Spring Break
Panelists discuss media's 'crush' in election, 24/7 news coverage
Jeff Sullivan
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: News
11/14/08 - In honor of Journalism Day yesterday, the University of Rhode Island Journalism Department and the Rhode Island Press Association held two discussion panels to explain the importance of professionalism in the media.
The first panel, entitled "Maintaining Journalistic Standards in a 24-hour News Cycle," discussed the implications for the press from the modern-day maelstrom that is the Internet. It was held in Atrium 1 in the Memorial Union yesterday morning, and was moderated by Sheila Mullowney, executive editor of The Newport Daily News.
The second panel was a retrospective analysis of this year's election, featuring veterans of electoral coverage, Jill Lawrence, Marc Genest and Ian Donnis. The event, "Lipstick on a Pig: A Look Back at the Election," discussed the media's treatment of the candidates.
For the first event, panelists Joel "Ed" Medina, director of multimedia development at the Boston Globe, John Martin, editor of Governing.com and Fred Harwood, the managing editor for the online content at the New Bedford Standard Times, all argued their views on the fate of the news in the "technological revolution" of the digital age.
One of the main topics discussed was the introduction of the Internet as a source of news and whether or not blogging and citizen journalism can be considered actual news. Martin said because the Web is such a new tool and most journalists are too busy doing their jobs instead of learning to new technology, news outlets have been slow to catch up to the speed and amount of content citizen journalism of the bloggosphere now obtain.
The first Internet based media he worked with was the Web site for Governing.com, "in 1996 with 'HTML for dummies' sitting on my lap," he said. "Now it's just a far more sophisticated [site]."
Martin added the site averages from 90,000 to 100,000 hits per month, which he said was more than the paper magazine's circulation, but he cited the trust and respect in the magazine as its main point of success. He said the most important asset of his magazine is the trust of the readers to provide accurate and ethical coverage that is crucial to its success, and that in turn helps the Web site.
The first panel, entitled "Maintaining Journalistic Standards in a 24-hour News Cycle," discussed the implications for the press from the modern-day maelstrom that is the Internet. It was held in Atrium 1 in the Memorial Union yesterday morning, and was moderated by Sheila Mullowney, executive editor of The Newport Daily News.
The second panel was a retrospective analysis of this year's election, featuring veterans of electoral coverage, Jill Lawrence, Marc Genest and Ian Donnis. The event, "Lipstick on a Pig: A Look Back at the Election," discussed the media's treatment of the candidates.
For the first event, panelists Joel "Ed" Medina, director of multimedia development at the Boston Globe, John Martin, editor of Governing.com and Fred Harwood, the managing editor for the online content at the New Bedford Standard Times, all argued their views on the fate of the news in the "technological revolution" of the digital age.
One of the main topics discussed was the introduction of the Internet as a source of news and whether or not blogging and citizen journalism can be considered actual news. Martin said because the Web is such a new tool and most journalists are too busy doing their jobs instead of learning to new technology, news outlets have been slow to catch up to the speed and amount of content citizen journalism of the bloggosphere now obtain.
The first Internet based media he worked with was the Web site for Governing.com, "in 1996 with 'HTML for dummies' sitting on my lap," he said. "Now it's just a far more sophisticated [site]."
Martin added the site averages from 90,000 to 100,000 hits per month, which he said was more than the paper magazine's circulation, but he cited the trust and respect in the magazine as its main point of success. He said the most important asset of his magazine is the trust of the readers to provide accurate and ethical coverage that is crucial to its success, and that in turn helps the Web site.
