Online Journalism & Tourism

With the decline of newspapers there's been a lot of talk about online journalism being the future of the news business. But what exactly do we mean by virtual journalism?


According to About.com

Web journalism actually encompasses a whole range of different kinds of sites, including:

Newspaper Websites:Websites run by newspapers are basically extensions of the papers themselves.

Independent News Websites:
These sites, often found in larger cities, tend to specialize in hard-news coverage of municipal government, city agencies, law enforcement and schools.

Hyper-Local News Sites
These sites specialize in coverage of small, specific communities, right down to the individual neighborhood.

Citizen Journalism Sites
Citizen journalism sites run a wide gamut. Some are basically just online platforms where people can post video reports or pictures on virtually any subject. Others focus on a specific geographic area and provide more targeted, specific coverage.

Blogs
Blogs are known primarily for being platforms for delivering opinion and commentary, but many actually do real reporting as well. Bloggers have varying degrees of journalism experience.

Citizen Journalism for me is a concept that advances the idea that consumers or everyday citizens take a more active role in the news. It is often referred to as the “new media” and includes everything from passionate letters to the editor and comments on blogs and news sites, to bloggers scooping stories or exposing doctored or omitted facts from mainstream media reports. They do need writing, photography, communications, research, curiosity, a sense of humor and a passion for the subject you're writing about as veteran citizen journalist Sue Frause once said.

I personally love the Citizen Journalism type: here is a list of my faves:

Website: www.ushahidi.com: is mobilizing citizens to report and map conflicts.

Reporter.co.za is a news website written entirely by its readers, and publishes articles, images, audio and video they send in.

Newspaper http://www.ohmynews.com/ is proving these 'dinosaurs in digital denial' wrong, with a vengeance.

All mention in the wonderful Springwise newsletter.

The great thing is that journalism requires that stories been constructed, facts be tied together, narratives presented, and context created. In short, journalism is the big picture and can go hand in hand with tourism or travel. There is your blog, twitter and social media.

Do you like a Citizen Journalist report? send comments please