Week Six: New Tools For Reporting
The main aim of this reading is to explain the different ways that journalists can access information. This can be done by looking at blogs, moblogs (mobile blogs), vlogs (video blogs) and podcasting, all of which we have already been introduced to throughout the course.
The article also lists several new sites that we haven’t really seen much of yet in class, such as Twitter and CoverItLive (super fast blogging via mobiles and laptops), and a Wiki search tool. We are also introduced to a new site called del.icio.us, which allows you to store all your web bookmarks in one location so you can access them anywhere. This tool also gives you the opportunity to look at other people’s bookmarks and see what they are interested in.
The reading provides ways to check the accuracy or quality of the information found on websites. It lists several websites including http://whois.ausregistry.com.au/ which can provide the registration details of the website. This may or may not be helpful in working out whether the site is genuine or not.
There is no true way of being able to determine the accuracy or quality of internet-published information. The only ways that journalists can even come close are to use the tools provided and their gut instinct. If the information doesn’t seem reliable or plausible, and the writing has spelling and grammatical errors then it’s probably not genuine and therefore not worth pursuing as a journalist.
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