On Web Journalism
Those who despair over the future of the planet because of mainstream journalism’s shortcomings might want to glance at this online magazine. I once had high hopes that Grist would go this route. Instead they’ve turned into a web-version of Speaker’s Corner for green activists.
Via Poynter Online, here’s a nice description of the innovative, multi-media venture:
There is no silver bullet for a journalism revenue stream or the struggle to reinvent storytelling for the Web. But there are fragments of a bullet that we can piece together.
Jim Gaines, editor in chief of FLYP, an online magazine that combines traditional reporting and writing with animation, audio, video and interactive graphics, thinks he has found a piece of that bullet. It includes rethinking the way storytelling is done online.
Wow, what an annoying interface. If that’s the future of journalism, count me out.
Yeah, I agree. It’s really the concept that I’m interested in, especially as someone who works largely in the magazine world. I should have noted how unwieldy the site is.
Storytelling is a big part of journalism and transferring that to the web is one of the biggest challenges the profession faces. We can do blogs, podcasts, video, slide shows, etc; but animating a 3,000 word feature on your computer screen so it’s more than just text? Not there yet. You still have to read through the story and my biggest fear is that people won’t do it even when everything goes digital.
So if there’s a way to do compelling narrative journalism using all the new media tools, I’m for it. Obviously, we’ve got a ways to go yet.