We the Press–Chapter Reviews (1-6)

1
Chapter one included a brief but informative history of journalism, discussing “Yellow Journalism” and Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, the era of “muckraking” journalism, and important journalistic contributions and work (Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, Jacob Riis, and Upton Sinclair). The author went in to detail about journalism’s proudest years between the 1960s and the 1970s, explaining how reporters helped bring a law-breaking president to justice and Walter Cronkite’s prodigious impact on the United States. But the author also explored many of the problems which have developed in the press over the years: it increasingly becoming a business, corporate consolidation, news not being taken seriously, and the quickened pace of life. The chapter discussed the significance of the radio on other forms of journalism and the development of the computer and the Internet (the World Wide Web) and the substantial effect both has had on journalism and the world, identifying it as the “Web Era.” Just as over the Internet people are discovering news ways to communicate and share information, in other words converse about important issues, journalism itself has evolved as a trade of conversation between the press and the public. The author analyzed open source software and how it has affected and had widening effects on the correspondence and retrieval of news. Last, the chapter discussed how September 11, 2001 irrevocably changed the craft of journalism forever and because of that day, the idea of “blogging,” and its connection and aid to reporting, was realized universally.

2
Chapter two begins by highlighting the significance of technology on the evolution of journalism. It goes into a discussion about the tools reporters have and are now currently using (and their relatively open nature): email list, weblogs, content-management systems, and syndication tools including camera-equipped mobile phones and personal digital assistants. The chapter talked about how mail lists and forums amplify the news and how their value to the news process ought never to be underestimated. Weblogs are explained in detail, which online journals that made publishing on the Web easy, and their advantages and uses are stated. As tools such as weblogs develop, the cross-fertilized conversations will spread both in number and complexity. Next the chapter discusses the emergence of Wiki and its significance to Web users, especially students and news consumers, and possibly reporters in the future. After this, the tools SMS (short messaging system) and mobile-connected cameras, both of which are used extensively by journalists and will be so increasingly in the future. Internet radio was explained next but, as the chapter relates, it is still in its virgin stages and there is much left to be learned about it. Peer to peer (P2P) is discussed next and its importance on the accessibility of information and an importance for journalism, especially because it offers a way to save money. Last, is the discussion of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and how it has made using the Web much easier than it once had been and how it has increased the availability and accessibility of much of the content on the Web.

3
The chapter began by defining three new rules that newsmakers must follow when considering the sea of information upon which they must report:
-Outsiders of all kinds can probe more deeply into newsmakers’ businesses and affairs.
-Insiders are part of the conversation.
-What gushes forth can take on a life of its own, even if it’s not true.
Next the author discussed the prominence of cameras and camera phones on an increasingly voyeuristic and exhibitionistic society. The chapter explained “truth squads” after this and how the accumulation of detail is a powerful research tool for anyone who wants to drill deeper into an issue. The repositories for news continue to expand, and they’re moving an information imbalance closer to equilibrium for everyday citizens, not just activists and scholars. The author then explains how unauthorized things, breaking news and new developments on both national and international scales can be learned of over the Internet. After this, there was a discussion about the dispersal of information and transparency of several company websites. Today, everything suggests a higher level of transparency, not granted willingly by newsmaker—a government or corporation—but captured by the user. Next the author explained a phenomenon wide in scope: the ability of anyone to join in a global dissection of corporate behavior and finances. The author then suggests that the more transparent a company, the more likely it will succeed in a networked world. He next made the point that governments and large organizations will never permit citizens to have the same access to their inner sanctums and methods that they insist on having to consumers’ personal and professional lives. The last section was a back and forth argument and discussion over how the public wants journalism and the news to be more transparent and is doing some reporting of its own when reporters fail to respond in satisfying ways. The public being a watchdog for journalists might and might not work.

4
This chapter began by talking about how the press-release culture is beginning to die. News and commentary more and more are being reported by the public in the form of bloggers and activists. While professional journalists are still part of the game, and they shall remain so, a wider constituency is emerging rapidly. Next it discussed how tools of technology should be used by companies, and used wisely, to further the conversation between them and their constituents. The author stressed that learning is more effectively accomplished by listening “hard.” After this, the chapter talked about the importance and increasing popularity of blogging and how many companies and CEOs are engaging in it with positive and helpful results. Blogging opens communication lines, fires up debate, and creates new and preserves existing connections of all different kinds. Next the chapter discussed public relations and it has only gone from complete cluelessness to only a semi-conscious understanding of Internet possibilities and how PR is intricate to businesses using “from-the-edges” technology. The author stated that if PR people started creating RSS feeds of releases, journalists and the public could see what they want and the PR industry could stop barraging people’s already cluttered inboxes. Next the chapter discussed blog pitches and blogs themselves as vital tools companies, the public, and news outlets could use to inform and to better and more completely inform. More news is dispersed from an infinite spring of resources. The author summed up the chapter with rules for using tomorrow’s media:
Listen hard, talk openly about what you’re doing, ask and answer questions well and respectfully, syndicate your information to the widest audience possible in the most efficient way, help out by offering more not less, post or link to what people say publicly and to what is said about you, aim carefully at people who really care, correct mistakes promptly and honestly, thank people who teach you new things, and experiment constantly.

5
This chapter talked about the evolution of journalism in which average people from the edges of the political system are having their voices heard. The author gave examples of how, up until 2004, big money and media still largely held sway: Howard Dean’s presidential campaign and Arnold Schwartzenegger’s being elected governor of California, and George W. Bush’s reelection campaign. Americans as a whole were not yet buying edge politics. Next the chapter discussed Tara Sue Grubb’s forming a small but path-breaking net coalescence. After this it talked about the wide consensus that smart use of the Net was a principal reason for the election of Roh Moo Hyun as president of South Korea in 2002. By 2004, U.S. politics was reaching a tipping point: enough people were online and had enough tools at their disposal to shake things up themselves for the first time. The author used Dean’s campaign to demonstrate how this happened. In many ways Dean understood and used the power of the Net to booster his message and gain support. With the “Dean blog,” which was created, a genuine community had formed and people were watching out for each other. The blog revealed the personalities of the people who became vital communicators with activists and readers who wanted to understand the Dean phenomenon and take part in it. Next the chapter discussed how the blog and website had another essential purpose of raising money and becoming a cash cow. After this, the author went in to open source politics. People all over the world work on small parts of big open source software projects that create some of the most important and reliable components of the Internet. People, everywhere, can work on similarly stable components for a participatory political life in much more efficient ways than the past. The author explained that Net-savvy campaigning will be the rule by 2008, and it will be lower-level candidates who do the next wave of innovating. Next, the chapter discussed the changing role for journalists and the idea of readers directly assisting in the creation of journalism. The author emphasized that he would love to see a million blogs sprout cover and be part of campaigns of all sorts. He said this would ignite discussion and bring more and better information to more people. The next section discussed how the tools of many-to-many communications will transform government if politicians and bureaucrats cooperate and lead. The author stated that, by the use of blogs and the Web, we need to find ways to bring the nation’s collective energy and brainpower to bear on threats, problems, and possible solutions. The key is to always be looking for the best ideas wherever they originate and to not bar the edges, the average citizens of the public, from voicing their concerns, notions, and feelings.

6
This chapter began by discussing the future of journalism and how though blogging has become more and more popular and effective, that shouldn’t mean the demise of regular journalism but the improvement of it. The author stated that if newspapers and other serious news outlets wither, serious investigative reporting will diminish and possibly disappear. Next the chapter talked about when Big Media companies consider having a conversation with their audience, they tend not to push many boundaries; the author stressed journalists and the news outlets they work for must adopt more methods of interactivity. Despite the resistance, dozens of mainstream journalism organizations have adopted blogs, a trend that seems likely to accelerate. Successful blogs share some distinctive characteristics: voice, focus, real reporting, and good writing. There’s something liberating about the blog form for journalists. Its format encourages experimentation and informality and valuable interaction with the public that makes coverage much better. Next, the chapter explained that the most web-like activity is linking: pointing to other people’s content. By doing this, bloggers increase their credibility and build trust with their readers which is vitally important. It’s about listening and learning. After this the author talked about how bloggers more and more are letting their audience contribute and help out their blog. Some of the most groundbreaking news finds have been discovered by amateurs and regular, on-looking citizens. The British Broadcast Corps has created iCan which centers upon a daring notion: equip the audience with some of the tools of political activism. Then they watch what they do and report it. It has helped citizens make their own news and has been a valuable experiment which could develop into a model for other news outlets to follow. The chapter went through a case study of citizen reporters next. It used the website Ohmynews which anyone could write for and get easily published in. The real-people nature of these contributors lent further appeal to the site. It was a publication that reflected views of society and politics and fed information to a public hungry for such news. The easy coexistence of the amateurs and professionals will soon enough seem natural. The author talked about the acceleration of technology in the future and its profound effect on journalism. The advent of camera phones and small, high-quality digital cameras has given professional journalists new tools that transcend the desktop. The chapter discussed the gap in journalism education. It isn’t that the better journalism schools lack technology or don’t know to use it, but they tend to serve such a conservative and slow-moving industry. The author discussed how Jay Rosen is using the Yale Drama School to engineer a new kind of journalism education at New York University. Last, the chapter explained that besides new tools and technology, the core principles of fairness, accuracy, and thoroughness must be maintained at all times. It also talked about the importance of editors, and to accept their relevance to even blogs, and the keys to good blogs are very much like those of good journalism—and they all revolve around trust.