Blog 3

The readings again this week supported my assertion that journalism has increasingly become a community effort instead of one completed solely by reporters in a newsroom. The Internet has created a new and unique sphere of information and communication. As shown in the social media landscape, people are constantly communicating - and spreading the news. As newsrooms have cut down on staff as Fisher points out in his blog post, people spreading the news in other venues have multiplied.
With this in mind, a new news-writing technique has emerged: writing for the Internet. Journalists not only have had to learn new technology but also a new way of speaking the truth. Examples include tighter, quicker and shorter writing. Internet users lack a major virtue: patience. News organizations must adapt to that.
The New York Times learned this adaptation by scanning for which words their online readers looked up the most. I think this was a great way to see how the Internet greatly benefits the relationship between news organizations and their readers. Fisher also challenges journalists to use this relationship to the benefit of reporting. The problem he sees, however, is the change credibility has made: from institutional to transactional. Some more traditional journalists may have trouble with this change, but it must be accepted.
Fisher argues that bloggers help "broaden and deepen" information ideally. I wonder what he thinks they actually do. I also think the community aspect of journalism on the Internet has subconsciously forced people to turn back to their real-life communities. They want to hear about their hometown. "When you do it from the ground up, you have to listen, watch, smell and hear first," Fisher said.
The community of journalism in the U.S. is now looking toward the government to be the saving grace of journalism. According to Nichols and McChesney, the Internet has helped worsen the crisis for journalism. The only way to save the truth-seekers from the community on the Web is to get protection from the government. They say, "Today, as in the early Republic, our system of government cannot succeed and our individual freedoms cannot survive without an informed, participating citizenry, and that requires competitive, independent news media."