Jour 495 Week 1: Convergence

Durga: many arms, riding a tiger, has many weapons

Strengths of Various Media

Broadcast
- immediacy, simplicity, visuals
Print
- context and exploring complexity
Online
- interactivity, search-ability, and multimedia

All encompass: being accurate, fairness

Convergence: of industries
 - Telecom Act of 1996, opened up a lot of opportunities for consolidation & mergers
 - FCC loosened ownership rules

How convergence impact journalists:
 - newspaper beat reporters - asked to appear on local tv station as experts
 - reporters may be asked to blog
 - print reporters may be asked to shoot video

Opportunities:
 - expands the way they tell stories
 - more information

Challenges:
 - must create multiple stories each time you file
 - must get out news instantaneously
    - rolling deadlines
    - regular updates and breaking news

ESPN * converged media outline - each platform shares content in a different way

Interactivity:
- the ability for news consumers to talk back to the media
     - news is a conversation, 2 way communication
- journalists needs to determine: what type of interactivity is more useful

Interactivity for journalists:
- used to making choices about facts to include, sources to interview, angles to take
- journalists must also assess the story and create a plan for multimedia and interactivity
     poll v. discussion board
     slideshow v. video package
     pie chart v. list of percentages

Layers:
print - explains
multimedia - shows
inter-actives - demonstrates and engages