1What is online journalism? - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY

122 Journalism Online
Put these two factors together – the commitment needed for a
reader to stay and the freedom they have to roam – and you can
see that online journalists and content providers must think long
and hard about how they construct and present their stories. It is
a very different environment from the ‘old’ media of newspapers,
radio and television.
In the mid-1990s it became apparent that a new approach to
online story construction was being adopted. One of the leading
voices to emerge was that of Leah Gentry, who, first at the Orange
County Register and Chicago Tribune and later at latimes.com,
espoused an approach to ‘non-linear storytelling’ which many
since have followed.
As Gentry herself puts it:
The fundamental theory behind non-linear storytelling for
the web is that you need to look at the medium you’re
working in and ask ‘What are the strengths of this medium
and how can I use those strengths to help me tell my
story?’. So you work with the medium instead of against the
medium. 3
It is striking how frequently Gentry’s initial guidelines, which date
back to 1996, are still endorsed and re-stated by online journalists
and content providers. They have stood the test of turbulent times
and so bear repeating here, in a slightly abridged form.
Rule 1 – follow the guidelines of good journalism. The
traditional methods of careful and unbiased reporting, using
compelling writing, photography, audio and video, will translate
well into the new media.
Rule 2 – ‘leverage the strengths of the medium’. This phrase
has rung in my ears since I first heard Leah Gentry talk about
it at a conference in 1997. She defines the strengths as linking,
immediacy, interactivity, multimedia and depth. These, especially
when combined, are what make online journalism
distinctive.
3 Interview with author, July 2000.