Internet Journalism in European Countries - Research Paper Example

Running Head: Internet Journalism Internet Journalism Introduction The word journalism has its roots in the Latin word “diurnalis”, which means daily account or record. However, its excessive use in terms of new journalism has changed its meaning to a more refined form, where it refers to the collection and editing of news for presentation to an audience through one or more forms of media. Over the years, however, the record keeping or accounting has moved from daily basis to intraday to hourly and from hourly to even minute basis. Moreover, almost instantaneous transmission and broadcasting through new forms of media has even increased the difference between the true form of journalism to what journalism has become today (Salwen, Garrison & Driscoll, 19-27, 2005). Towards the start of the 20th century and for the initial decades, print media was dominating the scene in terms of journalism. However, important here to note is that this was the era when journalists had plenty of time, in terms of conducting a proper research, analysis, validation, and publication of the news. Publishing was not a common practice and only few of the early individuals had access to this machine, which was crucial to the development of the final product. However, as the time progressed, as mentioned earlier, this time shrank (Paterson & Domingo, pp. 77-78, 2008). Internet journalism or online journalism has tremendously changed the whole scenario. It differs greatly from the traditional forms and modes of journalism. Wolk (2001) identify five chief divisions that are present between online journalism and traditional mass media: “1) the Internet’s ability to mix multiple media, 2) lack of tyranny of author over reader, 3) no one can control the audience’s attention, 4) the Internet can make communication processes continuous, 5) interactivity of the web” (pp. 57). A careful analysis would reveal that there is also a sixth factor or distinction involved which is the speed. Internet journalism works very fast, which can sometimes be very contributing and helping but at some occasions can be very brutal. Unlike past, today virtually everyone who owns a modem is a publisher. Without any doubts, this shift in journalism from traditional and print mediums to internet and online mediums has changed the scenario completely. Not only it has affected the political and social sectors of life but virtually every other sector as well. Critics regard this new form of journalism as one of biggest revolutions of the recent times, if not of the entire human history (Ray, 11-14, 2006). The rest of this paper will attempt to summarize the evolution, rise, dynamics, and impact of internet journalism. However, for the sake of simplification and maintaining focus, the shame would be done with respect to European countries, which offer the most the best and active examples in terms of the rise and impact of online journalism. These countries would be Republic of Turkey and Federal Republic of Germany. Discussion Surrounded by North Sea, Baltic Sea, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Netherlands is the fourth largest economy of the world called as the Federal Republic of Germany. Located in the western part of Europe, Germany is the one of the world leaders, if the only world leader, in fields of science, technology, military development and expenditure, trade budgets, providing social security to its citizens and others. In fact, many developing countries have been trying to follow the Germany model of government, reforms, and administration. This immense strength of Germany in the global scenario makes it feasible to explore internet journalism in context of Germany, since this predominantly socialist state has claimed to be taking seriously, the principles of freedom of speech through various forms of the media. Moreover, the high technology and developed environment of Germany also allowed it become one of the first countries to face the wave of online journalism and adapt to the same over the years (Ray, 11-14, 2006). Right from day one, Germany has always expressed its support and inclination towards freedom of press and journalism in all forms and all mediums. Since the Second World War and after the Hitler’s Nazi regime, even in the periods when Germany was decided into West and East Germany, the governments have considered journalism as a cornerstone of building strong democracies, ensuring healthy civic participation, strengthening good governance and prompting peace and justice at all levels (Herbert, pp. 305-316, 2000). Repeatedly, Germany’s administration has indicated their staunch faith in the ‘Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ that states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” (Beer, Beer & Merrill, pp. 45-49, 2008). Germany has given birth to many agencies, institutions, networks, and organizations that are fighting for the cause of improving standards of journalism, freedom of press, and help online journalism to reform and nurture in this globalizing and constantly changing environment. One of the biggest conferences by one of these organizations was by InWEnt – Capacity Building International in 2006, on the topic of discussing the opportunities and challenges that press faces from the same. The conference that took place at a global level was one of the biggest demonstrations of the presence, evolution, development and nurturing of online journalism in Germany. Journalists attended this conference from the entire world and many governmental and administrative representatives of Germany. In fact, much of the data regarding the Germany’s online journalism environment is coming in light of the pacts, agreements, speeches and expression of thoughts and polices that took place in this conference. Therefore, much of the research conducted on this topic in Germany has direct or indirect links with this major conference. Another very important reason why Germany has such a rich history in terms of evolution, fostering, progression and growth of internet journalism, is that there are virtually non-existent, if not extremely lenient censorship laws in the country. Even the biggest newspaper company, which has foreign correspondents in more than 45 countries of the world, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, reveals that there are no censorship laws that they have to be concerned about during their operations (Beer, Beer & Merrill, pp. 45-49 , 2008). Furthermore, another significant impact of internet journalism on the social mindset of Germans is that after decades of living in the environment of almost no censorship and complete freedom of press, coupled with the advent and growth of internet journalism, they now view other countries with the same lens (McNair, pp. 85-89, 2009). For example, it was during the early part of this decade when Dr. Hans Dembowski who is sociologist wrote a book regarding the impact of civil society groups on judiciary (Kawamoto, pp. 409, 2003). Oxford University Press published this book; however, in no time, the Indian High Court ordered to stop Oxford University Press from printing any further copies and destroying the previous ones because the book had something to say about the corruption of the judges (Boczkowski, pp. 303, 2005). It has been more than nine years that the case is still there in the judiciary. However, important here to note is that this is common thing in India. Even the major cases get resolved after 20-25 years time on an average (Craig, pp.181-189, 2010). However, Germany, obsessed by internet journalism and the globalized power and reach provided by the same was the first country to make it available through the internet. Moreover, Germany was also the first country to pressurize its government to have diplomatic talks with India on this issue. Another example in this regard took place regarding the Danish cartoons of Muhammad that were published in German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Pavlik, pp. 435-438, 2008). These cartoons were published in Egypt as well by this German newspaper. However, the Egyptian administration was quick enough to ban these cartoons and stop its circulation. However, the German journalists made sure that the cartoons are circulated through internet to the local people of Egypt. Important here to note is that in both of these cases, it appears that internet journalism has allowed German journalist to go global and poke their noses into the domestic affairs of so many countries that now they believe that ensuring the same press freedom in all over the world is one of their prime responsibilities (Bromely, pp.107-109, 2005). However, they are forgetting that despite the fact that internet journalism has strengthened cross border exchanges yet viewing their cultures with the same lens is problematic. For example, one of the reasons why cases in Indian courts take so long is because of the fact that for a population of more than one billion people, the number of judges is not even in a half a million. Furthermore, the Egypt government had no choice but to ban it because it could create a complete chaos in the country (Craig, pp.181-189, 2010). Letting fundamental Muslims view those cartons would be similar as inviting trouble as the Pakistani government, which failed to ban these cartoons and thus these fundamentalists came down on streets and burnt public and private properties in a complete nonsense way. The government of Egypt wanted to avoid that but the German journalists foaled to understand this and despite restrictions made sure that, the story is circulated through internet in Egypt (Beer, Beer & Merrill, pp. 45-49 , 2008). Another important social impact of internet journalism on the German society has been the fact that it has both, forced and allowed the German society to become socialist where HDI indexes rank very high. The point here is what James Wolfensohn once tried to make by saying that “A free press is at the absolute core of equitable development” (Paterson & Domingo, pp. 77-78, 2008). In theory at least, no democracy can operate with free press and in context of today’s world, without internet journalism. Internet journalism offers the most quickly, cheapest and yet the most effective way for the press to act as watchdog on government by identifying corruption, bad governance, human rights violation, social injustice, power abuse and others. It allows people to take informed and responsible decisions (Ward, pp. 211-218, 2002). Quite understandably, an extremely free and effective pool of online journalists or media personnel would make it difficult for the government to survive for even a while since it would keep on reminding the government that it has to take care of its citizens. Therefore, the German government has proactively decided to take a socialist form where these potential public reactions through reports of online journalists could be avoided (Allan, pp. 6-18, 2006). Lately in Germany, problems regarding issues of quality and credibility have also risen with the increasing internet journalism in the country. The same is true because with the rise of online journalism, internet journalists face higher pressures for meeting the standard of speed first than other criteria (Gunter, pp. 135-137, 2003). Before the advent of internet, journalists had more time to verify and check the credibility of the news or a report before forwarding; however, this is no more the case. This new form of journalism has decreased this time and pressures of credibility and quality since these journalists are fighting now on “who makes it first”. As one author puts it, “abandon the scoop culture of 100 years ago. Net journalists are taking even less time to check their stories than they did in the oil media. The rush to put these online is undermining journalism everywhere” (Paterson & Domingo, pp. 77-78, 2008). This has forced the German public to question the credibility of these reports in the recent times and it was in the last quarter of 2009, when the government also jumped in to improve the system of online journalism in Germany. Placed in the southeastern region of Europe or sometimes referred as Eurasian country because of its location between Asia and Europe, Republic of Turkey is a regional power in its area. Despite the fact that more than 97 percent of its population is Muslim yet it a secular state and enjoys close and friendly relations with many western and European countries. Turkey is home for more than 77 million people and one of the most rapidly modernizing and growing states in the world (Salwen, Garrison & Driscoll, 19-27, 2005). The evolution of internet journalism in Turkey took place in flashes during the late 1990s. By the mid of 2000, all of the news channels or newspapers owned some sort of website for publishing their content online (Salwen, Garrison & Driscoll, 19-27, 2005). The Turkish online journalism can be classified into two main groups: the first one includes the sites of traditional media groups; however, the second one comprises of the freelance journalists or in other media watchdogs (Foust, pp. 257-263, 2005). The media watch dogs are specifically under discussion below. Over the past many years, surprisingly, internet journalism of these media watchdogs in Turkey specifically has taken two forms, which can be named as “journalism about journalism” and “alternative journalism” (Seib, pp. 213-214, 2002). Quite understandably, in many countries, the internet journalists try to act as watchdogs, not of the government but of the traditional and widespread media. Without any doubts, this journalism has emerged because of the fact that people are increasingly feeling the need of the same. Every one is aware of the powerful impact that internet journalism can have on lives of common person (Friend & Singer, pp. 237-241, 2007). The way news channels and mediums have acted over the past few years, all the controversies, claims, stories, allegations, wrong doings and others, the news sector has it self become a potential news. Therefore, public have been silently demanding a watchdog on media to satisfy their need and ensure honestly and credibility. The idea is to keep a constant eye on what is happening in the newspapers and the channels, identify, and explain anything fishy. This is what is known as “journalism about journalism” (Paterson & Domingo, pp. 77-78, 2008). However, under the umbrella of freedom for speech, internet journalism has taken an alternative form as well. As mentioned earlier, people now seem media people as dishonest, misleading, and deceiving people working under the rational choice theory. The general view in informed public is that most of the traditional media sources are mere puppets run by the governments, large corporations, foreign agencies, or powerful businesspersons (Ward, pp. 211-218, 2002). Therefore, they do not serve the interests of the public nor are they interested in providing unbiased and true news but there goal is to maximize their own profits at the stake of ethics, morality, their viewers, society and at times national or social security. Moreover, most of the news channels have formed cartels at the back door and are just making money by making a fool out of the people. This is known as “alternative journalism” (Craig, pp. 3-7, 2004). However, it is crucial here to understand this boom of sites owned by freelance journalists in Turkey. Before the mid 2000s, Turkey was one of the best examples of media monopoly in the world. As one author puts the situation as “While not all banks own media stakes, all large newspapers, magazines and television companies belong to people who also own banks. (…) Nearly 80 percent of the newspapers sold in Turkey are printed by two groups, Doğan and Bilgin, which dominate the media sector and number among the top 60 largest companies in Turkey. Doğan accounts for 45 percent of the newspapers sold in Turkey and Bilgin 33 percent. (…) Doğan owns three of the four top selling titles, including the best selling Hürriyet, the largest magazine group (half of which is owned by the German Burda and Italian Rizzoli partnership), and Kanal D, one of the most popular TV channels.(…) The distribution of newspapers and magazines is handled by a company which is a joint venture between rivals. Doğan and Bilgin also led the formation of a company to handle advertising for the country's top four television companies this year but had to climb down when big advertisers stopped advertising” (Bhatia, pp. 344-346, 2006). The problem even got worse when the government passes bills that strengthen will strengthen the position of media owners to get government tenders based on the choice of government officials. This explains why the Turkish media is not a pillar to the state but only and only to the government of Turkey. This dependency and interdependence of government on media and vice versa allows the media people to only leak secrets regarding the government to the extent to which the government approves them to do so (Friend & Singer, pp. 237-241, 2007). Moreover, another issue that rose with these monopolies was the firings of employees during economic recession. Reports indicate that media cartels let more than 4000 people and quite understandably, news channels did not cover it and government did not bother to make a move about it. Many of these 4000 people joined the freelance journalist or internal journalism industry thus creating a boom of the same in Turkey. In addition, this rise in internet journalism in turkey has caused some reservations within the learning circles of Turkey. Critics are questioning more and more about the quality levels of online journalism that is being conducted. Despite the fact that internet journalism has allowed the journalists to forward that much amount of news, which could never fit in any newspaper of news bulletin yet; it is not about quantity but it is about quality (Rosales, pp. 26-27, 2006). Not only owns a modem and writers a blog can be called as a journalist. Journalists are good storytellers and have their own calculated mechanism, which tells them that, which stories to select and which ones to let go (Quinn, pp. 189-194, 2008). However, with internet journalism, public is finding themselves with information overload, most of it is irrelevant and to put it delicately, complete nonsense. Furthermore, these sites are not creating their own content, researching, finding, or editing it, but they are merely copying it from other sources, and copying it huge numbers as it provide never-ending content to its readers. However, a recent survey in turkey reveals that it is causing the people, specially the youth to avoid news since there is too many of it. People now prefer not to get into the hassle of reading all of it and therefore, they tend to avoid it in overall terms (Salwen, Garrison & Driscoll, 19-27, 2005). References Allan, Stuart. 2006. Online news: journalism and the Internet. McGraw-Hill International. Beer, Arrie De., Beer, Arnold S. de, & Merrill, John Calhoun. 2008. Global journalism: topical issues and media systems. Pearson. Bhatia, Arun. 2006. Impact of Internet on Journalism. Akansha Publishing House. Boczkowski, Pablo J. 2005. Digitizing the news: innovation in online newspapers. MIT Press. Bromely, Michael. 2005. Online journalism. SAGE. Craig, David A. 2010. Excellence in Online Journalism: Exploring Current Practices in an Evolving Environment. SAGE. Craig, Richard. 2004. Online journalism: reporting, writing and editing for new media. Thomson/Wadsworth. Foust, James C. 2005. Online journalism: principles and practices of news for the Web. Holcomb Hathaway. Friend, Cecilia, & Singer, Jane B. 2007. Online journalism ethics: traditions and transitions. M. E. Sharpe. Gunter, Barrie. 2003. News and the Net. Routledge. Herbert, John. 2000. Journalism in the digital age: theory and practice for broadcast, print, and on-line media. Focal Press. Kawamoto, Kevin. 2003. Digital journalism: emerging media and the changing horizons of journalism. Rowman & Littlefield. McNair, Brian. 2009. News and journalism in the UK. Taylor & Francis. Paterson, Chris A., & Domingo, David. 2008. Making online news: the ethnography of new media production. Peter Lang. Pavlik, John Vernon. 2008. Media in the digital age. Columbia University Press. Quinn, Stephen, & Lamble, Stephen. 2008. Online newsgathering: research and reporting for journalism. Focal Press. Ray, Tapas. 2006. Online Journalism: A Basic Text. Cambridge University Press. Rosales, Rey G. 2006. The elements of online journalism. iUniverse. Salwen, Michael Brian, Garrison, Bruce, & Driscoll, Paul D. 2005. Online news and the public. Routledge. Seib, Philip M. 2002. Going Live: Getting the News Right in a Real-Time, Online World. Rowman & Littlefield. Ward, Mike. 2002. Journalism online. Focal Press. Wolk, Roland De. 2001. Introduction to online journalism: publishing news and information. Allyn and Bacon. Read More