In countries with limited or no democracy, news websites have emerged as one of the most effective and powerful media to influence public opinion and force those in power into action. Naturally, the journalists working for these news sites have become the prime targets of the governments in countries falling within this category. Numerous reports of arresting online journalists by the governments of these countries also show how this particular media is gaining ground in the global media landscape, which is still dominated by the powerful electronic and print media. However, most print and electronic media have now their online versions, with no major difference in the contents. Only few of these media, attempted to bring new dimension in their online editions adding features, such as “real-time update” and “online forum.”


Online Media: How It Emerged

After the invention of the Internet and the WorldWideWeb, a few web portals along with many other services started offering news for their visitors. The target was to increase the number of 'hits' with the expectation that it would help popularise other services and ensure more returns from the investments made in the ventures. Some of these sites signed deals with the wire services to update visitors with the latest news. Some of them also developed their own networks to get news updates for publication.
It was not known exactly, which is the first website developed exclusively as a news source. But informed sources said the first initiative remained unrecognised, as such websites started appearing almost simultaneously from many parts of the world. Many of these initiatives were initially informal in nature and mostly young people with knowledge of information and communication technology (ICT) were behind these sites.
The print and electronic media did not also take time to introduce their online editions to ensure that they continue to remain the major sources of news even for the digital generation.
Now, the cyberspace is virtually flooded with news sites in many languages with latest news, analysis, articles and features. There are also specialised sites, with news reports on business, health, environment, technology, media and sports. Anybody wishing to get the details of a breaking incident access it without waiting for the next bulletin of the radio or television, or for the next morning's newspaper by just carrying out a web search.


Online Editions vs. Online-only Media

There are differences in the approach of the online editions of the newspapers and the online-only news sites, despite the fact that both are doing the same job – publishing news for the online community, or netizens, as they are now called. This is because of the fact that the online-only news sites basically emerged as an alternative media, challenging the traditional print and electronic media, which are run under countless visible and invisible limitations. The limitations vary between developed and less developed countries, although some are common everywhere. The limitations forced the traditional print and electronic media to lag behind some of the online-only media in terms of exercising their independence. The factors making the difference are as follows:

a) Most countries still don't have laws to regulate the online media, while specific laws govern the print and electronic media. In most countries, online news sites don't need to obtain registration or permission from the government, as the laws lack required provision to govern them.
b) In many cases, online news sites were developed by particular groups with specific missions, such as to restore democracy or establish freedom of expression, while business enterprises or groups run the print and electronic media with the ultimate objective of profit-making.
c) The online media is yet to emerge as a profitable business due to low interest of the advertisers in this particular version. Naturally, this particular media is not obliged to suppress news reports that could harm the interest of the enterprises having huge budget for ads.
d) In many cases, online journalists remain unrecognised, as an e-newspaper or e-magazine for a particular country can be published from anywhere in the world.
e) In some cases, readers are the contributors to the online news sites. This makes news reports more direct and aggressive than what are published in the formal print media.
f) The investment requirement to run a news site is much lower than what is needed to establish and run a printed newspaper or television station. This also makes the men behind the online media more courageous in publishing news than those investing in print or electronic media as their stakes are often much lower compared to others.



Online vs. Print Media

In the less developed countries, where access to Internet is still limited, the online media is yet to pose a major threat to the print media. Limited scope for the online media in the these countries to generate revenue to pay for a large team of reporters also helped the print media to remain unchallenged by these new emerging sites.
However, in some of the developed countries, the online media has already started to have an impact on the readership pattern, with increased number of people switching to online news sites from printed newspaper to be updated on latest incidents. Faced with increasing competition from the news sites, besides mobile phones and other modern distractions, major European newspapers are joining forces to attract the youth audience.
In nearly 29,000 classrooms in Italy, students spend an hour a week comparing how different dailies covered a particular news, and the initiative called "a newspaper in the classroom," looks set to spread to other European countries. Youth-Publishers, Permanent Observatory, a Florence-based organisation runs, the classroom programme.
Four years ago its head Andrea Ceccherini convinced the Milan daily Corriere della Sera, the national network of local papers Poligrafici Editoriale, and the financial daily Sole 24 Ore to set up the school programme using their newspapers as teaching materials. Today, most Italian media companies have joined the initiative.
Now, the programme is about to go Europewide with agreements signed with leading European newspapers: France's Le Monde, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and News International in Britain, the newspaper arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
But in the developing countries, the online media is emerging as an alternative media mostly to cover those remaining uncovered by the print and electronic media. These news sites with amateur and part-time journalists took journalism as a passion rather than a profession.


How Viable is Online News Site as a Business?

Most news sites are allowing services free of charge and trying to manage finances to run the service, charging from premium products and sponsored links. Some of the news sites have patrons from among the renowned personalities who want the sites to grow without inhibitions caused by support from business enterprises in the form of advertisements. For example, film icons Shahrukh Khan, Shabana Azmi and Amir Khan are among the patrons of India's famous tehelka.com, which itself made news a few years ago by breaking a corruption news involving a ruling party leader. The tehelka.com had evidences of the incident and the leader had to step down from power. But finding such patrons is not an easy task. The tehelka.com had to first prove its credibility before being able to manage them.
It is true that news sites want to charge, as they need to invest more to enrich the contents. But will the readers pay? It still remains a big question. A researcher told fellows at a recent Western Knight Center workshop in US that news sites should shy away from tollgates and charge only for premium products. However, a recent report said free content is becoming a thing of the past for Britain's news sites. From niche content like crosswords to full-site access – even PDA news updates and fantasy football – British news sites are leading the charge, by charging.
Another report available from the web said some print publications are scaling back their news websites and putting more efforts into their electronic replicas. This is because paid online subscriptions now count towards total circulation for many newspapers.
Numerous advertisements were also seen on the web on ways to earn from news sites. One of these advertisements offered to sell a guide titled “From Free to Fee in 10 Easy Steps.” The pundits said it couldn't be done. They said charging readers would spell doom for news sites. But the ad said the ABQjournal proved them wrong, as both traffic and advertising revenues are up since the site started charging. “Here's a step-by-step guide to how they did it – and how you can do it too,” said the ad.


Online Journalists Need Official Recognition

One of the major problems of the online journalists is that they are not officially recognised as journalists due to lack of required laws in most countries. Even in the US, rules of the House and Senate allow only print and broadcast reporters to get press passes. But they haven't developed guidelines for online journalists, although the UN already has a provision for accreditation of such journalists.
Same is the case with online media, which is left out of the list of media prepared by the press department of the government for issuance of handouts and invitations. Naturally, journalists working for these media are not able to cover major official events. They are not given press credentials to get access to restricted state offices, such as government secretariat and foreign office.
They can't cover parliament sessions and even some international events that involve the government as the host. This also complicates the question of who qualifies as a journalist when it comes to laws designed to protect the confidentiality of sources.


Online Journalists: The Latest Targets of Dictators

Although the governments do not recognise the online journalists, they very much care about what they report on the web. In countries being ruled by dictators or communists, the Internet has become the number one enemy of the governments. Authorities of these countries, which include China, Myanmar and Iran, have been trying to restrict online journalism and censor web contents.
A recent report said the Chinese government has launched a website called “Illegal and Harmful Content Reporting Center” for the public to report "illegal" content online. The country has witnessed the government's tightening of the control over the online communication throughout 2004 on the ground of protecting the youth from violent and pornographic information. As a result, the registration of new cyber cafes has been suspended and more than 16,000 unlicensed cafes have been shut down.
Another report said an Iranian web journalist was jailed on charge of falsifying news on gooya.com. Abbas Kakavand's articles accused Iranian leaders of participating in political pay-offs and corruption. The Internet is providing a growing news outlet for Iranians despite governmental attempts to restrict online journalists and censor websites considered to be un-Islamic.
The list of recipients of the World Press Freedom Award during the past few years includes online journalists and all those selected for the award were either jailed or tortured by the governments of their respective countries on charges, such as anti-state activities and sedation. Receipt of the award by online journalist is a reflection of the fact that they are the latest targets of dictators.


Online Media: By the People, For the People

Online media has started to change the definition of the news, newsworthiness and journalism itself. The stuffs being published in many news sites may not be considered news if the set of rules agreed upon by the print journalists over the years is taken into account. But many argued that the rules are in a flux. A new set of rules is in the process of being in place, as journalism is being redefined online by an increasingly participatory audience.
The fact that people were able to know about the brutality of US soldiers on detained Iraqis more from the web than from other traditional media is definitely a winning point for the online media. The visitors of the news sites are also much more higher than the readers of printed versions. So there will be nothing surprising if the online media start calling the shots in journalism.
The latest approach in online journalism is even more appealing – Journalism By the People, For the People. There are news sites, where the writers are people and the readers are also people. This approach can also be called a “participatory” one, a buzzword being used extensively worldwide to give everything a democratic dressing.
The pioneering South Korean participatory news site, OhmyNews, posts hundreds of articles everyday, most of them written by "citizen journalists." The OneWorld South Asia, the New Delhi-based regional arm of the global OneWorld Network, has also taken initiative to launch a similar site targeting the audience of the Indian sub-continent.
Personal broadcasting opens yet another front of journalism. A camera, firewire and the ability to webcast are all one needs to set up a site.


Endnotes

Britain's second smallest daily newspaper is also its second most popular online news source, with 7.5 million unique visitors a month. The Guardian Unlimited's editor-in-chief said the success is no accident. Instead, it is the result of consistent investment and a commitment to innovation.
The online media has ushered in a bright future. But to bring the future close to the present time, it requires investment and innovation. The online media and journalists need official recognition so that good hands switch to web journalism and ensure quality of the contents.
The printed newspapers also need to give more attention to their online editions. They need to have a set of online staff under the leadership of a web editor and they should be pressed into the newsroom to ensure better coordination between online and print staff.

Sohel Manzur is the Chief Reporter of Financial Express newspaper in Dhaka

Copyright © 2004 Third World Media Journal A Quarterly Publication of Third World Media Network (TWMN)