3.2: The Digital World

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In this section, you will be referred to a series of external links for information and instruction. After all, what better way to explore the world of digital journalism than with digital resources? Follow the links to the various articles, reports, videos, and blog posts from around the World Wide Web in order to learn more about the current media landscape and its ramifications for journalists.

For a taste of what covering a story might entail in today's digital world, watch the following advertisement for The Guardian:

Now, take a look at the Nieman Journalism Lab's breakdown of an extensive, in-depth report on the current state of journalism, published by Columbia's Tow Center for Digital Journalism and entitled "Post-Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present."

Next up, check out this Adweek feature for a glimpse at how the (arguably) best paper in the country—The New York Times—has been adapting to the present described above and what technological innovations have been in the works at the Times' Research and Development Lab.

Though the Times' smart mirror project sounds futuristically appealing, a personalized Web experience can be dangerous. Watch this TED Talk to find out how:

Moreover, the truth becomes murkier online. In the digital frontier of journalism—where speed becomes an even higher concern, sometimes at the expense of accuracy, and anyone with an Internet connection can unleash information to the world—evaluating and verifying everything you come across on the Web becomes a necessary skill. This is part of what it means to be digitally literate.

In Part One, there was a link to the Neiman Foundation's coverage of "Truth in the Age of Social Media" consisting of various articles, including a report from "Inside the BBC's Verification Hub."

To learn how to evaluate a website, read this blog post by Scott Rosenberg, journalist and co-founder of news site Salon.com. For even more guidelines on how to vet online sources, check out this article from the Columbia Journalism Review.

The advent of social media has led to the rise of citizen journalism and the "blogsophere," shaking up the traditional, reporter-dependent model of gathering and distributing the news. In addition to the questions of authenticity discussed above, this has led to debate over the distinction between blogging and journalism, as outlined by this article.

How does any of this apply to your work as a reporter? The digital revolution in media has transformed how news is gathered and therefore the priorities and practices of journalists. Steve Buttry of Digital First Media, a newspaper management company, has written a great deal about the new face of digital journalism on his personal blog. Check out this particular post for a detailed description of how a "digital-first" approach has shifted the workflow of different members of the newsroom.

Next, read this other post of his on how to properly attribute sources and how "linking" figures into all of that online.

In his article, Mr. Buttry reiterates, "Attribution is the difference between research and plagiarism." Take a look now at this article from the Poynter Institute to learn where "patchwriting" falls, why it's as bad as plagiarism, and how to avoid doing it yourself.