The Online Journalist, or Five Ways to Get Wired

Wanted: reporters with "attitude."

It's the key to success as an electronic journalist, according to some of the industry's foremost experts in new media.

"You can learn mechanical things like word processing on the job. What's important is not being fearful, as many reporters are, but being excited about the opportunities and aware of the many ways you can use the potential," said Bill Boyd, a new media instructor at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla. Boyd has been at the Institute since 1991 and has also taught at Harvard.

Five skills are needed to be a good electronic journalist, say Boyd and five of his colleagues: Familiarity with computers, an attitude of willingness to embrace technology, good writing skills, knowledge of the Internet in general and specific knowledge of Internet search engines are the keys to success.

Part of Boyd's emphasis on viewing information differently includes "encyclopedic journalism," or the "bottomless newshole." This refers to the ability to link a story either to stories in the same publication or to stories anywhere on the Internet.

Not all experts agree on the scope and importance of encyclopedic journalism, but Boyd is a wholehearted advocate of the concept.

"This means that reporters who are used to fitting stories into a limited amount of space now must adjust to the idea of unlimited space," said Boyd. "When you give the whole text of a press conference, this is very popular. Hundreds of people want to see it. This is something that was completely impossible up until now," said Boyd.

This kind of approach is popular with readers because it gives them access to information and power to decide for themselves what is important, Boyd said.

"When you give the whole text of a press

conference, hundreds of people will visit it."

"Reporters need to get beyond commodity information to fully embrace the new medium of the Web," Boyd said. He explained that the new medium breaks down traditional geographic barriers.

"In Boston you think the Red Sox are yours, but somebody in Montana might build a better Red Sox Web site. You can't say it's yours because it's within a 15-mile radius of you. People can access any electronic publication with a click of a mouse," said Boyd.

"You have to ask yourself why a reader would go to your publication instead of the AP wire. What have you got that they haven't got?"

"Interactivity is another element reporters need to embrace," said Boyd.

"This is not just the ability for people to respond to a story immediately and easily via e-mail, but the seeking out of information. The New York Times asked people to share their downsizing stories, and 800 people responded," Boyd said. The Times ended up running many stories based on these responses, according to Boyd.

Like other new media experts, Boyd believes that electronic journalists need the ability to find people and things on the Internet using search engines. He also feels overall knowledge of the Net is important.

"A familiarity with the vast resources on the Net is helpful," Boyd said, noting that the entire Encyclopedia Britannica is online [note: but not free], as well as U.S. Census data, and that amazon.com is "far more up-to-date than the library" in listing new books. (For a list of more Internet resources like these, visit our Online Toolkit.)

Boyd recommended that reporters stay on top of journalism online by visiting the sites of journalism associations such as the American Journalism Review and the Newspaper Association of America. The latter is a nonprofit organization based in Virginia made up mostly of daily newspapers, with over 1,500 members.

"Just as a hardcopy journalist would know who won the Pulitzer, online journalists should know who is in the AJR's list of 50 sites of note, and who got the Digital Edge awards from the Newspaper Association of America," said Boyd.

"Not having Net access is like

not having a telephone."

"Not having Net access is like not having a telephone," said Boyd. Finally, Boyd concurs with his colleagues that both an overall understanding of computers and good writing skills are important.

"These are superficial things, these technical skills. They can be learned," said Dick Estrin of the Sarasota, Fla. Herald-Tribune. Estrin agreed with Boyd that technical skills are not the most important arrow in the electronic journalist's quiver.

"Whenever something new comes along, there's a hell of a battle. The same thing happened when word processors came in about 25 years ago. Some people were opposed to it, some weren't," said Estrin.

"The most important thing is that you have to write well," Estrin said. "Good reporting and good writing" are the key factors in electronic journalism, just as in hardcopy publications.

"Basically, there's no mystery to it [writing]. It's applied intelligence," said Estrin.

"Space restrictions are more acute online

than in hardcopy."

Estrin had a different perspective on the subject of the "bottomless newshole."

"Space restrictions are more acute online than in hardcopy," Estrin said. "You are limited by the size of your monitor. How long are you willing to keep reading online? How many screenloads go by before you get tired?" he asked.

"I'm more used to reading longer articles than most people. But when I get to a long article, I often hit the print button and take it to the bathroom or something." Hence, according to Estrin, space is a more severe restriction online.

"Even if the reader decides to print an article out, that takes time and effort. Are they going to go to that trouble?"

It's harder to skip around on your monitor. There's less space than on a broadsheet. You have to go to some trouble to go to something else," as when the reader clicks on a button to access a specific article, as opposed to in hardcopy when the reader just happens upon it next to something he or she is already reading.

"Electronic journalists may need to write even tighter than hardcopy journalists," said Estrin.

Estrin agreed that reporters need a general knowledge of the Net, as well as of various search engines, and should keep informed by accessing professionally oriented journalism Web sites. Estrin recommends the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a reporter's association with information on law and the press, specifically the right of access to documents.

"One of the most important things for an electronic journalist to know is what the Internet can and can't do," said Joe Kilsheimer, online services reporter for the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel. Kilsheimer emphasized that reporters need to know how to use the various search engines on the Net and should have a general knowledge of the Internet as well.

"There are only two things you can do on the Internet: talk and look," said Kilsheimer. "You can use the Net to talk to other users through chat, e-mail, newsgroups and mailing lists. You can use it to look via the World Wide Web, Gopher, telnet and FTP. These eight basic functions are all you can do on the Internet."

"There are only two things you can do on the Internet: talk and look."

As Internet reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, Kilsheimer makes the rounds of his cyberbeat every morning by visiting various Websites he has bookmarked on his laptop tucked in a corner of the Sentinel newsroom.

"Just knowing the Internet is the most important technical skill for electronic journalists," Kilsheimer said. "A lot of people think it is this vast structure, which it is, but it's not really that complicated, as long as you remember that all you can do is look and talk."

Kilsheimer concurred that attitude, general computer familiarity and good writing skills are also vital for wired writers. On the subject of the "bottomless newshole," he disagreed with Estrin that space restrictions are more acute on the Net.

"People will read more than one screenload. The most popular and well-known 'reading sites,' like Slate and Salon, all have more than one or two screenloads. People are willing to scroll down two, three or four screens to read a story," Kilsheimer said.

"In terms of retaining your audience's attention, the issue is not how many screenloads but how long it takes an image to appear after you click on a link. If it takes more than 10 seconds for something to show up, people are out of there," said Kilsheimer.

"There is an unlimited amount of space online."

"There is an unlimited amount of space online. The newshole, the blank space in a newspaper that you fit around the ads, is limited in hardcopy. But online it just takes up room on the server. You're not using paper," said Kilsheimer.

"In addition to running a summary of a press conference, to can link to a transcript of the entire conference. This will be five or six screens long, but people can choose to visit it if they wish. Or, with a story about an indictment, you can link to the entire text of the indictment," said Kilsheimer.

"Electronic publishing has the capacity to offer more information than you can afford to print in hardcopy," Kilsheimer concluded.

Nora Paul, an associate at the Poynter Institute known her Internet expertise, agreed with Kilsheimer.

"I think it is the layering, the 'give me more' capabilities that are the potential - how can the sites give sidebar/supplementary information (through links to other sites, perhaps) as well as background/explanatory information within the reporting that can more fully explain the players and events in the story being reported on without losing the flow," Paul said in an e-mail message.

"New media is a combination of the two. You can offer unlimited supporting documents for your story, but the writing itself must be more compact because you don't need to include background information - you can link to it," said David Carlson, director of the Interactive Media Lab at the University of Florida journalism school.

Carlson, one of the country's first online journalists, sees the purported conflict between "encyclopedic" and "space-restricted" online journalism as more virtual than real.

"You can have a link that gives a three-graf synopsis and then link to every other dang story you ever wrote about the subject," said Carlson.

Carlson said technical skills such as word processing savvy and knowledge of Web search engines are important to e-journalists.

"Though specific software will change over time, there are certain technical skills electronic journalists will need that can be described in general terms. Obviously, computer familiarity is a must. So is the ability to search the Web and find information in a short time," said Carlson. Writing skill and general Net familiarity are also important, he said.

Finally, Carlson mentioned a skill not necessary for every computer-assisted journalist, but one that could come in handy for investigative reporters: database skills.

"The heart of database skills is: create a database, feed a bunch of data into it and then analyze it," Carlson said. "For example, when I was at the Albuquerque Tribune in 1992, we discovered that there were more alcohol-related traffic deaths per capita in New Mexico than in any other state. We created a database and fed in a massive amount of information from the DMV and courts throughout the state," Carlson said.

"After inputting 68,000 court records, we asked questions: how many times do the same names occur? We had the computer sort convictions by name, Social Security number, judge, county - 50 data fields in all. We discovered that one guy had 45 convictions for drunk driving, but he got away with it because his records were never properly transferred, and also, the penalty for two drunk driving convictions was no different than the penalty for 10 convictions," Carlson said.

The series, published in late 1992, caused a public outcry that intensified when an entire family was killed Christmas Eve by a drunk driver.

"In January 1993, the public essentially marched on the capital and demanded action. New laws increasing the penalties for multiple offenders were passed and existing legislation regarding reporting was more strictly enforced," said Dan Vukelich, one of three reporters who worked on the story.

"That year, New Mexico's alcohol-related traffic deaths per capita fell from #1 in the country to #3," said Vukelich. Vukelich and his fellow reporters, Ed Asher and Lynn Bartels, were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the story.

While this story gives a vivid example of the power new technology can lend to journalism, Elizabeth Osder of New York Times Online says it's important to use editorial judgment when using "bells and whistles" such as links.

"You must decide when it is appropriate and most compelling to your audience to go deeper," said Osder, whose publication garnered Editor & Publisher's first place award for overall content and overall newspaper for 1996.

Like the other media mavens surveyed in this story, Osder believes that attitude, writing skills, computer and Internet search engine familiarity are important. Another primary concern of Osder's is using technology selectively, not willy-nilly.

"For example, we're putting up a New York Times Book Review section soon. I might take the one book review that is most noteworthy and provide more links, more depth and information, but not link other reviews," said Osder.

"The bottomless newshole is an elusive seduction."

"You're using your editorial judgment as to where you provide depth. You're prioritizing information. Providing depth is what makes a story more important," Osder said.

"The bottomless newshole is an elusive seduction," said Osder.

"A good example is the Deng obit. [China leader Deng Xiaoping died a week before this interview.] Here at the Times, we could go to our archive and put up four or five links to solid, well-written articles about Deng. Or we could link to over 50 obscure articles about China," said Osder.

"Use the depth where it makes the most sense," said Osder. "Don't just use it because you can."

This Website was created by Janis Mara, a master's degree candidate at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, and edited by UF Interactive Media Lab Director David Carlson.