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.