TDP As the Party of Hope For AP Youth Under N Chandrababu Naidu’s Leadership
Indispensable2
1. BecomingBecoming
Indispensable?Indispensable?
55thth
International SymposiumInternational Symposium
on Online Journalismon Online Journalism
University of TexasUniversity of Texas, Austin, Austin
Steve Klein, Coordinator of the Electronic Journalism ProgramSteve Klein, Coordinator of the Electronic Journalism Program
George Mason UniversityGeorge Mason University
With Nam Thai, Instructional Research CenterWith Nam Thai, Instructional Research Center
April 16-17, 2004April 16-17, 2004
4. BecomingBecoming
Indispensable?Indispensable?
When I walk around theWhen I walk around the
George MasonGeorge Mason
University campus inUniversity campus in
Fairfax, Va.,Fairfax, Va., everybodyeverybody
has one of these.has one of these.
In fact, instructors have toIn fact, instructors have to
state in our syllabi thatstate in our syllabi that
cell phones must becell phones must be
turned off during class!turned off during class!
7. BecomingBecoming
Indispensable?Indispensable?
So …
Has online news become indispensable?
Despite my 1995 dreams, not quite yet.
Not until it becomes truly ubiquitous.
Not until it becomes so easy to access and
use that it becomes transparent … a little
like this scene from “Minority Report.”
12. BecomingBecoming
Indispensable?Indispensable?
Most of them knowMost of them know
whatwhat Jon StewartJon Stewart
laughed about lastlaughed about last
night on “The Dailynight on “The Daily
Show” on ComedyShow” on Comedy
Central.Central.
13. BecomingBecoming
Indispensable?Indispensable?
Young people are the hardest to reachYoung people are the hardest to reach
segment of the political news audiencesegment of the political news audience
(according to the Pew Research Center for(according to the Pew Research Center for
the People & the Press).the People & the Press).
14. BecomingBecoming
Indispensable?Indispensable?
Today, 21 percent of young Americans underToday, 21 percent of young Americans under
age 30 regularly learn about the presidentialage 30 regularly learn about the presidential
campaign and the candidates from comedycampaign and the candidates from comedy
shows like “The Daily Show” or “Saturdayshows like “The Daily Show” or “Saturday
Night Live” and comedians like DavidNight Live” and comedians like David
Letterman and Jay Leno –Letterman and Jay Leno – twice as manytwice as many
as could say this four years ago.as could say this four years ago.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/ThisWeek/Politics/thttp://abcnews.go.com/sections/ThisWeek/Politics/t
15. BecomingBecoming
Indispensable?Indispensable?
One out of every two young people say theyOne out of every two young people say they
sometimes learn about the campaign fromsometimes learn about the campaign from
comedy shows – twice the rate amongcomedy shows – twice the rate among
Americans age 30-49 (27 percent) and fourAmericans age 30-49 (27 percent) and four
times the rate among people age 50 andtimes the rate among people age 50 and
older (12 percent).older (12 percent).
16. BecomingBecoming
Indispensable?Indispensable?
For these young people, the content of theFor these young people, the content of the
jokes, sketches and guest appearances onjokes, sketches and guest appearances on
these programs is not a repeat of oldthese programs is not a repeat of old
information.information.
Nearly half say that what they learn isNearly half say that what they learn is
something new – something they had notsomething new – something they had not
known previously.known previously.
17. Thanks for your (continued?) attention.Thanks for your (continued?) attention.
Editor's Notes
I want to thank Nam Thai of the GMU Instructional Research Center for his help with the video portion of this presentation.
Indispensable is one of those words that doesn’t leave very much to the imagination.
When I first moved from a quarter century of print experience to online journalism as sports editor of USA TODAY Online in 1995, we had every intention of creating an indispensable medium – a medium that might someday replace newspapers.
But in the nine years since, I have seen other forms media become more indispensable.
Many, if not most, of us in this room probably do find 24/7 news sources like MSNBC.com or CNN.com or USATODAY.com or WashingtonPost.com indispensable. And with the ability to access some of their content on our PDAs, it may already fulfill the definition.
SHOW CLIP FROM “MINORITY REPORT.”
I’d suggest that last time a medium became truly indispensable was 1963 during the Kennedy assassination.
PLAY CLIPS FROM “JFK: BREAKING THE NEWS.”
This is an MTV generation. When my students want to watch the news, they still turn to TV, but not to Dan Rather or Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings. These students find that the news goes down much easier with a laugh.
When it comes to the news, my students relate to popular culture, not news culture.
WATCH “DENNIS MILLER” CLIP.
WATCH JON STEWART CLIP.
AND this suggest the question: What are we doing about it (to attract them) online?
Even George Stephanopoulos seems to recognize this with clips for these shows every Sunday morning on “This Week” with the “Funnies.”
