Thursday 31 July 2014

11 Differences between online and print journalism (plus their most surprising similarity)

1. Their stereotypical characters
If you could summarise all the stereotypical ideas of print journalism in a character, it would be a stuck-up, die-hard white newspaper man. Yes, print journalism is considered so old-school, that it is still sexist and racist too. The new millennium never dawned for this poor fellow of 105. He’s stuck in the 90’s, the 1900’s.



Online would be a multitasking underdog. Everything this underdog does amounts to entertainment and NOTHING else. People Facebook the ugliest dog contest winners and unsubstantial news stories, ALWAYS for fun. 


Post by World's Ugliest Dogs.

2. Their "type"

Online journalists don’t have a type. Google maps. Twitter. Youtube. Soundcloud. Vimeo. Everything goes. This is me blogging a timeline of all the different types of media tools I've used in the last few days, which I timeline JSed: 
Print journalists favour the paper, pen and a good old SLR camera - which I cannot illustrate on this blog, because I'm blogging.

3. The body parts they use

What print journalist do with their feet and their mouths, online journalist do with their fingertips. Online journalists prefer to tweet. Print journalists prefer to talk. Unfortunately online journalists can’t screenshot the emotion in interpersonal conversation. Unfortunately print journalists can’t always get hold of well-known people (who often seem to tweet all time).
4. How impatient they are

A newspaper layout by Coat of Arms. The pen might
be mightier than the sword, but Photoshop
still makes both look better.
Print journalist work on deadlines determined by print times, whereas online journalists work on deadlines determined by the office hours of the internet. FOMO (fear of missing out) is applicable term to describe the state of an online journalists mind.

Journalists will always be missing out on the latest breaking news online. There is no limit to how much each content creator can publish via links and added webpages. Print journalists pick and choose stories based on the limited time and space they have.  

5. Who they hook up with

Online journalists hook up with everyone. You can hyperlink any number of words to other websites of media platforms. It’s considered common courtesy to do so, when you source something from someone else.

In print “hooking up with everyone” is considered a characteristic of a niche group with the mantra “sleep their way to the top”.

You're also allowed to steal 15% of the content from the people you hook up with online.  You can create an entire article based on the 15%'s of your hookups, if you like. In print journalism, this is not okay. It's rude, lazy and it's a one way road to a law suit.  

This is Sarmiza Bilcescu - Alimanisteanu. "She was the first woman doctor of law in the 
world,"according to Gruiadufaut. I did'nt speak to Sarmiza or Gruiadufaut, but I'm allowed to 
take the info if I quote and link them. Plus the copyright of this picture expired years ago. Note 
my use of old pictures throughout the article. Yeay for legal stealing!  Erm...aggravating I mean. 
This is online and it's big head. 
6. How big their head is
Online heading tend to be much longer and more descriptive than print headings, whereas print headings are to paper space. Print headlines tease you, while online gives it all up and makes long promises of things to come.

“Oh online journalism, the nerve you have,” the stereotypical print journalist said while yawning at his newspaper.

9. How they use lists

Online journalists like to list their content in their headlines. Please see the heading of this article as an example. Print journalists like to list stats and selected facts, not headings.

10. How personal they get

Hey you, thanks for reading my online piece.

Print journalism as an industry would like to express their regret that readers are converting to online content supporters.

11. Where the punch hits

The punch in print articles can either be in the first two lines of the article, or at the end in magazines. Refer to the last line of this article as a reference to the popular location of punch lines in online journalism.

3 Similarities

Neither print nor online journalism came into being with Adam and Eve. Both are man-made and evolving fields. Neither is perfect, but a merger might be. If print and online weren't so stubborn, we might formulate the perfect application of new to age old media tools and skills to produce great journalism, irregardless on which platform you read/see/hear it. 
 Journalists unite and celebrate the hybrid of old-school and online journalism, because it's hipster and interesting and this picture is legally available to me.





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