Online Journalism - Convergence

Convergence Within Journalism

In the converged media organizations of the future, the journalists who best understand the unique capabilities of multiple media will be the ones who are most successful, drive the greatest innovations, and become the leaders of tomorrow, (Kawamoto, 2003: 72)

Therefore it is important for journalists to understand what convergence within the media is and how it affects journalism.

Kawamoto describes convergence as the melding or blurring of historically discrete technologies and services. (Kawamoto, 2003: 4) Convergence is occurring on many levels. Convergence within content, within the newsroom, within the way news is disseminated and within the way information is collected.

A good example of where convergence within journalism has been successful is Media General in Tampa. The company combined three of it branches – newspaper Tampa Tribune, television station WFLA-TV and web site TBO.com- into the one building. The television and news staff still operate independently but share resources and communicate with one another. The branches all cross promote each other, the website has its choice of content from both the news and television branches and reporters from the tribune are often interviewed by the television station for its newscasts (Thelen, 2002: 98).

Kawamoto makes a prediction about where convergence will take journalism over the next decade:

1. Content management systems will be created within media companies that will be able to store content in digital formats allowing it to be delivered relatively easily to different platforms.
2. Wireless internet access will be proliferated either through cellular telephone systems or through more localised wireless networks that in turn connect to the wired internet.
3. Television sets will transform to take on more and more attributes of computers. Technology convergence will enter the living room by allowing televisions to connect with the internet creating the ability for viewers to receive and store digital content, and the ability for viewers to interact with content on the screen. This area has already begun to take off with the invention of digital broadcasting and products such as TiVo.
4. A new generation of portable devices will be created that come closer to replicating the advantages of paper by being lighter and having longer battery life. These devices could be descendants of today’s laptop computers, personal digital assistants or cellular phones.

(2003: 62)

There are critics of convergence within journalism. They argue the cultures of print and broadcast journalism are so strong and different that they will not mix well. Broadcast and print have traditionally competed quite fiercely against each other.

Many traditional journalists spend their entire career in one medium honing their skills. It will take a large amount of re-education to equip them to be able at all journalism media – and that will cost money.

Despite the uncertainty about where convergence will take journalism in the future, it seems safe to predict that greater changes, in the form of new jobs, new job requirements and new opportunities, lie ahead

(Kawamoto, 2003: 72).

Related Topics

Digital Journalism

Online Journalism: Accessing

Online Journalism: Immediacy

Online Journalism: Interactivity

Online Journalism: Story Construction

Bibliography

De Wolk, R. (2001) INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE JOURNALISM: Publishing News and Information, USA: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 0205286895

Kawamoto, K. (2003) Digital Journalism, Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, Inc. ISBN 074252680

Stovall, J (2004) Web Journalism: Practice and Promise of a New Media, USA: Pearson Education Inc. ISBN 0205353983

Thelen, G (2002) Convergence is coming Columbia Journalism Review, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 98

Related Resources

Gemma Kinslow 19:51, 27 Aug 2004 (EST)