(JESSICA) Hello, and welcome back! In our last module, we discussed broadcasting the news. In this module, we’ll look at new media, or digital and online news sources.
Digital media are growing in popularity all over the world. Online media are the preferred sources of news for many audiences, especially younger people.
Digital media have many forms, including news websites, weblogs or “blogs”, audio podcasts, and posts on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter.
Post is both a noun and a verb. A post is a piece of content published online, like a photo, video, or text.
For example, you can post a picture online, and other users can comment on your post.
In this video, we will focus on the structure and language of new media journalism.
(VINCE) So, what is so new about new media? How is it different from print and broadcast journalism?
There are three main differences: New journalism is multimedia, it uses hypertext links, and it is interactive.
First, there is mulitmediality. Digital media journalism can use text, video, and audio to tell a story.
Second, there is hypertextuality. Digital journalists can use hypertext links to other content on the internet.
Link is both a noun and a verb. One piece of digital content links to another, and users can “click the link” to see more content.
Third, there is interactivity. People also call this the “democratization” of media.
All people, not only professional journalists, can post online, or publish their own stories, videos, or comments on other people’s content.
User generated content, or UGC, has changed news reporting. Citizens are now more direct and active participants in the media.
We will talk more about user-generated content in a later video.
Now, let’s look at some examples of how new media language works.
(JESSICA) Like print and broadcast news, new media journalism uses the inverted pyramid structure we discussed in Module 7.
However, attention-grabbing headlines and leads are even more important in new media, because they are often the only parts of the story viewers can see until they click a link.
The headline and lead must attract the viewer to click a link to read the full text story or watch a video.
News website posts and social media news posts are very short - often limited to only 140 characters. Typical new media news posts include the media outlet’s name, a headline, a picture, and a link to the full story.
The purpose of these posts is to generate clicks. In other words, to attract viewers to click the link to content on a different web page.
Like the TV ratings we discussed in Module 7, generating clicks is the way websites make money.
(VINCE) So how do new media journalists use language to generate the most clicks? Online journalists use short sentences, Active verbs, "teasers", conversational language, emotional language, humor, #hashtags and other symbols.
(JESSICA) Space is very limited in online posts, so journalists write short sentences with active verbs for impact.
We discussed active and passive verbs in Module 5. Let’s say a journalist is writing a social media post about the tornado story we discussed in Modules 1 and 4.
The journalist wouldn’t write: City Is Hit by a Tornado. This is passive. An active headline would be: Tornado Hits City
(VINCE) Also, like on television news, journalists often “tease” viewers into clicking through to the story by not telling the whole story in the post.
They write an attention-getting question or statement that suggests the answer is only a click away in the story.
For example, in the tornado story, they might post: Is Your Home Safe in a Tornado? Viewers have to click the link to the story to find out!
(JESSICA) In addition, the post would include an eye-catching image of the tornado, and “hashtags” such as #tornado to label the story.
Hashtags make it easier to find a post, and increase the number of times a post is read and shared.
(VINCE) Finally, like broadcast journalism, new media journalism uses a conversational style, speaking directly to the user.
Online media also uses emotional language – words that make people feel angry or excited – to generate more clicks.
New media journalists and social media users are also more likely to use humor, or jokes to make readers laugh, than traditional media journalists.
(JESSICA) To review, in this video we discussed the language and structure of new media journalism.
We talked about the differences between new media and traditional media, the importance of headlines and leads in new media posts, and the type of language new media journalists use to generate clicks.
Test your knowledge of new media language and structure in the quiz that follows this video.