No matter what the medium, the definition of what is news hasn't changed. With the advance of the Web, news is not different. What the web has done is changed the role of the journalist.
This past summer I worked in an all news radio station in New York. There I met Tim Macateer, who is head of convergence for Channel 4 in Pittsburgh. Under his direction, the station has become fully converged. He spoke of the transition from simply having a website to having a news site. I found it interesting that he made this distinction. In my mind, this distinction demonstrated that the Web has the ability to legitimize the news presence of the medium in a time when so many people use the Internet for information. He stressed that he had created a news site for Channel 4, not just a website where the audience goes to learn of programming notes and anchor bios. The Pittsburgh Channel provides not only packages that run on the newscasts, but written stories and interactive opportunities that enhance news coverage. You could say that the web has opened the doors for providing a deeper look at the news.
Macateer told me that the staff had to transition from their roles as just reporters and start to think as writers and photojournalist, too. He said that the mind of the Internet journalist becomes more focused on what the audience needs to know and less on what would look good and fit the time on television. Among his reporters, he said he had seen an improvement in news coverage.
The presence of converged news sites is the future of journalism. As the abilities of the Web expand, I think that news will not change, but the way the journalist reports the news will adapt to the medium to better serve the audience.
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