1What is online journalism? - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY

The core journalism 49
ask the tough questions than the one who thinks it’s more
productive to let the creative juices flow and wing it.
Collect – conducting interviews
Having identified a potential news story and found the best
sources, you have to collect the information you need.
The use of online tools has brought great advances in this area.
Gone are the dusty, dog-eared and incomplete cuttings files. As
Chapter 3 will demonstrate, the journalist now has access to
unparalleled amounts of information. The trick is finding the right
stuff.
A reminder here: cuttings files have always been a great way of
perpetuating myths and mistakes. An inaccuracy in an original
cutting can resurface in later examples and then, with repetition
over time, develop a patina of truth. This is an even greater
problem on the Web, where material is more difficult to source
and yet can be presented immaculately.
In such circumstances, there is no substitute for the other
critical element of the news collection process, that is talking to
real people. Online journalists must not become over-reliant on
data, documents, e-mail and newsgroups. They must also learn
the skill of interviewing.
This may seem unnecessary for many journalists who sadly
never set foot outside their online newsroom. However, interviewing
should not be the preserve of the reporter on the road. It
is an essential tool for all journalists. Even those who spend their
time ‘re-purposing’ content (e.g. taking stories from one medium
and reworking them for online) will need at times to check out
elements of the story. They may receive e-mails from readers who
have extra information or eye-witness accounts, and these people
need to be interviewed.
Interviews can take the following forms and they all have
applications for online.
The research interview – this is aimed at getting background
information and fact checking. Research interviews can also be
a preliminary to the other forms of interview.