A new book by Jim Foust, journalism, covers the basics of reporting on the Web.

Foust book is primer for online journalism

As the world of journalism has changed with the rise of the World Wide Web and the increasing immediacy of communications, so the job of preparing students in the field has changed.

Jim Foust, journalism, has stepped in to fill the need for a comprehensive text on the subject with his new book, Online Journalism: Principles and Practices of News for the Web, published in July by Holcomb Hathaway, Publishers, of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Designed for use by college and university-level journalism faculty, the book looks at how to do online journalism from the perspective of a journalist—taking the basic tasks and skills of gathering, assessing and disseminating news and applying them in a new medium.

“I’ve been teaching online journalism since 1999, but I didn’t feel there was a book that addressed the topic in the way I needed for my class,” Foust said. “There are lots of very technical ones about how to create Web pages and so on, and the ‘gee whiz’ books about all the Internet can do, and then those that deal solely with the larger, critical issues such as legal and ethical concerns. Almost everyone is teaching online journalism in their curriculum, and I thought that there were probably a lot of people out there like me who could use a book like this.”

Foust tested the book in one of his classes last year and asked students to write evaluations afterward. “Some of the students gave very thoughtful analyses, and I incorporated some of their suggestions in the final version,” he said.

Following an introduction to online journalism, its capabilities and advantages, the book provides the “nuts and bolts” of publishing on the Web, such as using HTML, posting material and supplying links to other resources. Legal and ethical issues are also dealt with. It then delves into some of the larger issues surrounding online journalism such as the medium’s role in society and its economic aspects.

A companion Web site offers additional material and links for deeper exploration by students.

Students must learn the difference between traditional forms of journalism and online publishing. Foust explains that, unlike a print paper newsroom with a managing editor and beat reporters, or a television newsroom with its organizational style, the structure of online journalism is “all over the place.”

In researching the book, he spent weeks visiting various newsrooms, from Channel 13 in Toledo, whose Web site is administered by one person, to the Washington Post, where a team of special reporters are continually updating the paper’s home page with new content, video clips, online maps and other items.

“At its best, online is such a pure form of journalism—when it works right,” Foust said. “It is instantly available without the production part getting in the way. Stories don’t happen on deadline, so online lets you update as they happen. A lot of news now starts on the Web,” he added.

But along with this responsiveness come inherent dangers, he pointed out, especially when speed becomes a factor. The pressure and ability to get information out “means there’s no single deadline but a continual deadline,” Foust said. Rushing entails risks in getting information wrong, misjudging the true newsworthiness of a story and making more of it than it warrants, he added.

“Journalists must apply the same critical and evaluative skills to information on the Internet as they would to any information, maintaining that skepticism crucial to good reporting,” he said.

Making use of reliable and relevant information already available on the Web through linking in stories is a big part of what Foust tries to teach. “I see journalists as being perfectly positioned to help make sense out of all the information that’s out there on the Web for people, including making sure to see that it comes from where it says it does.”