This week's reading...
Blogs of war: weblogs as news - Melissa Wall
Blogs - "a new form of journalism...offering news that features a narrative style characterised by personalisation and an emphasis on non-instituational status; audience participation in content creation; and story forms that are fragmented and inter-dependent with other websites" Everyday people become creators, producers and distributors of their own media.
Blogs tie in with the concept of citizen journalism - the idea that everyday citizens can perform the role of journalist, particularly in the digital world.
Blogs highlight the participatory media culture that currently exists which is "characterised by decentralisation and powered by technological changes".
What is 'news'? Essentially news is "what is on society's mind". Throughout the 1970s and 80s media researchers started to propose the view that "news was not a mirror of reality but a manufactured cultural product".
New Journalism - A style developed in the 1960s that relied heavily on the characteristics of fiction - character, scene and dialogue. It abandons the concepts of objectivity and detachment.
Media Ownership - Current legislation favours foreign ownership, cross-media ownership and an intense concentration of media ownership that undermines the public's access to information that is unbiased, broad in coverage and able to be accessed at little or no cost. Information is subject to increasing commodification and as such, serious journalism and news takes a back seat to entertainment and sensationalism.
Blogs are a response to this, the ultimate DIY media product that combines the roles of consumer and producer. They offer an alternative to traditional media that views "audiences as customers who passively receive their product".
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