Technology continues to shape journalism, from the rotary press, the telegraph, radio and TV, to the Web and Twitter. Five journalists researched new journalism shapes during
the 2008-09 academic year at the University of Missouri’s Reynolds Journalism Institute. Part of the institute’s Fellows Program, the journalists explored how the new technologies aid news outlets in news gathering and dissemination and how the technology can be profitable.
The researchers weren’t interested in just technology, but also in helping journalists produce quality journalism, said Jane Stevens, one of the fellows and director of online strategies for the World Company.
“Be open because this medium is amazing, and we can do better reporting and serve our communities better than we’ve ever been able to with any other medium,” Stevens said. “I believe that is what being a journalist is all about.”
The research projects are highlighted below and on the institute’s Web site, rji.missouri.edu.
E-readers
What if newspaper subscribers could get highly mobile print content without getting ink on their hands? Roger Fidler, RJI program director for digital publishing who worked with e-readers for his RJI fellows project, said e-readers will be newspapers’ new shape.
“I’m not a believer that newspapers will disappear,” Fidler said. “But more and more they are going to go digital, mostly for economical reasons but also because increasingly people want them in digital form.”
An e-reader is a wireless panel that readers hold like a book. Fidler said an e-reader has the advantage of simplicity, and the portrait orientation is more conducive to reading. Advertising also can be more print-like and less intrusive than on the Web.
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