National Public Radio is a prime example of the sucess of podcasting  has brought online broadcast media.  It was the first mainstream media organisation to enter podcasting and has had several hits on iTunes. It offers  its audience a chance to mix their own podcasts and download a programmes from over fifty Public Radio Stations.

Ira Glass,  a broadcaster on th NPR show  ‘This American Life’ said in an interview that; podcasting is responsible for bringing  an extra half a million listeners to his talk show and decreasing  the average age of his listenership. This American Life – Ira Glass

National Public Radio offers a step by step guide on how to listen to podcasts and how to counteract any  problems that may occur.  NPR has created a feedback system where listeners can comment, suggest or seek  help.

According to Podcasting News traffic on NPR’s website grew 78% from 2007 to 2008. The success of this service displays that there is  a wide market for podcasts and people who wish to ingest media  in their own time.

SKY News has included three features in its online service which support the development of citizen journalism. SKY News encourages its followers to upload their videos, photographs and to set up their own blog.  Each respective aspect has its own page on SKY’s news site.  SKY News broadcast  many viewers videos on their website. If content is news worthy it may be covered in their television news service.  Videos from citizens  from events such as the London train bombings were shown on SKY News television bulletin.

An Interesting case has been highlighted recently where Fine Gael have been accused of plagarising the BBC News website.  There seems to be truth in the accusation as Fine Gael stated in creating their homepage they were ‘inspired’ by the BBC. This case was brought to light by a blogger and it was published on page 2 of the Sunday Tribune, April 19. ‘Steph’  received recognition in the piece and her blog address was also stated in the article.

    Spot the difference!

The BBC’s online News Service offers a very personalised news account as it allows the reader to ignore and edit which news they would like to read. The reader can chose their news in order of preference and in 32 different languages. They place equal focus on their print, visual and broadcast services.

There are similarities between the online service of SKY News, CNN and the BBC.  SKY News and CNN also offer a personalised service, however the news focus between the three services are very different. The service offered by the BBC does not emphasise sensationalism in any ways in contrast to the other two. The lack of advertising on the news site also gives to the personalised service which the BBC has created, their only form of advertisment being a link to the Lonely Planet Travel Guide!

It is interesting that the levels of interactivity encouraged by mainstream Irish Newspapers online is very low compared to our British counterparts. Below are examples of interactivity with  some of the best regarded newspapers in both nations.

An online crossword is about as interactive as the online edition of The Irish Independent gets! The Irish Times uses their daily poll as their main form of interactivity with their Readers. The poll usually concerns the main daily story, readers are given a chance to express their opinion on the subject in question.

After a 150 years of production Colorado’s oldest Newspaper The Rocky Mountain News ceased production on the 26 February this year due to irretrievable losses in advertising revenues and sales. Some accepted the loss as fate others lamented. What the former journalists of the Newspaper done next highlighted the transition of print media to online journalism.

On the 16 March several reporters from the Newspaper decided to create an online local Newspaper. It needed 50,000 subscriptions before April 23 in order to begin, the Reporters achieved their goal the website reached 50,000 subscribers. The former journalists of the Rocky Mountain News used all possible forms of digital media to fight for their cause from youtube videos to the website iwantmyrocky.com.

In the aftermath of the Jason Blair plagiariasm scandal The New York Times launched a feature Talk to the News  due toto the integrity and confidence of the people in the Newspaper. It gives readers the chance to ask questions of the staff, the answers of which are published on the NY Times webpage, some ranging in topic to the political affiliations of journalists.

The Guardian has also made great strides in this respect in employing a readers editor Siobhain Butterworth. She is responsible for answering readers queries. Butterworth publishes a daily colum on corrections and clarifications. She also publishes a weekly colum on reader questions and views.  The reader editor’s homepage also contains links to the Guardian’s style guide and editorial code.

It is interesting that bloggers who purchase their own domain use their blog as an advertisement feature of their own work. David McWilliams has created his own domain www.davidmcwilliams.ie which offers the sale of his books and DVDs. One must ask is objectivity scorned when personal gain is put before the audiences need-to-know.

Journalists such George Hook do not have their own domain but use common blog sites such as WordPress. Hook has a blog entitled ‘the right hook‘. He has blogged on many reviews of new technology such as the rechargeable car and the new Samsung phone. He has been fairly generous in his assessments, one must ask are there ulterior motive behind some of Hooks blogging.

Over the past few years there has been an unpreceedented rise in the websites available on line which give bloggers an option to get paid for writing positive reports on business produce.Websites such as www.payperpost.com and www.SponsoredReviews.com offers services where bloggers can get paid anything from $5 to $500 per post.

www.sponsoredreviews.com offers a service where business can purchase contextual links from bloggers. Bloggers are encouraged to create a profile to attract advertisers, reviews must be written in terms set forth by the advertiser. The website boasts that bloggers can earn from hundreds to a thousand dollars per month blogging.

Have RSS feeds become a feature to bring respect back to the stage that is online journalism. Each mainstream news source boasts of RSS feeds on their website covering each aspect of the news. With these feeds being published in all types of blogs, the news source receives a direct link to their website. In accepting this feature has news sources accepted that they must play second fiddle in the blogosphere?

Breaking news offers a service where one can link RSS feeds from their own website to Twitter, Facebook and Bebo. It also displays the RSS link on their main webpage. RTÉ also offers an RSS service which is advertised in a less sensational manner than that of breakingnews. SKY news offers a detailed instruction on how to insert RSS feeds as well as its more specialised feeds.