Read and Blog No. 4

Lily Parkinson, lilypark89@gmail.com
I thought this set of readings was one of the most interesting we've had to read. I really liked parts one and two of "Who's Doing Good Work in Online News." Not only were many of the featured websites good sources of inspiration, they also proved to be flat-out useful. One of my favorites was Politifact's Obameter. President Obama made so many promises while on the campaign trail, I'm glad someone is keeping track of the promises he's fulfilling. I'm also very glad that a news organization is keeping track of his promises as well: This gives journalists positive light in an increasingly negative outlook of the press.
Many believe the newspaper business is dying; however, the Newspaper Association of America argues otherwise. Newspapers aren't dying, just changing. They are changing from a world of competition between papers to one of community on the Internet.
When reading through "Who's Doing Good Work in Online News," I discovered that there are really two news-related communities emerging online. The first is the niche market. Established news organizations as well as new online-only ventures are marketing to very specific neighborhoods and groups of people. These niches, such as "MomsLikeMe," unite users to not only read but also generate news about their specific areas and interests. They work together to form a community of news. The second community is more journalistically based. This community comes in the form of news aggregation. Many sites are now pulling from other news sources. Not only can users read what others are saying about events and issues, but the original news source becomes a one-stop site for users.
Journalism is no longer a competition but a communication.