Popular Audiences on the Web

Abstract

Let's face it: We're all Web journalists now. You might be working for a newspaper or magazine, a television or radio outlet, but your story is still likely to end up on the Web as well as in its original medium. You or your publication may even provide supplemental material that appears only on the Web—say, a behind-the-scenes notebook, an interactive graphic, or a blog. Or you might even be a journalist whose work appears almost exclusively on the Web—like me. I worked at daily newspapers for 19 years before joining MSNBC, a combined Web/television news organization. So I still tend to think of the Web as an online newspaper, with a lot of text, some pictures, and a few extra twists. But with the passage of time, online journalism is gradually coming into its own—just as TV started out as radio with pictures, but soon became a distinct news medium. To my mind, the principles of online journalism—having to do with fairness, accuracy, and completeness—are the same as the principles of off-line journalism. But the medium does shape the message, as well as the qualities that each medium considers most important. Wire-service reporters value getting the story out fast; newspapers value exclusive sources; magazines value in-depth coverage; radio and TV look for sounds and pictures that will help tell the story. All these factors are important for the Web as well, but one thing makes online journalism unique: Web writers are looking for ways to tell the story using software. Let's take a closer look at how one multimedia story unfolded, then get into how the tools and toys of the trade can be used in your own work. News coverage of space shuttle launches and landings usually follows a familiar routine: From MSNBC's West Coast newsroom in Redmond, Washington, I would update the landing-day story continuously, starting with the de-orbit burn, just as a wire service reporter might do. On February 1, 2003, however, the shuttle's landing was scheduled for a Saturday morning, one of the lightest times of the week for Web traffic.