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Convergence. What is a MOJO?. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was this:. But actually it’s more like this guy:. The digital age has brought about: A fracturing of news audiences Pressure on print and broadcast news to do more with less
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What is a MOJO? You’d be forgiven for thinking it was this: But actually it’s more like this guy:
The digital age has brought about: • A fracturing of news audiences • Pressure on print and broadcast news to do more with less The digital era has coincided with the profitisation ofnews But: The digital media has helped to provide a possible answer New and ever miniaturising technology means a mojo can do the same work as a small news crew could before these advances
Convergence • The new buzz word in journalism • It is becoming the norm for journalists to write copy, record footage and audio and do live link ups • The internet is providing the platform for all forms of media to come together
Digital natives; a key advertising demographic, • They want hyperlinks to audio and video on online articles • All formats of journalism are seeing a blurring of their traditional boundaries • Faster and faster internet has been the catalyst for this merging
Technological determinism • Meaning that new technology will drive change • When television matured it sidelined print journalism Arguments against: • “Reduces time for journalists to think, reflect, evaluate, shape, craft and contextualise the news”David Halberstam The counterpoint • This theory doesn't allow for the free will of either the journalist or society
A mojos field kit • Pen & PadDigital cameraDictaphoneCamcorderLaptop & wireless modemMobile phoneWinston argues that all this technology is very seductive and gung-hoBut any negative impact this technology has on reporting is the due to how they are used
Is it better journalism • Alter's 1991 comment on the television coverage on the Gulf war: “did nothing to speed the flow of real informationIs this the case with new moo journalism?” • Is it better journalism or is it even as good as journalism of decades past? • The argument is that mojos are too busy with getting a right camera angle or looking at the levels to actually report the story properly • They are becoming "a mere pipeline for a public relations feed rather than a critical analyst with the time to pause, reflect and add layers of context to the story"
A famous mojo • Kevin Sites is possibly the world's most famous mojo • As an embedded reporter in Iraq in 2004 he reported the shooting dead of a wounded Iraqi in a Mosque by an American soldier • In 2005 he joined Yahoo as their first news correspondent • He hired a small staff and took $10,000 backpack full of equipment • He chose to visit every country with an armed conflict within a year • Exhaustion set in because of the pressure he was under as a mojo • He admitted that the onus on him to file copy, video and stills affected the quality of his output
His argument was that weaknesses in one medium on one day was made up by strengths in another on another day • Multimedia reporting "offers a chance to do better journalism by giving reporters the tools to tell stories in the most appropriate medium". Quinn 2004 Sites says he used: • words for ideas and issues • videos for movement • stills for faces
Perhaps what is needed is no more than to reconceptualize traditional journalism in light of the incontestable arrival of Internet-based multimedia reporting Quinn (2004, p. 119) quotes Norwegian editor Rolf Lie said: ‘‘Today’s journalist should say: ‘I’m not working in a newspaper, I’m working in news.’’’