Relationship Between the Authorities of the Non-Democratic Countries - Assignment Example

Online Journalism Name: Course: Tutor: Institution: City/state: Date: Introduction Online news has, in the recent past, become an alternative medium of news. I explored online news as an alternative medium and found out that, most people prefer online news to mainstream news because of its availability. The youth are the major users of the Internet and therefore, easily access online news. One of the respondents from my research said that it is cheaper to set up a website than a television station or radio station. The credibility of online newspapers has been questioned, but, I found out that the respondents found online newspapers to be credible just as the printed newspapers are. The respondents agreed that online newspapers were credible if they were linked to known media organizations. In case a certain online newspaper is not linked to any popular media organization, then, its credibility depends on its track record as an online newspaper over a period of time. I further explored the perceptions that the Saudi journalists and Saudi audiences have about online newspapers and other media. The Saudi journalists that I interviewed thought that online media was a good medium of disseminating news, though; the government is very restrictive of online media. According to the Saudi audiences, online media was helpful especially when the government needs to be criticised. Online news as alternative media Many people now have access to the Internet and as such rely heavily on it for news. The Internet has been used by activists to put pressure on governments especially in developing countries. Internet accessibility has made it easier for people to get news online faster. The rate at which news is broken is higher than having to wait for a hardcopy newspaper to read or wait for news to be read at the top of the hour. This is to say that online news are uploaded and accessed regularly. Online news as alternative media is affordable and less time consuming. Online news, says Friend and Singer (2007), is becoming a central source of information for major breaking news and for political information. In 2004, for example, more than 60 million Americans went online to get news about the elections while more than half said that what they found was of help to them and that informed their choice tovote (p.33). Allan (2006) observes that online news is the most reliable source of breaking news. Minutes after an incidence, journalists run to update whatever information they have gathered online and in a short while, every Internet user has the news. Apart from the journalists reporting about an incident, eyewitness also have information and pictures to share. In another light, online news as alternative media may clash with mainstream media on facts (Allan 2006). There is likely to be controversial issues between the facts given in an online news item and those in mainstream media. I found out that the clash will be on the basis of accuracy, since online news are updated faster than news from mainstream media. Friend and Singer (2007) observed that in 2006, people of between fifty and sixty years of age got their news online on a regular basis as newspaper readership declined. Onlineadvertisement increased because there was traffic online and their goods and services were likely to be noticed. From the point of view of ethics, it means that news events can be provided extensively through online journalism. Friend and Singer (2007) further say that online news has become mainstream media due to its ever increasing audience. Atton (2002) examined the rise of online journalism as alternative media during the Arab Spring period as a source of news for worldwide audiences. Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Blogs were used to pass on news during the protests. There was no control of how information was shared on social media platforms. Reporters, activists and protestors have been able to share news globally through social media. I observed that in some instances, social media is the source of information for mainstream journalists. Millions of tweets and blog posts that were reviewed during the Arab Spring showed that social media helped in shaping the political agenda. Users of social media posted inspiring stories about the protests. Online news, during this period ranged from videos of the protests to pictures that went viral within a short while. By the time mainstream media got the information, the international audience already knew what was going on as the information had already been posted online (O’Donnell 2011). The threat of blocking online sites by governments did not deter online users to publish stories about the protests. The thirst for a free media led many people online with an agenda to tell their story to the world. People who did not have quick access to the Internet were given access by the wealthy users who offered to share their passwords just so news can be shared across the borders. Journalists who could not share what was happening around them took to social media sites to share their experiences. The experiences of the Arab Spring helped shape the future of social media because they achieved the goals they had set to achieve. Through social media many people were recruited and mobilized to help in spreading information. Social media is set to be more valuable in the future due to its power to disseminate news faster as it happens. The Arab Spring and its outcome was affected by social media in a way that other revolutions in future will rely on social media. A Credible Journalism, Towards a Public Sphere Saudi users rely on online newspapers as they seek to find news. Most newspapers in Saudi, however, are in Arabian with only about two newspapers in English. According to Al Qarni (2004), the impact of online media has been felt throughout Saudi and is accessed by a majority of people. Culture and politics have been affected by the rise of global information especially in the Arab world. Social media has been the strongest medium of disseminating news to the world. The impact of social media, or new media as popularly referred to, caused the dismissal of Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Labour in May 2004. Saudi users prefer to use online media instead of mainstream media because they are free to express themselves. Mainstream media has been gagged so much as to lose the trust of the Saudis. Most media organizations in Saudi are run by the government and are therefore restricted to only reporting what the government sees to be useful to the public. I found out that many Saudis have access to online media and they rarely rely on mainstream media for news that interest them. Online newspapers outperformed traditional newspapers according to the Saudi Internet users. When asked which media they preferred, the respondents said they preferred online news to mainstream news because it was accessible and relatively credible. Online news, as compared to mainstream news, was not censored by the government. Since online newspapers are easily accessed, most Saudi users prefer to get their news online. The respondents pointed out that in online newspapers, they are able to get more news about the region and are more informed that before. They also said that few people still relied on traditional newspapers for news because they could not get access to the Internet. Online journalism and the public sphere are linked together and in the years to come these two will have permanent agendas. Online journalism is evolving and the relationship between mainstream media and alternative media is growing.Dahlgren 2005 agrees that the Internet and the public sphere have a relationship. He further says that the link between the public and the government is facilitated by online journalism. Freedom of speech is exercised in online journalism even if they have boundaries. Accuracy and credibility comes in here with the rise of online journalism. The information shared is questioned in terms of credibility as compared to the information delivered by mainstream media. I found out that Internet has made it possible for online news to make a contribution to the public audience. Thousands of websites have been created and this has improved the interactivity of people online. I realized that most organizations had an online presence in from of websites where they encouraged people to contribute and form discussion groups. This is going to increase in the future where everyone will be able to access the Internet and impact online journalism. News reporting is based on credibility. This has made the mainstream media view online journalism as competition. They have acquired a negative attitude towards online journalism terming it as less credible news sources. The “old media” such as CNN or BBC are mainstream media organizations with an online presence that is considered credible. Some respondents, however, chose to disagree with the idea that online journalism was credible. They said that the people who rely on online journalism do that because of the heat in the arguments and not for hard news. News credibility is important to any audience. The respondents agreed that, both the credibility of the individual sharing information online and the medium of dissemination have to be considered. Of course many participants of my research said that they were likely to trust a news item from a known media website like CNN and BBC or a known online media company as opposed to some other random media website. The younger generation of Saudi participants I interviewed were sure that online news were more credible than traditional news. This was influenced by their age and their Internet accessibility. Many journalists still do not view online journalism as credible. Traditional media is still resistant to online journalism. Among the respondents in my study, were traditional news journalists who said that they have tried to persuade their audiences against relying on online news as they are not credible. Contrary to Dahlgren’s 2007 idea that the Internet and the public sphere have a relationship, Dean 2003, says that the net, as he calls it, is not a public sphere. He further says that the public sphere in the theory of cyber, presents itself in different ways. First, as cyber’s lack and excess. Second, one that requires broader analysis of the thinking that net is the public sphere. Perceptions of Saudi Journalists about Online Newspapers The media environment is one of the most censored in the world.Censorship was seen to be a major obstacle to journalists in Saudi Arabia. The content of information in Saudi Arabia is under the government’s control. In the case of a privately owned media organization, as I found out from the interviewees who were journalists, the editor-in-chief of each newspaper has to be appointed by the government. Criticism of the Saudi government, the royal family or any religious organization is not accepted and journalists can be banned for disobeying the rule of the land. Saudis are now going online for news that is uncensored. The penalties for violation of the press include fines and imprisonment. The monarchy in Saudi ordered a ban in the reporting of any information regarding Islamic law, issues about national security, foreign affairs or controversial religious leaders (FreedomHouse.org 2012). The report further showed how serious the government was when in February 2012, a young Saudi blogger and journalist was deported from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia for posting insulting blog posts about Prophet Muhammad. The journalist and blogger faced a potential death sentence as the penalty for defamation. The respondents further disclosed that as journalists, they have learnt to censor the information they post online in order to avoid being punished by the government. Even as some take to social media to express opinions about the politics of Saudi, the government has been able to blob multiple websites considered dangerous. Financial barriers faced by online newspapers has been high, causing the closure of many online newspapers in the past. This has subsequently caused the disappearance of such newspapers from the market. Getting funding for an online newspaper in Saudi Arabia is almost impossible as the government does not recognize online media as credible media. The few online newspapers are run by influential people in the society, mostly business people who have the financial power to keep maintain their online presence. The lack of specialized journalists in Saudi Arabia is also another challenge facing the online newspapers. Most of the interviewees, who were journalists agreed that the lack of specialized journalists in Saudi Arabia is a major obstacle in the growth of online newspapers. The interviewees mentioned that there is a lack of editors and reporters who are qualified to work on online newspapers. This, they said contributed to the fact that the government does not consider online newspapers credible. Social media has impacted online journalism greatly. The journalists I interviewed agreed that social media contributed to the prospects of freedom of publication. Social media reduced the rate of censorship in Saudi Arabia and raised the level of freedom of publication of online news. The interviewers said that the editors and reporters who could not publish articles or stories on traditional newspapers or in an online newspaper opted to share it on Twitter, Facebook or in a blog. About credibility, the journalists through their answers about how they verified the credibility of news, most of them said that there were no mechanisms for verifying news items. The interviewees generally agreed that there are no mechanisms that are nationally agreed that can verify the credibility of news. The journalists also said that it is the responsibility of the editors to verify the news items by checking the sources to ensure that they are credible. This is an effort by the editors to set the newspaper aside from its competitors in terms of credibility. Conclusion In this dissertation, my central aim was to find out whether online journalism was credible and reliable. According to my findings, online newspapers, were especially found to be credible if they were linked to popular mainstream media or an online news company. The interviewees in my study also agreed that credibility was an issue that had to be considered while disseminating news online. Credibility is a very important aspect of online journalism. Credibility determines the readership of an online newspaper and also increases the ratings of the online media. Gaining the trust of Internet users is significant in the growth of online journalism especially in countries like Saudi Arabia where online media is threatened. Online news as alternative media has enabled users to get information that they otherwise would not have access to. The significance of credibility increased when new media, popularly known as social media, emerged. This, I found out, was because, the social media sites were working away from the standards of professional skills that the journalists lacked, yet, these were skills that were required. Suggestion for Further Research With the steady rise in social media, future research can be done on the impact of social or new media in decision making especially in non-democratic countries. This will improve the strained relationship between the authorities of the non-democratic countries and the public audiences in the countries. Future research can be done focussing on the impact of either maintaining the Twitter hashtag (#) or permanently doing away with it. The hashtag has been used in the recent past to highlight certain issues of importance as considered by the user. References Al Qarni, A. 2004. The Information Revolution, Globalization in the Arab World: A study of the new media (Satellite Broadcasting and the Internet) and its impact on the Politics and Culture of the Arab World. Unpublished PhD dissertation. University of Sussex Allan, S. 2006. Online news journalism and the Internet. Maidenhead, Open University Press. http://www.dawsonera.com/depp/reader/protected/external/AbstractView/S9780335229468 Atton, C. 2002. Alternative media. London, SAGE Publications. Dahlgren, P. 2005. The Internet, Public Spheres, and Political Communication: Dispersion and Deliberation. Political Communication. 22, 147-162. Dean, J. 2003. Why the Net is not a Public Sphere. Constellations. 10, 95-112 Freedom House. 2012. Online: https://freedomhouse.org.report/freedom-press/2012/saudi-arabia#. VSJAnPC-PIU Accessed 6 April 2015. Friend, C., & singer, J. B. 2007. Online journalism ethics: traditions and transitions. Armonk, N.Y., M.E. Sharpe O’Donnell, C. 2011. UW TODAY. Online. http://www.washington.edu/news/2011/09/12/new-study-qualifies-use-of-social-media-in-arab-spring/ [Accessed 6 April 2015] Read More