Online Journalism - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY
Online Journalism - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY
Online Journalism - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY
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The Nature of News 59<br />
USA. By 12 May Excite.com was aggregating regular newswire reports<br />
like the following from Reuters and UPI.<br />
Bomb Threats Targeted – Lawmakers are considering new legislation<br />
that would stiffen penalties against those who make school<br />
bomb threats. More than 40 bomb threats have been reported at<br />
North Carolina schools since the shootings at Columbine High<br />
School in Colorado last month.<br />
Parents Are On Edge – An exploding bomb at an Omaha-area<br />
school is making many parents fearful about sending their youngsters<br />
to school. State law enforcement officials say they’re working<br />
around-the-clock to arrest those who are responsible for placing<br />
the explosive device in a bathroom at Bryan High School<br />
yesterday … or for calling in bomb threats. 25<br />
InsideDenver.com, the website of Rocky Mountain News, has its own<br />
staff and is run as a separate organisation from the parent newspaper.<br />
Robert Niles, the then executive producer, estimated traffic at<br />
between five and ten times the norm over the two weeks after the<br />
killings. 26 Such a volume caused problems for some of the software<br />
used by InsideDenver.com and substantially slowed down the site,<br />
hosted by the parent company. The management took the decision<br />
to take advertisements off the site and move it to its own server,<br />
providing extra bandwidth. By prioritising news publishing over<br />
advertising during the period of peak demand it was possible once<br />
more to serve pages rapidly to consumers. The decision does not<br />
entirely reflect the highest journalistic principles, although it is to be<br />
commended, since, if consumers cannot access the paper’s site, to<br />
quote Robert Niles, ‘You might as well not be writing anything.’ 27<br />
Coverage of the unfolding tragedy was mainly repurposed from<br />
material prepared for the print edition. The site gave synopses of<br />
televised news conferences in the form of short bulleted pieces<br />
written by the online newsroom staff and provided audio and video<br />
clips. By transcribing material directly from broadcast media to the<br />
web InsideDenver.com was able to be first on the web (and hours<br />
ahead of print editions) with accurate information. Other news<br />
organisations were still waiting for their reporters to file their<br />
accounts of the news conference. Traffic on the 911 emergency
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