Ross Lipschultz, a cherub from Pacific Palisades, Calif., started blogging as a school assignment, but he soon discovered that he enjoyed it as well.
“You get to say what you want,” Lipschultz said. “I just talk about things I find funny.”
Lipschultz is part of a growing community in the Internet world. “Anyone with an Internet connection can make a blog,” Lipschultz said. In April 2007, the blog search engine Technorati indexed over 75 million weblogs.
In the online age, “sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between opinion and fact,” instructor Sarahmaria Gomez said. It’s ok for people to express their opinions online, but these opinions need to be clearly labeled and not passed off as fact, she said.
Blogs are just one way that the media is changing in the 21st century. Lipschultz said he believes news will become more portable, in addition to shifting to the Internet.
Blackberrys, PalmPilots and the new iPhone already allow users to access the Internet from any location on a handheld device. In addition to shifting to the Web and new devices, the media is also moving onto newer platforms.
Instead of reading the news, people can watch it online and take less time, Lipschultz said.
For the 2008 presidential primaries, the video hosting Web site YouTube will let users interact with candidates. The candidates will see user-submitted video clips of questions and answer them on live television
During the five-week cherub program, the instructors made it clear that journalists need to be proficient in more than just print media. Newspapers will probably become obsolete, Gomez said.
Gomez encourages all journalism cherubs to participate in the program’s weekly video blog. “Video blogs are a spectacular way to express yourself,” Gomez said. “It takes almost no effort and it can be transported anywhere.”
“I’m not saying everyone will have a chip in their forehead,” Lipschultz said. “But eventually there will be a way for everyone to know what’s going on instantly.”
Whatever the future of the media holds, “those who refuse technology will be doomed,” said Gomez.
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