I call it the “Internet gap.”
It’s a problem that is pervasive throughout the broadcast industry.
Electronic journalists, pushed on by increased competition and shrinking newsroom budgets, are finding it harder and harder to tap into the Internet and its power to enrich and deepen their stories.
At the same time, however, their audiences, in increasing numbers, are using the ‘Net to supplement their news consumption.
It took radio 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million. It took television 13 years to get 50 million viewers. It took the Internet just four years.
The Internet is the fastest growing form of mass media the world has ever seen. Neilsen/Netrankings estimates that 140 million Americans now have Internet access. In many of our larger markets, Internet penetration now exceeds 60 percent of the homes.
Lightning-fast cable and DSL broadband access is providing full-motion, real-time audio and video and multimedia information streams. The result of all this is that the public now has equal, or superior, access to news and information as journalists.
It thus behooves broadcast journalists to at least develop the basic skills necessary to be as informed and connected as the audience who sees and hears their reports.
“Who has the time?” asks a reporter for a major market Midwest network affiliate. “We’re all doing two wraps a day. We hit the street after the morning meeting and aren’t back till after the 6 p.m. live shot.”
Other reporters blame management.
“My newsroom has one computer that is hooked up to the Internet,” says a reporter for a medium-market on the East Coast. “It’s up at the assignment desk and it’s a pain . . . if you can get to it. The news director thinks we’ll all cruise the porn sites if we had ’Net access on our desks. So we all suffer.”
But, generally, most shops now do offer Internet access to reporters. And management, looking for ways to hold on to, or build, shrinking audiences because of increased competition, welcomes the improved storytelling that comes from effective Internet use.
Getting those skills means that broadcast journalists have to spend more time on the ’Net.
Roberta Jasina is a morning, drive-time radio anchor for Detroit’s CBS-owned Newsradio 950-WWJ. She said she taught herself how to use the Internet simply by using it. She says she is stunned by the fact that there are other reporters who can’t do much more than send an occasional e-mail or read their morning newspaper online.
“This had better change,” says Jasina. “When people at home can do as much or more research than the reporters…well, there won’t be a need for reporters anymore.”
In Miami, WTVJ-TV investigative reporter Robin Kish says she came to the realization a few months ago that it was her responsibility to learn the ’Net, not management’s to teach it.
“It’s all right there at our fingertips—so many tools that can el evate our work—if we only knew how to access them,” she says. “That was my biggest frustration…not knowing.”
Kish bought and read Internet books and magazines, attended an investigative reporting seminar that featured Internet training, and started doing a lot of exploratory surfing.
The result?
“I’ve been able to search for information for my investigations on my own, without depending on someone else. I’m now on listservs, so reports and news from various agencies come to me every day. I can communicate with government agencies even faster; records requests that in the past have taken months to complete by paper seem to happen in just a few days because so much information is stored electronically. Every day as I work on my stories, I find new advantages to being on the Internet.”
Like most skills, journalists need to invest some time in training.
In New York, Mark Lagerkvist, a reporter with News12 on Long Island, recently coordinated a four-day Internet training session for the 60 staffers who work at the five bureaus served by the regional cable system. To run the sessions, Lagerkvist brought in one of the best trainers in the business, Nora Paul, a former Poynter faculty member who now heads the Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Lagerkvist is a board member of Investigative Reporters and Editors who says the Internet has “revolutionized” the way he approaches and researches investigative projects.
“I use the Internet every day — and I use it as naturally as I use a telephone or a keyboard,” he says.
But, he notes, “most broadcast journalists do not fully realize the power of the Internet—and to what degree it has become an indispensable tool. This is no longer just a toy or amusing novelty. This is now an essential part of news research and the future of journalism. Anyone who doesn’t learn it—and learn it soon—will be left in the dust.”
Roberta Baskin is one of network television’s most respected producers, consistently winning the industry’s major awards. She is a senior producer for ABC’s 20/20.
She says training need not be formalized.
“I think the biggest challenge to plunging into the ’Net is old-fashioned fear of the unknown,” says Baskin, who works out of ABC’s Washington bureau. “Newsroom tutorials can help speed up searches and narrow down choices to make journalists more efficient. But it’s also important to find quality time to cruise around and just take in the sites. Sometimes serendipity can lead to great story ideas and useful information.”
Baskin’s favorite way to find story ideas on the Internet is to “lurk,” or simply read the e-mail posts on newsgroups or mailing lists. Websites such as www.deja.com or www.liszt.com offer directories of discussion groups, by subject.
“One of the most useful sleuthing tools I’ve used on the ’Net is to check in with appropriate newsgroups or message boards when I’m looking for very specific information,” says Baskin, who packs a new color Palm IIIc handheld computer in her purse, loaded with website addresses and e-mail lists.
— This article first appeared in the Fall 2000 Poynter Report.
