big of a success, nor did it grab the attention from HHS students, having a Twitter account just for the Titan Template could be beneficial as many teenagers have their own Twitter accounts and have their Twitter subscriptions forwarded to their own cellular devices. Therefore, our staff could get out breaking news as fast as the eye can blink. Even if students do not care about everyday news, at least we would be able to reach out to the parents whose children would rather throw the Titan Template on the floor than taking the time to read it at home.

Sabrina said...

It is the 21st century and it is almost virtually impossible to do homework without access to the Internet. Students rely on the Internet to do homework, check grades, and entertain themselves. Newspapers must go with the times and change with the times if they want to keep up because students seldomly read print news. They rely on television, Internet sites, and their cell phone. The paper could possibly make a twitter for students to follow the events and occurences at school. They may possibly read the whole "article" if it is only 140 characters long, rather than 500 words. I do not think many students read the online paper because they are unaware.

Henry Hung said...

Social media is improving yes, but it is still what it is, social media. Although taken more seriously than before, social media still lacks the seriousness of regular media. Social media, such as twitter, still should be kept informal and not necessarily regulary updated. Pring and formal website should still be the primary news giver. As time and technology progresses, however, social media can became a formal way of telling news.

Yueming Wang said...

Everything we do in our lives -- from reading books to watching movies to shopping -- have continually become more electronically based. News publications is by no means different in this light. I do believe that it would benefit our program to start an online newspaper forum, but we would still need to have a solid, printed paper. It would be best if we could create a new category for journalism students who would be in charge of the online website, however, the printed edition should still be weighted more. After all, we are firstly a print publication. I don't think we should publish anything on popular social websites even if we gain more recognition. Even though many people do apparently publish news on those sites, it is important that we show others that plain old news can still stand alone without the dependence on social networking. There's got to be some kind of a boundary.

Chris Habash said...

We are in the 21st century. Fact of the matter is, technology has majorly progressed since early times, when a computer with a server that has occupied an entire room was considered advanced. Consequently, with handy dandy gadgets such as cell phones with wifi and ipods with accessible internet, relying on published print such as newspapers and magazines to acquire information is a thing of that past. What that means for journalists is that inevitably, social media will be relied on for information. Social networks will provide information, but they are not completely reliable, so journalists should still depend on a more valid source for their stories

alec said...

A generation like today, the 21st century, will always be on the look out for new ways of communicating, ways to conquer new communication devices and nevertheless to rely on these communcation "gadgets". It is inevitable that society will try to be the best in everything, whether it be in a race to the moon or simple ways of communication. It is natural for humans to want to find the most efficient, yet less complicated, way of doing things. Therefore, if we wake up one day and realize that society is using the internet more commonly than buying the local newspaper, then, as journalists and as humans, we should follow this trend. However, eliminating print news completley is not the best answer. Journalists should understand that, even though the print news is slowly fading away, it is a source to be used as an addent to online news. The public should not only use online news, but should combine both sources of news into society. Nevertheless, we should still consider online news as a rising star in recieving news and journalists should consider it as a part of their business. News should be given in every aspect of communication.

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