The multimodality of media has been instrumental in the field of journalism. There were a plethora of sources of information to gather from regarding the earthquake and subsequent tsunami and this prove crucial to journalists around the world. Benkoil claimed that he had more information and contacts during the recent incident compared to when he was on duty during the earthquake that struck Japan in 1995. (2011) How is it possible that he could retrieve more information sitting at the comfort of his home and in the office in New York without risking his life from reporting at the tragedy site as he has experienced before? He states that he got all the details of the disaster by watching various news channel on the television such as ABC, NBC, MSNBC, FOX, CNN and BBC as well as making full use of gadgets like the iPad, Blackberry and his computer, all of which could access the internet. I must highlight that social networks such as Facebook and Twitter also had important roles in supplying information with Benkoil claiming that he had friends in Japan that were constantly updating their Facebook status and Twitter timeline. Pictures below show Twitter updates during the tragedy.
Source: http://blog.hercatwalk.com/
Source : www.socialnomics.net
Today, journalists around the world can consider themselves lucky with the superabundance of information at their disposal. Ahearn (2009) asserts that the advancement of technology has seen a world that opens up the newsroom and news retrieving process to enable the highest quality and valuable content to transmit better from creators to publishers. Wimmer (2000) argues that the Internet is not an obstruction to the accessibility issues between journalism producers and journalism consumers, but it allows more opportunity for feedback and exchange.
References:
Ahearn, C 2009, 'How Will Journalism Survive The Internet Age,' The Reuters 11 December, viewed 13 June 2011, <http://blogs.reuters.com/from-reuterscom/2009/12/11/how-will-journalism-survive-the-internet-age/>
Benkoil, D 2011, 'How social media, internet changed the experience of Japan disaster,' PBS.org, viewed 13 June 2011, http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/03/how-social-media-internet-changed-experience-of-japan-disaster-074.html.
Wimmer, T 2000, The Changing Role of Journalism in the Internet Era, viewed 13 June 2011, <http://www.ia.wvu.edu/~magazine/issues/fall2000/htmlfiles/expressions.html>
Ahearn, C 2009, 'How Will Journalism Survive The Internet Age,' The Reuters 11 December, viewed 13 June 2011, <http://blogs.reuters.com/from-reuterscom/2009/12/11/how-will-journalism-survive-the-internet-age/>
Benkoil, D 2011, 'How social media, internet changed the experience of Japan disaster,' PBS.org, viewed 13 June 2011, http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/03/how-social-media-internet-changed-experience-of-japan-disaster-074.html.
Wimmer, T 2000, The Changing Role of Journalism in the Internet Era, viewed 13 June 2011, <http://www.ia.wvu.edu/~magazine/issues/fall2000/htmlfiles/expressions.html>
