Future Technological Impacts and Influences on News Reporting and Prese

Future Technological Impacts and Influences on News Reporting and Presentation Forms of technology have always had a significant influence on the way news is both reported and presented; there is no reason to suppose this situation will change as new technologies develop and mature in the future. Examples from the past are legion, but a couple of particularly striking ones may serve to illustrate the extreme impact changes in technology have upon what we regard as "news". The development of the printing press (in Europe in the mid-Fifteenth Century) allowed for the first time the widespread and low cost dissemination of written material. Reading was no longer the sole preserve of educated elite; the ramifications of that seminal technological development are still being felt to this day. Ideas and information were 'democratised', social changes inevitably flowing from the spread of those ideas. It is possible that no other single technological innovation has had the impact on western civilisation than that of the printing press. By the late Nineteenth Century the development of photography (and its application to printed media) changed newspapers and journals forever. This was important because images are powerful; to actually see a picture of the Hindenburg in flames, or a Bradman shot for four, or Churchill walking the rubble of Coventry, conveys so much meaning and influence (whether for good or not, or whether these images are manipulated is another question altogether) as to make the gathering and reporting of the news stories associated with the images only an equal partner, or even subservient, to the images themselves. Kevin Kawamato (2004) suggests: ...photos can evoke emotions. Reading about ... ...ulletin Web site. Retrieved September 13, 2004, from http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/970623/reeves.html Mendham, T. (2004). Building portals of mass interaction. Computerworld Web site. (March 24, 2004). Retrieved September 13, 2004, from http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;770380183;relcomp;1 Sauter, V. G. (2004). A Full-Employment Act for Ombudsmen! Organization of News Ombudsmen Web site. (2004). Retrieved September 13, 2004, from http://www.newsombudsmen.org/sauter.html Schroeder, C. M. (2004, June 18). Is This the Future of Journalism? MSNBC Newsweek Web site. Retrieved September 13, 2004, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5240584/site/newsweek/ Other web sites referenced: http://www.alternet.org/ http://www.google.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.salon.com/ http://www.slashdot.org/ http://www.slate.com/ http://www.theonion.com/ Future Technological Impacts and Influences on News Reporting and Prese Future Technological Impacts and Influences on News Reporting and Presentation Forms of technology have always had a significant influence on the way news is both reported and presented; there is no reason to suppose this situation will change as new technologies develop and mature in the future. Examples from the past are legion, but a couple of particularly striking ones may serve to illustrate the extreme impact changes in technology have upon what we regard as "news". The development of the printing press (in Europe in the mid-Fifteenth Century) allowed for the first time the widespread and low cost dissemination of written material. Reading was no longer the sole preserve of educated elite; the ramifications of that seminal technological development are still being felt to this day. Ideas and information were 'democratised', social changes inevitably flowing from the spread of those ideas. It is possible that no other single technological innovation has had the impact on western civilisation than that of the printing press. By the late Nineteenth Century the development of photography (and its application to printed media) changed newspapers and journals forever. This was important because images are powerful; to actually see a picture of the Hindenburg in flames, or a Bradman shot for four, or Churchill walking the rubble of Coventry, conveys so much meaning and influence (whether for good or not, or whether these images are manipulated is another question altogether) as to make the gathering and reporting of the news stories associated with the images only an equal partner, or even subservient, to the images themselves. Kevin Kawamato (2004) suggests: ...photos can evoke emotions. Reading about ... ...ulletin Web site. Retrieved September 13, 2004, from http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/970623/reeves.html Mendham, T. (2004). Building portals of mass interaction. Computerworld Web site. (March 24, 2004). Retrieved September 13, 2004, from http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;770380183;relcomp;1 Sauter, V. G. (2004). A Full-Employment Act for Ombudsmen! Organization of News Ombudsmen Web site. (2004). Retrieved September 13, 2004, from http://www.newsombudsmen.org/sauter.html Schroeder, C. M. (2004, June 18). Is This the Future of Journalism? MSNBC Newsweek Web site. Retrieved September 13, 2004, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5240584/site/newsweek/ Other web sites referenced: http://www.alternet.org/ http://www.google.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.salon.com/ http://www.slashdot.org/ http://www.slate.com/ http://www.theonion.com/