Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

journalism and computers 259Markoff, John. What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties CountercultureShaped the Personal Computer Industry. New York:Penguin, 2005.Young, Jeffrey S., and William L. Simon. iCon: Steve Jobs, the GreatestSecond Act in the History of Business. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley,2005.journalism and computersThe pervasive use of computers and the Internet haschanged the practice of journalism in many ways. Thisentry will focus on the general impact of technology on thecreation and dissemination of news content. For discussionof software used in the production of publications, seedesktop publishing, and word processing. For the rolethat journalism plays in the computer industry, see journalismand the computer industry.Research and NewsgatheringThe gathering of on-scene information at newsworthyevents began to change in the 1980s, when notebook-sizedportable computers became available. Instead of having to“file” stories with the newspaper by telegraph or phone, thereporter could write the piece and send it to the newspaper’scomputer using a phone connection (see modem) orlater, Internet-based e-mail.The ability of reporters (particularly investigative reporters)to do in-depth research has been greatly enhancedby the Internet. Traditionally, reporters looking for backgroundmaterial for an assignment could consult printedreference works, their publications’ archives of printed articles(the “morgue”), and various public records, usually inpaper form. This process was necessarily slow, and it wasdifficult to widen research to include a greater variety ofsources while still remaining timely.Today most publications produce and store their materialelectronically and make it available online. Reportersthus have virtually instant access to articles written by theircolleagues around the world. Instead of having to rely on afew press releases, position papers, or wire stories, reporterscan search the Internet to delve more deeply into theunderlying source material, such as original documents orstatistics. An increasing number of public records are alsoavailable online.Changing Standards and New ChallengesAfter being submitted electronically, reporters’ stories canbe edited, revised as necessary, and submitted to the computer-controlledtypesetting systems that have now becomestandard in most publications. Besides saving productioncosts, computer-based newspaper production also makes iteasier to make last-minute changes as well as to create specialeditions that include regional news.However, at the same time the greater use of informationtechnology has made print journalists more productive, ithas also contributed to trends that continue to challengethe viability of print journalism itself. The nature of theInternet poses new challenges to reporter-researchers. Theaccuracy of traditionally published books or articles isbacked implicitly by the reputation of the publisher as wellas that of the author. By offering a wide variety of materialsproduced outside the mainstream publishing process,often by unknown authors, the Internet can provide a muchgreater diversity of viewpoints (see also wikis and Wikipedig).The downside is that the reporter-researcher haslittle assurance of the veracity or accuracy of facts givenon unknown Web sites. This creates a greater burden offact checking in responsible journalism or, alternatively, arelaxation of the traditional standards. (The most famousexample of the latter is Matt Drudge, a self-made Internetbasedjournalist who sometimes dramatically “scooped” hismore plodding colleagues but did not adhere to the oldjournalistic standard of finding two independent sourcesfor each key fact.)The use of the Internet as both a research tool and amedium of publication is also bound up with the everacceleratingpace of the “news cycle,” or the time it takesfor a story to be disseminated and responded to. Broadcastjournalism with the advent of 24-hour news networks suchas CNN has steadily increased the pace of the broadcastnews cycle. Many newspapers and magazines have foundhaving Web sites to be a competitive necessity. The Internetpotentially combines the immediacy of broadcast journalismwith the ability to use text to convey information indepth. The organization of Web pages (see hypertext andhypermedia) avoids the physical limitations of the printedmedium.In addition to Web sites that mirror and expand thecontents of printed newspapers, a number of distinctiveInternet-only sites emerged in the mid to late 1990s. Examplesinclude salon.com, an “online newsmagazine” thatalso includes regular featured columnists and discussionforums. However, the downturn in the Internet-based economyin 2002 made the original idea of having free accesssupported by advertising less viable. Such sites are now tryingto convert to a subscription-based model similar to thatof print-based publications, but it is unclear whether theywill be able to attract enough paying subscribers.New Alternatives and New QuestionsThe Internet is rapidly changing not only how journalism isproduced, but how it is delivered—and indeed, the role andfuture of the profession itself. Broadcast journalism, alreadygreatly changed by the advent of cable TV networks in the1990s, has now found itself needing to deliver programsthrough new channels (see podcasting, Internet radio,and music and video distribution, online). With “broadcasts”available any time at user request, the news cycle hasessentially vanished into a 24/7 reality where wave uponwave of stories is constantly flowing and changing.The more profound change, though, is in who gets topractice and define journalism. Everyone it seems has somethingto say online (see blogs and blogging). Bloggerswho cover current events (especially politics) at their bestrepresent the latest incarnation of “citizen journalism” (seepolitical activism and the Internet). However, issues ofobjectivity (and the line between activist and journalist) havebeen raised, as has the question of what legal protections