Poynter Fellow Mike Wendland recently led a Poynter Seminar for college and university educators on Reporting with the Internet. As the seminar ended, he urged the educators to teach their student journalists five things about the Internet:
1) The Internet is a toolbox
It’s made up of a whole bunch of tools – e-mail, the Web, file transfers, newsgroups, mailing lists, forums, streaming audio and video. Knowing what tool to use for what information gathering or disseminating job is the journalist’s first priority in efficiently and effectively using the Net.
2) The Internet is changing
Everyday. And with each technological breakthrough comes a new tool, or an improved tool. Staying abreast of the changes demands that journalists stay plugged in and on top of industry trends and developments.
3) The Internet is sociopathic
It is amoral, anarchic and anti-authority. Daily, it challenges propriety and privacy. To be used responsibly, it needs to be constantly filtered through ethical and principled news gathering standards.
4) The Internet is ubiquitous
It is everywhere, at once. It is global. It is instant. It is the fastest communications medium we’ve ever seen, both in terms of its growth and its ability to spread news and information. And it will competively challenge journalists like no other medium.
5) The Internet is addictive
It doesn’t make us work less, but often more. It overwhelms and seduces by its promise of new and better as it calls out 24X7. And while tremendously useful to the journalist, it can easily isolate. The Internet should point us to people, never be a substitute.
