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Preserving old ethics in a new medium

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To avert ethical problems in cyberspace, cling to traditional journalism values

This column appeared in the December 1997 issue of The American Journalism Review. I was interviewed on the topic of Internet news sources’ trustworthiness by Bloomberg Radio on April 4, 1998.

If ethics are rarely debated during the daily miracle of churning out a newspaper, the subject is rarer still in the whiz-bang, techno-toy-driven realm of new media.

While all the old ethical rules surely still apply in new media, the Internet also presents dilemmas that never existed in a print world: reporters lurking invisibly in chat rooms; ad links embedded into editorial copy; the posting of private tragedies in news archives until the end of time; tracking users’ habits and sharing that data with advertisers; putting the tools of publishing into the hands of little league coaches and others who aren’t trained journalists. [Read more…] about Preserving old ethics in a new medium

So you want to be an online journalist

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Some tips on how to prepare for a fast-changing field

This column appeared in the November 1997 issue of The American Journalism Review. This column also appeared as a chapter in the book “Writing.com: Creative Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing Career,” by Moira Anderson Allen (Allworth Press, August 1999).

Agood portion of the e-mail I receive these days is from young people who ask: How do I break into online journalism?

I’m always gladdened by the question, because it suggests that new media have become permanent fixtures in our news and information galaxy. Increasingly, young people see the Internet as a taken-for-granted part of their daily routine — and more relevant to their lives than one-way big media like newspapers and TV.

Net journalism is here to stay. Following are some tips on how to break into the field — and how to last:

• Bring a passion for Web journalism. Talent isn’t enough. Desire, drive — a willingness to work long hours, often at modest wages, for the sheer love of it — can’t be underestimated. The best online journalism sites attract team players with an upbeat attitude and good people skills. [Read more…] about So you want to be an online journalist

Ratings for news sites?

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The Clinton administration & Internet industry are championing voluntary ratings for Web sites

This in-depth look at the controversy over PICS labels appeared in the October 1997 issue of The American Journalism Review.

When President Clinton challenged the high-tech industry this summer to create a “family-friendly Internet” by cleaning up cyber-smut and other offensive content, newspaper editorials applauded the president’s decision to forgo government regulation and let private industry police the Net.

Few realized that the White House’s “parental empowerment intitiative” would plunge online news publications headlong into the thorniest thicket of free-speech issues in the history of cyberspace — and lead to the news media’s rejection of the president’s proposal when it comes to their own Web sites. [Read more…] about Ratings for news sites?

Speeding the news on the Internet

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Ted Koppel & Bruce Koon warn of the dangers of trading accuracy for immediacy

This column appeared in the October 1997 issue of The American Journalism Review.

As online news matures, we’re beginning to see Web publications evolve into true news channels rather than warmed-over digital versions of their pulp parents.

While that term “channels” may seem strange when applied to an online newspaper, a year from now millions of us will be getting the news from channels we’ve chosen on our personal computers. Already, the New York Times and ABC News are the premium news channels on America Online. In August, Netscape released its new Netcaster browser, which will “push,” or “Webcast,” more than 700 channels of information from such sources as USA Today, CNNfn and CBS SportsLine. Microsoft, which will release its new browser this fall, has signed up the Web editions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

As the online news world begins to cover news as it happens rather than once a day, are there risks that journalists with ink-stained backgrounds face in moving toward a broadcast model of Net news? Ted Koppel, anchor of ABC’s “Nightline,” thinks so. In his first interview on the subject of the Internet, Koppel has some words of warning for online reporters eager to reinvent the wheel of journalism.

“Reporting is not really about, ‘Let’s see who can get the first information to the public as quickly as possible,’ ” Koppel says. “It’s about: ‘Let’s see who can get the information to the public — as soon as we have had a chance to make sure the information is accurate, to weigh it against what we know, to put it in some sort of context.’ Only when you’re satisfied as a professional journalist that you’ve got the story and the facts have been verified, only then can you go with it. [Read more…] about Speeding the news on the Internet

Censorship devices on the Internet

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Unbeknown to the public, filtering programs block out much more than pornography

This column appeared in the September 1997 issue of The American Journalism Review.

When the Supreme Court struck down the pernicious Communications Decency Act this summer, the online community roundly celebrated the victory as a milestone for free speech in cyberspace.

Well, it’s time to put down the champagne glasses. Two new threats — nearly as insidious as the CDA — now loom over freedom of speech on the Net: censorware and Internet ratings.

“We’re seeing a move toward the privatizing of censorship,” warns David Sobel, legal counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C. “It’s likely to destroy the Internet as it’s existed until now.”

Overstated? Perhaps not. [Read more…] about Censorship devices on the Internet

The Censor Police: Inside the push for Web ratings

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RATINGS TODAY, CENSORSHIP TOMORROW

The Internet industry is rushing to embrace ratings systems for the Web. The technology will help parents keep their kids away from porn. It can also help anyone censor anything.

The following article appeared on Salon.com on July 31, 1997.

Afew years from now, when we look back at what crippled the Internet as a global forum for the free exchange of information, at least we’ll know it was done with the best of intentions.

Who, after all, could oppose Internet ratings if they create a “family-friendly” online world?

And so, to make the Net safer for kids and to avert government regulation, the Internet brain trust has banded together to push rating, filtering and labeling technology — a private-sector techno-fix to cleaning up the Net. President Clinton has signed on and has used his bully pulpit to jawbone companies that were wavering on the issue. And the news media have covered the president’s initiative with the gusto of a pep rally. [Read more…] about The Censor Police: Inside the push for Web ratings

Why do news sites ignore travel coverage?

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More and more travel sites are cropping up on the Web, but they’re coming up short

This column appeared in the July-August 1997 issue of The American Journalism Review.

As online news matures, we’re beginning to see Web publications evolve into true news channels rather than warmed-over digital versions of their pulp parents.

One of the biggest trends in cyberspace during the past six months has been the rise of Web sites that take advantage of readers’ booming interest in travel news. But you’d never know it by visiting the travel sections of almost any online newspaper.

At the annual meeting of the Society of American Travel Writers editors council in the Bahamas in April, it became clear that when it comes to newspaper Web sites, the Travel section is just an afterthought — if it’s given any thought at all. Consider: [Read more…] about Why do news sites ignore travel coverage?

Covering breaking news on the Web

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If they’re to remain relevant in the Digital Age, online news organizations must begin to seriously cover the news as it happens

This column appeared in the June 1997 issue of The American Journalism Review.

Should online news organizations cover breaking news?

If they want to remain relevant in the digital age — especially among a new generation of readers — they’d better get used to the idea.

Ben Compaine, a professor of telecommunications at Temple University, recently asked the students in his Cybermedia course whether they believed online newspapers would become the dominant provider of news and information on the local scene.

The students had serious doubts. The reason? The stale brand of news now being served up by online newspapers. “These very elaborate local newspaper Web sites are primarily static for 24 hours, with the only compromise being perhaps some AP updates,” Compaine says. [Read more…] about Covering breaking news on the Web

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