NEW: Bloggers and Reporters Discuss Journalism and New Media on WSBE TONIGHT
GoLocalProv Business Team
NEW: Bloggers and Reporters Discuss Journalism and New Media on WSBE TONIGHT
In the uncontrolled and uncontrollable world of Internet mass communication, the twisting branches of the modern grapevine are electronic pulses; the fruits are clusters of followers on social networks: blogs, Facebook, Twitter. "Likes," "shares," and "re-tweets" are the new shoots that help the grapevine thrive and spread.
Trusting the news in new media
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The panelists
Barbara Meagher, associate professor of journalism at the University of Rhode Island and former television investigative journalist, hosts a panel of five New Media writers and entrepreneurs, as well as crossovers from traditional journalism to the blogosphere, in the WSBE production JOURNALISM AND NEW MEDIA.
The program, taped before a studio audience of students in the political science and journalism programs at the University of Rhode Island, airs tonight at 8pm on WSBE Rhode Island PBS, with re-broadcasts on Friday, May 27 at 12:30am and Sunday, May 29 at 2 pm. JOURNALISM AND NEW MEDIA also airs on WSBE Learn on Sunday, May 29 at 8 pm, as well as Monday, May 30 at 3:30 am, and Tuesday, May 31 at midnight.
The discussion during the first half of the program among panelists Joshua Fenton, Froma Harrop, Dan Kennedy, Ted Nesi, and Gregory Sullivan, spans a range of topics and challenges, including the differences between new and traditional media, viability of print media, the public demand for instant and constant access to news and information, ethics and fact verification, “citizen journalism,” writing and reporting standards, and media bias.
In the second half of the program, URI students step up to the microphone to ask the panelists an array of probing questions about how new media is affecting politics and journalism.
Meet the panelists
Joshua Fenton is co-founder of the news and information Web site, GoLocalProv.com. With experience in politics, government policy, advertising, marketing, and public relations, Fenton is recognized for his special expertise in developing integrated communications. His awards for advertising and marketing excellence include a CLIO award, more than 25 Bell Ringer awards, and recognition for one of his spots on the ABC television program "America's Best Commercials."
Froma Harrop is a nationally syndicated opinion columnist and member of The Providence Journal editorial board. A Loeb Award finalist for economic commentary, Harrop was honored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. New England Associated Press News Executives Association has named her for five awards.
Dan Kennedy is an assistant professor at Northeastern University's School of Journalism, contributing writer for the Boston Phoenix, and a regular commentator on media issues on WGBH's “Beat the Press.” His blog, Media Nation, boasts the following review by the Boston Globe: "Dan Kennedy... exercises the blogger's imperative to bloviate beyond his expertise."
Ted Nesi covers politics, money, and media for wpri.com, since joining the Eyewitness News team in July 2010. Nesi started his career a reporter and columnist at The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, and was a reporter and online editor at Providence Business News. Nesi is the winner of two New England Press Association awards and was a fellow at the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting in 2009. He has also written for The Providence Journal and PBS.org.
Gregory V. Sullivan is the former corporate counsel for the New Hampshire Union Leader, an instructor at the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, and an adjunct faculty member of Suffolk University Law School where he lectures about First Amendment issues and media law.