We The Media

Chapter 1 – This discusses the history of the technology that has enhanced the journalism trade. From the first telegraph, to the telephone, to the
Internet, as technologies become more advanced the way we get our news becomes more advanced and interactive. This chapter also cites the attacks
on September 11th as the event in history that really sparked interactive blogging with people all over the country involved in telling their story.

Chapter 2 – This chapter talks about when the Internet went from being read-only to a read/write format, which was the goal from the beginning.
The best news product is a compilation of the best materials one can gather from any outlet. This chapter explains the difference between mail
lists and blogs and also explains what Wikis are. The overlying theme however, is that new technologies don’t take the place of actual
journalistic values (fairness, accuracy, and thoroughness).

Chapter 3 – Bloggers get their first big story break which led to Trebt Lott’s resignation after some questionably racist remarks. This chapter
gave us the 3 new rules of public life, which I outlined in my notes but have little room to list here. Pros and cons of mobile video and photo
ability, namely invasion of privacy becomes and issue as cell phones become more advanced. Demand for journalism to become a more transparent field;
not guaranteed by the newsmaker but captured by the user. Overlying theme of the chapter, news can break anytime, anywhere, and by anyone.

Chapter 4 – This chapter talks a lot about the evolution of blogging. Assuming its done correctly, the book says, evolution from broadcast to
conversational will open communication lines that will benefit everyone. Blogging helps consumers see the human side of a corporation, if a company
has some IT guys blog, some low-level workers blog, and if the CEO had a blog. Blogs can help celebrities clean up their image and seem more human
to the public as well. There are many uses for blogs, and now they’re being looked at as an opportunity instead of a threat.

Chapter 5 – Online campaigning becomes a strong factor in Ben Chandler’s run for Congress. He bought a $2000 ad on DailyKos blog which turned into $80,000 worth in contributions. Howard Dean phenomenon implodes after he used all the money he made on the web on television ads. Blogging still becoming more important. Often times Big Media cannot cover everything that interests people. More news outlets = more coverage of issues that are
of some concern to people. The masses may not care about a certain thing, but someone somewhere does and blogging can cover that.

Chapter 6 – The audience must be an integral part of the new digital era of multidirectional communication. Web based conversations can transcend
boundaries that print cannot. Successful professional blogs have four things: voice, focus, real reporting, and good writing. In this rapidly
changing field photographers and reporters may soon become one. Editors are still needed for the blog era, and bloggers who think otherwise are
mistaken. The most important thing is to show new journalists, the bloggers, the core values of this profession. We should not try to keep
them out because that would only hurt the exponential growth of our trade.

Chapter 7- Blogs are becoming an outlet for people to discuss areas of expertise intelligently and it also allows for people in countries throughout the world without the same free speech laws a medium to share their point of view. Wikipedia has become an enormous source of expert information through the Wiki format of having anyone able to add their knowledge to the site. Blogs have also been used to raise money through pledges of the readers and have sent some bloggers to parts of the world to cover events for their blog.

Chapter 8- The future of news rests on two principles: journalistic values and the unstoppable exponential growth of technology. Three technological laws were cited in this chapter and although I wont explain each one, the combination of the three have a basic message that the more the net grows, the more powerful and valuable it becomes to everyone who uses it. Google news emerges as a search engine that crawls through headlines of all major papers in all spheres of news.

Chapter 9- This chapter talks about all the “cut and paste” issues that have arisen through the internet. Articles are being misquoted, meanings of stories are being distorted, pictures are being doctored to the point that it ruined John Kerry’s presidential campaign. There are several pros and cons of anonymity on the web, and when you try to move the line it gets into privacy issues. Although people learn how to crack into websites and breach security on the web, it only makes the internet stronger in the long run.

Chapter 10- Libel and slander laws apply to the web as well, although most of the people doing it are not professional journalists and don’t necessarily know the laws. In defamation suits, the context of the message is just as important as the content. Posting something in one part of the world may get you in trouble in other parts of the world if their laws are slightly different. Cheating and plagiarizing has been made much easier by the internet.

Chapter 11- There are several threats to your privacy on the internet: Cookies and Big Government pose the biggest concern. Copyright laws and the Constitution have been called into question and distorted when trying to apply them to the internet, an entirely new medium. Peer-to-peer file sharing raises questions of stealing vs. property rights, along with the privacy factor.

Chapter 12- The internet is by far the most important medium since the printing press was invented. It has changed the way we think, live, etc. Big Media is still in a top-down mode and more progress needs to be made to grassroots to fully tap the internet’s power.