Rich Gordon defines convergence as the ownership of multiple content or distribution channels. But what effect does this have on the dissemination of news? Radio has become incredibly syndicated, as large companies like Clear Channel hold programming such as the Rush Limbaugh show on more than 300 stations. Newspapers rely increasingly on wire services, as small cities can’t afford to hold staff members to keep pace with national and even local happenings. Does syndication of news bring the same benefits as syndication of softer content such as TV sitcoms? Absolutely not.
Syndicating news does allow content to be distributed more efficiently. As the Internet grows as a distribution channel, the presence of large companies like Gannett and Tribune should improve methods by which readers receive their news. Readers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution will find a large video section on the homepage of the newspaper’s website – a series of clips from News 2 in Atlanta. News 2 has a partnership with the AJC, providing video on topics ranging from Cobb County prisons to happenings at the Atlanta zoo. But with the 6:00 news fused with the front page of a newspaper via the Internet, is there even a need for a digital device beyond a personal computer?
Even aspiring college journalists are subject to the effects of convergence. As a sports reporter for the Daily Northwestern, my stories extend beyond the hard copy and newspaper’s own website. Through a program called U-Wire, Sports stories from the Daily Northwestern are picked up by College Sports Television and CBS Sportsline on the web, through a service called U-Wire. U-Wire is a free service that extends college media to participating websites that have agreed to include the copyright of the college news source and byline of the story author while disseminating it to prime time websites. Gordon discusses the reality that journalists can no longer assume that they will be only working in one medium such as print. For now, it’s only my print story. But in five years, maybe live video feeds in flash will be the next form of content to become a part of UWire.
The marginalization of funding for newspapers’ staffs to cover events like the Big Ten Championships in women’s swimming leaves myself with a great deal of responsibility. As my Daily Northwestern story appears on multiple websites, convergence acts as a positive in this case in the realm of tactics. I know that the audience for my stories extends to groups other than Northwestern students. Five years ago, the average American spent 24 minutes per day on the Internet. As I wait for my story on the Big Ten Swimming Championships to appear tomorrow, I will be going to cstv.com to check first for copy editing errors. That read alone is likely to take 20 minutes. At twelve midnight Tuesday, 300 copies of the Daily Northwestern sat in the bins of my dormitory. I was able to follow the meet with a live webcast and live result feeds over the Internet. How many will read the issue tomorrow? I know I will, and that’s not saying much.
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