Assignment 10: Journalism and Frozen Pizza

Journalism is something that is very relevant to society today in both print form and online. As the use and dependence on the internet increases, it is important to understand the differences and similarities of getting news from the internet as opposed to reading the paper.

Wikipedia defines journalism as "a discipline of gathering, writing, and reporting news," and that it "applies to various media, including but not limited to newspapers, magazines, radio, and television." This is broken down further as both print journalism and online (cyber) journalism are defined. Print journalism obviously refers to articles written in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, etc. Online journalism includes not only the websites of various newspapers, but the idea that video, audio, and picture slide shows to enhance articles. Often these websites are another place to place an existing print article, but instead of waiting for deadlines or release sates, the articles can be placed online as soon as they are written.

A good way to compare the two journalism tactics is to compare two articles about the same topic. There is an article on CNN.com about a recent recall of frozen pizzas and the fact that they might have been contaminated by E. coli. The same article ran in Friday's edition of The Buffalo News. The article is located on the bottom of page A6 and is considerably shorter than the online version of the story, in what looks to be a lack of space.

Overall, the online source is similar to the print source due to the fact that the article was written by the Associated Press (AP). If the print and online sources both subscribe to the AP, they are free to use the articles and materials written by AP staff, and thus may both use the same information. It seems that since the Buffalo News was lacking space they had to consolidate the original AP article and only use some of the information.

However, on CNN.com there are various links throughout the article leading to more information. A section in the middle of the article has the title "Don't miss" and has related articles listed underneath it. There is also a chart with the products and product numbers of those being recalled. The hyperlinks "E coli" and "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" are present in the article and when clicked on, leads readers to all other articles tagged with the words "E coli" and "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" respectively, even if they have nothing to do with the pizza story itself. There is also a section at the bottom of the CNN article that provides links to various outside blogs such as "Daily Barf" and "Celebrity Blitz." These blogs have their own entries about the specific article viewed (E. coli pizza in this case) and provides links to General Mills and overall advice like "GET RID OF THEM PRONTO!"

Even though the specific writing style may be the same in both articles, the hyperlinks and blog articles are "online journalism" and differs greatly from print media. As the internet continues to grow, people may find that there is so much more information online and may end up turning to CNN.com and blogs for their information rather than read the paper every day.

Sources:
E. coli fears prompt recall of millions of frozen pizzas. (1 November 2007). Retrieved 2 November 2007 from CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/01/pizza.recall.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

E. coli prompts pizza recall. (2 November 2007). The Buffalo News. p. A6

Journalism. Retrieved 2 November 2007 from wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism

http://celeb-blitz.blogspot.com/2007/11/frozen-pizzas-recalled-due-to-e-coli.html?referer=sphere_related_content