Double-edged Sword: Mainstream and Online Journalism by Zheng En and Mikha

As Siapera (2012) asserted, internet itself had threated the status of the journalism through several features; time, money, heteronomy and cultural change. But is it true that these features had become a risk for the journalists or were merely a transition to evolve into new type of journalism? Siapera (2012) added that this new media had built a new relationship between people and news as well as others’ views on politics. From here, I’d like to raise a question: When does news become politic? I think that international news has been handled politically by both traditional media and new media, thereby deteriorating harmony among countries.

 Source: http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index2193.htm

Speaking of the recent political chaos, the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother, Kim Jong-nam has been heavily discussed by both official broadcast media as well as the unofficial one (e.g. blogspot) around the world. Notably, like other international news media, Malaysian media has been playing its roles by analyzing and executing consistent follow-ups on the case as this incident happened in Malaysian airport itself. The recent follow-up of the case posted by the broadcast media (Arirang News, 2017) and online journalism official website (Choe & Paddock, 2017) is about the video posted in which the son of Kim Jong-nam notified the world that he and his family members are in the safe condition. However, doubt remains and the accuracy of information spread by the video is questioned by the expertise whether the person in the video is really his (Kim Jong-nam) son and whether this person is speaking the truth about the safety of his family and himself as their whereabouts is kept at secret.     

  Source: http://www.returnofkings.com/89090/3-reasons-for-the-downfall-of-mainstream-journalism

Blog as defined by Rettberg (2008) was invented in 1997, as some kind of log kept on the web, shown in the reverse chronological order and the content and themes will be determined by the blogger. As we have understood, because the content of the blog is fully controlled by the blogger without the authority surveillance, the blogger can post their comments and thoughts on the matters they care for. In this case, we have found a blog known as ‘Malaysians Must Know The Truth’ (Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah, 2017) had reposted several contents related to Kim Jong-nam assassination. Unlike the information published by broadcast media and printed contents, the blogger may share the information and opinions that are opposing the general feeds. Instead of blaming the North Korea for their unresponsive and denial act, the blogger had placed his concern on the ‘proactive’ actions taken by Malaysian authority which might draw more severe political chaos in future.    

       Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30311/10-Amazing-Blogs-About-Blogging-to-Star Reading-NOW.aspx

In terms of similarities structure between print media and blogging, only one element discovered; the title of the news which aims to draw reader’s attention on the topics they had discussed on. However, we identified news tags as one of the differences between print or broadcast media and blogging. In print media and broadcast news, the section in which news should be allocated is arranged according to their content. For instance, the news about assassination of Kim Jong-nam will be placed in the headlines section or the international section of the newspaper. On the other hand, the blog will only be posted based on themes without separating the news types into categories because the blogger can publish any content they want. For example, Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah (2017) posted the opinions of others on Kim Jong-nam news on his blogs today, but he might shift his concern towards other news for the next day. However, with help of labels posted under the blog, readers can find the related keywords connected with the blog feeds they look for.

Source: http://izquotes.com/quote/195521

The news content is usually similar to each other in terms of the subject of discussion. In fact, convergence does happen in both broadcast news and blogging news. Convergence, as explained by Siapera (2012), represents same content written by one journalist circulated in all types of news platform including the digital news which allow the media organization to publish themselves and cutting down cost. As an example, The Star, one of the media organizations in Malaysia did publish their news article in print newspaper and distributed the news on their website as well. Blogging website also obtains convergence. Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah (2017) shared the news about Kim Jong-nam assassination using The Guardian and opinion from a journalist named Zan Azlee. On the one hand, the structure of the narrative in both print and broadcast news are rather objective with charts, the interview session with the government officers and reenacted scene of the incident. On the other hand, the fact that blogging portrays none of these elements and projects much more personalize ideas on the subject matter is supported by Siapera (2012). For instance, Ramos-Horta and Rogers (2017) proposed their views on the case of Kim Jong-nam might trigger another world war in the coming days. Besides, this case was related with the tyranny governance of the ruler that violated the rights of their citizens.   

Source: http://allnewspipeline.com/Censorship_War_Govt_Waging_On_Truth.php

When coins display two sides of the story, content of the news possess both advantage and disadvantage when it goes through the network. To define what is good and bad of online content, we need to refer the analytical view given by Siapera (2012) through several elements. Manovich (2001) identified hypertextuality as one that makes online news content appears much more flexible than print journalism in which “the user can have direct access on the database and information” through links provided as the former can extend in time and space (as cited in Siapera, 2012, p 135-136). Nevertheless, these accessible links can be vicious when misleading information is delivered publicly on the network sphere. Thus, users need to be keen while using the network and be selective on what to read especially when it is related to the sensitive topic. This makes more sense when multimediality comes into the picture in which there are a lot of accessible platforms and websites. Conversely, we notice that most of the contents in official online news such as the Star and New York Times are very much similar in reporting Kim Jong-nam’s assassination; starting with the video posted by Kim Jong-nam’s son, followed by the process of the incident, and ended up with who Kim Jong-nam is alongside with his social life.

  Source: http://www.journalismfestival.com/news/the-lack-of-trust-in-mainstream-media-and-the-rise-of socialmedia-as-publishers/

Another element is the interactivity; users are free to leave their feedbacks in the comment section regarding to the news posted in the blogging websites. Furthermore, interactivity of online content can be shown through the immediacy of news posted online by print and broadcast news which renew their content daily. This is not applicable in blogging website because blogger only posts when they are capable of doing it, thereby slowing down the rate of updates feeds. The last element will be collecting authoritoring or participatory dimension of news as defined by Siapera (2012) as posting different opinions about the news which differ from the objective views posted by the official organization. It is brilliant to have network that could support such element but user needs to have precautious and be objective while reading the opinion that might overlook the deceitful information and offend people (Siapera, 2012).   

 Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/509540145316612413

In short, people nowadays prefer online news over print media and broadcast media due to technology advancement which allow them to instantaneously grasp the information. One thing that the online content users should keep in mind is that not everything written online is true. Hence, objectivity is a must when reading the content.

References

Arirang News. (2017, March 7). Kim Jong-nam's son says his father was murdered [video file].

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNd1-K3DWlw

 

Choe, S.H & Paddock, R C. (2017, March 8) Son of Kim Jong-nam appears to surface in

Youtube video. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com

/2017/03/08/world/asia/kim-jong-nam-son-video-north-korea.html

Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah (2017). Sure we support Malaysia against N.Korea but don’t forget Najib regime created the mess – why let them politicize issue for ge14 votes? Retrieved from http://malaysiansmustknowthetruth.blogspot.my/2017/03/sure-we-support-malaysia-against-nkorea.html

Ramos-Horta, J., & Rogers, B. (2017, March 04). Kim Jong-nam's assassination is a wake-up call to the world. The Diplomat. Retrieved from http://thediplomat.com/2017/03/kim-jong-nams-assassination-is-a-wake-up-call-to-the-world/

Rettberg, J. W. (2008). Blogging: Digital media and society series. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Siapera, E. (2012). Understanding new media. London, UK: SAGE publication.