EL200: Going Live by Philip Sieb

This semester for Media Lab, we are reading Going Live by Philip Seib, a former television and print journalist turned professor at Marquette University.

Going Live covers the possible changes in journalism we will see in the 21st century. The book really isn't about writing style- it's about the ethical choices journalists make, and the unethical choices journalists have made in the past.

When discussing the book in class, I raised a point about the web being the tool people go to first for the news. In Going Live, Seib discusses the fact that people often overlook or denounce the web as an important medium for news.

In all reality, I think the internet has become one of the primary sources for news, second to television. I would like to think that even print journalism has taken a backseat to the internet. The web is more acessible, it's "free" in most cases, unless you're the homeowner who pays the dreaded AOL bill, and it's fast. By accessing sites such as CNN.com, we can be sure the news we recieve is accurate and up to date as well.

The internet is an amazing meduim for news because it allows for almost automatic updates. This point, however, makes for ethical conflict. The more rapidly the news can be updated, the greater the margin of content error.

The internet is a use at your own risk tool. One can publish anything on the internet, but will it be factual? The world has no way of knowing if the information coming from a weblog or a wiki, or even a reputable news source online is accurate.

I don't think that print journalism will ever completely fade out, but I do think it's getting shoved aside to make way for online journalism. At Seton Hill, there is a Writing for the Internet course