App Attack

In the world of smart phones, iPhones, iPads, tablets, and whatever else is released before I press "publish" on this post, there are new apps invented by the minute.

It is now quite standard for people to read the newspaper online as it has become fast, easy and accessible - but there are other apps that allow for even more freedom to access news on the go.

There is a great video by The Australian on the 'Best TV and Radio Apps' - though it is a little out of date now, published back in April 2010.

An application I've recently downloaded and love is the ABC's News App.

The ABC has a bunch of different apps (have a look here) but this free application allows the user to access a broad range of news including breaking, most popular, national, business, sport, world, indigenous and entertainment news.

The app also has the ability for users to -

• Check up-to-date weather forecasts
• Listen to ABC Radio live
• Watch ABC News 24 live
• Watch TV shows including Gardening Australia and Good Game
• Listen to radio shows from earlier in the day or week
• Program guides for all ABC channels (ABC1, ABC2, etc)
• Read movie reviews from the ABC show At The Movies
• and you can even browse and make purchases from the ABC store

It is a really user friendly app that is easy to navigate and to find exactly what you're after. I have become glued to this app as it is the perfect way to spend my bus trip or for a quick update on a lunch break. I've even taken to checking it for a quick update while waiting in line for things.

I definitely recommend this app to anyone looking to keep up to date with news on the go. While reading a newspaper on a tablet might feel cool and new-agey for a brief moment, this news app will ultimately keep any casual news reader or news junkie satisfied in the long run.

The ABC now also has an iView app for the iPad which allows users to watch programs from the ABC at their convenience. Handy! Why do we even have TVs again?

Sourcing information online

One thing I took away from my high school studies was the idea that you can NEVER find reliable information for assignments online.

Imagine my surprise when I started my university degree, only to find that the internet had become much more than a potential note on my reference list - in time I would come to rely on it.

Journalism is changing in a similar way now. A few years ago it would be a ridiculous suggestion to source your info for a story from a forum or other social, interactive platform.

As more journalists sign up to twitter it is rapidly becoming a platform for interaction, confirmation and sourcing of information.

On 23 August anchor of ABC1's 7:30 Report Leigh Sales tweeted -

"Does anyone know if #Qantas is still releasing its full year results on Aug 24? Tomorrow?"

To which another journalist John O'Doherty, a Ten News journalist, replied and 're-tweeted' -

'Yes, they are"

These tweets occurred at around 7:00pm and half an hour later Sales talked about Qantas on the 7:30 Report. Whether Sales took O'Doherty's word for it, or simply used it as a platform for further investigation it certainly shows how sourcing information for journalists is rapidly changing.

The 24/7 News Cycle

The popularity of the internet means that audiences now have a higher expectation of journalism. Rather than being content to wait for the morning's paper, audiences are now expecting stories to appear immediately online and to be updated as new information is discovered.

The BBC's deputy director and controller of production, Adrian Van Klaveren, says journalism must be "a continous operation".

"There can be no sense of starting at a particular time in the morning, no sense of stopping at a particular time in the evening. And our content's got to be available not when we say it should be there, not on the basis of a linear TV or a linear radio schedule, but on the basis of what they [users] want when they want it"

(Speech given at Online News Association National Convention, Washington DC in October 2006)

The popularity of social media, and more specifically Twitter, means that online journalism is taking this one step further to reach audiences even when they are not specifically seeking news.

This week ABC journalist Jessican Van Vonderen was reporting from the Queensland Media Club and in an effort to literally update her audiences immediately she posted updates from the conference as they were released.

 These are just an excerpt of the updates Van Vonderen posted throughout the conference. This is a testament to good online journalism - not only did the journalist manage to update audiences immediately, she did so even before reporting the story in an official manner, and before anyone else could. 

According to Foust (in Online Journalism) "because of the continuous deadline, reporters and editors are always trying to get updated information posted as soon as it is available and verified". Which is what Van Vonderen has achieved here by making use of an unconventional media channel.

Abusing the Power

Watching the news this week, seeing new reports of violence in England pop up online is making me a little scared and more than a little teary.

I've just come back to Australia after spending 6 months living in Leeds in the UK. Leeds is a small city and large borough of Yorkshire. The inner city area where I was living is largely populated by students and young people which made it a really fun place to live.

This is what is happening in Leeds this week.


Youths will be youth, but what is astounding about these events is how they have been orchestrated through social media or mobile phones. Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger have been singled out as the main tools used to organise rioters.

There is a lot of controversy here because everyone is pointing a finger, rushing to say that this is just the cherry on top of the negative influences of social media. It is true - social media does allow events to snowball and reach climactic levels that would otherwise be impossible.

But it is this same reason that will assist in things being put right again. Already there have been clean ups organised by Twitter, support groups formed on Facebook, groups urging people to identify looters and both are now being used to circulate an e-petition calling for all convicted rioters to loose all financial benefits.

We have to remember social media is a powerful tool and, as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility.

New Status

As a long time user of social media it is mere second nature to check my various profiles and news feeds when I access the internet. I never thought of how it effects the way I source and consume news until last week following the death of a world famous celebrity.

It was early morning and suffering from jet lag unable to sleep I absent mindedly checked my Facebook feed to pass the time. A number of people based in the UK were posting about the sudden death of Amy Winehouse which led me to Google "Amy Winehouse death" to find an online article to confirm these reports.

Later I realised how strange it was that I had been informed of an event that dominated news platforms for the next 48 hours simply from a passing status on a social networking site. Since then I have embraced the use of Twitter more enthusiastically and by following various journalists and news outlets I am almost constantly kept up to date with current events - and loving every minute of it.