THE MOJO IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUMстатья из журнала
Аннотация: Abstract Digital technology has revolutionized the journalist's toolkit with affordable miniaturized still and video cameras for producing high-quality multimedia, and connection equipment enabling that content to be transmitted via satellite from almost anywhere on the globe for publication on the Internet. Two results have been the advent of news production by an innovative type of lone, multimedia reporter, known as a "mojo" (mobile journalist) or "sojo" (solo journalist), and an increasing focus on "hyper-local" news on media websites. In an era of heightened newspaper and television competition driven by steadily declining North American readership and viewer numbers, many media managers have embraced with enthusiasm the solo journalist—able to move fast and travel light, at lower cost than traditional news teams. This paper surveys the impact that developments in multimedia publishing have had on the news produced by such solo journalists. It finds evidence of degradation of the genre in some, but not all, cases and concludes that since the Pandora's box of mojo journalism has been opened, if used judiciously by journalists with sufficient experience, there is some hope that the new modalities may result in responsible journalism enriched with multifaceted storytelling. Keywords: hyper-localmobile journalistmojomultimediasojovideo Acknowledgements The author would like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of Carleton University professors Barb Freeman, for whom I first wrote this paper, Catherine McKercher and Dwayne Winseck, for commenting on the manuscript, and Allan Thompson, for facilitating my entry into Carleton's Master of Journalism program. And that of my wife, Shelley Quinn, whose unflagging support has given me the courage to leap the career gulf from journalism to academia. Notes 1. PBS online, http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/micropinv.html, accessed 23 October 2007. 2. Three years later, Moore co-founded Intel Corp. which went on to become the world's dominant chip-maker, http://www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/index.htm, accessed 23 October 2007. 3. The word "mojo"—a contraction of "mobile" and "journalist"—was first used by Fort Myers, Florida, News-Press managing editor Mackenzie Warren in a 2005 brainstorming session with the paper's executive editor Kate Marymont (interview with Warren, May 22, 2008). 4. The term "sojo" has been used since at least 2003, if not before (see Mernit, 2003 Mernit , S. 2003 "Kevin Sites and the Blogging Controversy" , Online Journalism Review , 3 April , http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1049381758.php . [Google Scholar]). It also has websites/newsgroups, e.g. http://sojo.newsvine.com. 5. The term "platypus," referring to a photojournalist or photographer venturing into video, was coined by Tom Burton of the Orlando Sentinel and Mark Loundy of the National Press Photographers' Association in 1997, referring to Time magazine's former senior White House photographer Dirck Halstead, who has used the term since then in his training sessions for photographers venturing into the new medium (Halstead, 1997 Halstead , Dirck 1997 "The Platypus Papers" , digitaljournalist.org , http://digitaljournalist.org/platypus/platypus.html . [Google Scholar]). 6. Before Sites, Yahoo! did not produce any content, rather, it compiled information from wire services and various news media into an easy-to-use news package. 7. The largest US newspaper chain, Gannett, holds regular conferences to promote mojo journalism and archives the sessions on its "Gannett Virtual Campus" intranet (Clark, 2007 Clark , Ann 2007 "MoJos, Supervisors Share Advice on How to Deepen MoJo Experience, Results" , Gannett: News Watch , 13 September , http://www.gannett.com/go/newswatch/2007/sept/nw0913-1.htm . [Google Scholar]). The contract between the Toronto Star and its editorial employees, ratified January 15, 2008, consolidates previous job classifications for reporter, photographer, columnist, etc., into the catch-all of "journalist"—who, according to the Southern Ontario Newsmedia Guild (Local 87-M of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada), "should be able to do everything in both the print and digital world … interview people and write stories; shoot video; shoot stills; record audio tape; produce Flash and other graphics" (SONG, 2008 Song (Southern Ontario Newsmedia Guild) 2008 "2008 Star Contract Talks Bulletin #13" , 11 January , http://www.song.on.ca/members_toronto_star.html , accessed 11 January 2008 . [Google Scholar], p. 2) Strupp (2008) says while Gannett's Fort Myers News-Press "appears to be the pioneer in mobile journalism, it is far from alone"—he names a number of US newspapers that are turning reporters into "mojos"—and several which reject the trend. 8. Worldwide, circulation of paid plus free daily newspapers increased 3.6 percent in 2007—more than 532 million people bought a newspaper every day. However US dailies recorded a 3.0 percent year-over-year decline in circulation and an 8.0 percent drop over five years. Globally, print has a 40 percent share of advertising, the largest of any medium (World Association of Newspapers, 2008 World Association of Newspapers 2008 "World Press Trends: newspapers are a growth business" , 2 June , http://www.wan-press.org/article17377.html , accessed 6 June 2008 . [Google Scholar]). 9. Author interviews with editorial managers, May 22, 2008. 10. Author interview with Fort Myers News-Press senior managing editor Cindy McCurry-Ross, May 22, 2008. 11. Fleeson suggests that while the Gulf War made "stripped-down, low-overhead, 24-hour live coverage" ubiquitous, "the 2003 invasion of Iraq … will likely be remembered as the digicam war" (2003, p. 39). 12. "Journalists' fundamental unfamiliarity with … modern wartime technology gave coverage the aura of a Nintendo game" (Zelizer, 1992, p. 69). 13. "Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective—a new world order—can emerge: a new era—freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony. A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavor. Today that new world is struggling to be born, a world quite different from the one we've known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the strong respect the rights of the weak" (President George H. W. Bush, September 11, 1990; archived at The Miller Center of Public Affairs—George H. W. Bush Speeches, University of Virginia, http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/scripps/digitalarchive/speeches/spe_1990_0911_bush, accessed January 19, 2008). 14. Examples from the author's personal experience and South (2000), Fulton (2007 Fulton , Nic 2007 "The Mobile Journalism Toolkit" , Reuters.com , http://reutersmojo.com/2007/10/22/the-mobile-journalism-toolkit-contents/ [Google Scholar]) and http://hotzone.yahoo.com/gear (accessed October 26, 2007). 15. The term "techspertise" is used in the computer technology community and is the title of a tech column in USA Today. 16. Fred Friendly, Edward R. Murrow's legendary collaborator and producer, called Gulf War TV "the proscenium of the theatre of war" (quoted in Zelizer, 1992, p. 70). 17. CTV Regina today, the former CKCK. 18. Managing editor, CBC News Ottawa, December 3, 2007 (author's notes). 19. Source: International Atomic Energy Agency website. 20. Author interview with Warren, May 22, 2008. 21. Author interviews with mojos and editors, May 20–22, 2008. 22. "In 1999, the nation's fourth-largest newspaper arranged to share profits with the arena owners from an edition of its Sunday magazine focused on the arena's opening—in exchange for help selling ads … The stories assigned and written at the paper were all positive. The newsroom was not told of the arrangement. The wall, in other words, was kept intact. When the arrangement was later discovered, both reporters and readers were outraged … Eventually media reporter David Shaw would discover a growing pattern by Times mangement of exploiting the readership on behalf of advertisers … The mythical wall, in other words, did little to protect anyone" (Kovach and Rosenstiel, 2001, pp. 62–3). 23. Author's personal notes from Guthrie's "Solo Reunion Tour: together at last", Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada, October 27, 2007. 24. Author interview with editorial managers, May 21–22, 2008.
Год издания: 2009
Авторы: Peter Martyn
Издательство: Taylor & Francis
Источник: Journalism Practice
Ключевые слова: Media Studies and Communication, Social Media and Politics, Digital Games and Media
Открытый доступ: closed
Том: 3
Выпуск: 2
Страницы: 196–215