In addition to articles on the subject, there are pictures, videos, statistics and even an interactive map. Here the BBC are clearly making the most of what online journalism has to offer. This type of in-depth coverage would not be possible on an ordinary news bulletin or in a newspaper.

Another interesting point is that the BBC have also included a link to the blog of Soutik Biswas, an Indian journalist working for the BBC. This is clearly an effort on the part of BBC to bring an element of citizen journalism to their reporting. This is a step which many online news sites are taking in order to reduce the threat posed by citizen journalism.

For example, the Sky News website has a whole section devoted to the eathquake. This section contains multiple videos and picture galleries relating to the event and readers are also invited to give their opinions on the disaster by clicking on ‘comment’. At the bottom of the page, there are links to even more coverage on the earthquake. The website is also being constantly updated as the latest information emerges. After reading about the Italian earthquake on the Sky News website, you would not have much reason to go out and buy a newspaper.

The  Guardian website also provides in depth coverage on the earthquake. Here too a whole section is devoted to the event, with links to pictures, videos and even an interactive map of the area. Surely the coverage of the earthquake on the Guardian’s website far exceeds the coverage provided in the print edition of the newspaper and therefore you would wonder how many people would choose to purchase the print edition when such detailed coverage of the earthquake is available for free online.

A major news event, such as the Italian earthquake, gives online news websites a chance to show just what they are capable of when it comes to reporting the news.

For example, if a football match was to go to penalties, a newspaper might not be able to report the score the next day but a blogger armed with the lastest technology easily could.

Therefore, it is easy to see the extent of the crisis which is facing the newspaper when confronted with the constant 24 hour news services provided by bloggers and other online news channels.

An interesting comment piece on journalism.co.uk  supplied me with much information to back up this theory.

Click to listen: Changing Media Summit

The decline of popular newspapers is being blamed on the internet and the advent of online journalism, which provides free, 24 hour news coverage. The internet also facilitates advertising which means businesses are not advertising in print editions as much.

Experts in the industry do not think that large newspapers, such as The New York Times, are responding sufficiently to the challenges facing them. In contrast, smaller, local newspapers seem to be responding better to the challenges posed by online journalism.

The overall message is that even the largest papers are not immune from the impact of online journalism and they too must evolve if they are to survive.

An article on the Economist’s website, supports this idea.

Twitter could soon become an important resource for online journalists. Twitter is currently developing new search tools which could assist journalists in keeping up to date with stories which they are currently working on.

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, explains that if there is a search which you want to do regularly, eg. a search on French Politics for journalists who are working in that area, Twitter will save this search for you so as you can come back to it again and again and be informed of the latest updates.

Journalists should therefore not overlook Twitter. It could prove to be a powerful tool in the developement of online journalism.

Whilst preparing for our class presentation, I came across an interesting video on YouTube which focused on the conflict between professional and citizen journalism. The video is also a prime example of how the web is fostering current debates in journalism:

Perhaps the best knows citizen journalism website of them all is the South Korean Oh my News. This site has over 38,000 citizen journalists attached to it and has expanded to include an international edition.

Without a doubt, citizen journalism has expanded and developed over recent years. However, many news sites are reluctant to allow citizen journalists to infiltrate their ranks. The ultimate goal of those who support citizen journalism is for us to reach a stage where “news becomes conversation, and not just a lecture”. However, how close are we to reaching this goal?

Is Facebook is not as benign as it would appear? We have all heard of people becoming addicted to online gambling and pornography but as college students, I’m sure we are all too aware of how much time we each spend on Facebook each day.

Whilst on Facebook, I noticed that there are even special groups for self-proclaimed Facebook addicts!

With reagrds to Facebook, psychologists in the United States have recently diagnosed the addiction to Facebook as FAD- Facebook Addiction Disorder. Surely you know a website is doing well when it even has it’s own medical condition.

There are also links on many online news stories which allow the user to post these stories on Facebook, thus showing how Facebook can be incorporated into the global online news spectrum.

Click here for a related article on this subject.

Whereas in the past, the team working on online news were quite separate from the reporters broadcasting the news to the public, now both teams are working in close proximity to eachother. The online team are able to hear bulletins as they are broadcast and can then immediately adapt these bulletins for the Sky News website.

The Sky News website has also become increasingly interactive in recent years with the introduction of features such as live online chats and Twitter.

The Sky News website relaunced last summer and this has enabled the news to be told in a more interesting and dynamic manner with such features as data on the UK’s job crisis and the Economic Cycle.

The letter points out that Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press caused quite a commotion when it arrived over 500 years ago but look at all that has been gained from that invention. Instead of focusing on the negative impact which technology will have on journalism, we need instead to focus on the immense opportunities which it provides.

Technology has already led to multiple advances in online journalism-the public now have access to up to the minute news on demand and journalists have access to a plethora or resources which previously they could never have imagined.