All over the blogosphere there is talk about the role of blogs in the media agenda. Do blogs reflect the media agenda or do blogs (at times) create the media agenda? This question was asked & answered with varying results after the Trent Lott and Jayson Blair scandals. Patrick Weever calls it a "revolution of influence." The question comes up again – this time in regards to the California recall race.

In Stateline.org's recent article about the subject (article via Mindy McAdams), the focus shifts. Instead of claiming that the average citizen blogger breaks news and sets the media agenda, the article talks about how journalists are using blogs to communicate up-to-date information about the race.

Reporting through weblogs is moving away from a geeky tech journalist tool to a more mainstream one. The recent war in Iraq saw success in this notion as new giants like CNN had their reporters file through blogs.

I see this movement as making life for journalists more difficult in that timing truly is everything. I see this movement as making life for journalists more exciting in that you don’t have to work for a large news organization to get your story read by thousands. What do you see?
# posted by kaye @ 10:22 AM ::

Journalism isn’t what it used to be. That statement is obvious in many ways. Journalists don’t wear funny hats that say “press” and it’s nearly impossible to operate without an e-mail account these days. But beyond these changes in the way journalists do business, the past decade was marked with a revolution in regards to the work that journalists produce.

How so? Journalists are no longer limited to telling stories in just 500 words to a known circulation of subscribers. Online journalism expanded the creative opportunities for journalists by enabling journalists to post multimedia elements and more in-depth stories to an unlimited universal readership on the Web.

And so the Reporting & Writing for Online Media course at the University of Florida enters the blogosphere. In this group blog, the entire class of upper-level online journalism students and instructors will share our reflections on the evolution of journalism and report on emerging trends. We all have different voices with one purpose: to provide a community forum for other journalists interested in how the field continues to evolve through technology.

You may not be able to make it to our class every Tuesday, but you are welcome to add your own insight in our discussions as we delve into what is happening today in online journalism.
# posted by kaye @ 10:48 AM ::