How do you know if you have done a good job in journalism?
Well, you can always evaluate yourself but it seems to me that it will be more
objective to let other people judge your works.
In terms of online journalism, there is Online News Association that gives awards in
30 categories to online news outlet (from small to large sites) every year.
Last year, they announced
30 outlets in 27 categories.
Al Jazeera
won the breaking news, large site award for their coverage on uprising in
Egypt.
Looking at the site, I kind of understand why they won. For
almost all issue in the Middle East, there will always be in-depth article,
video, and blog that shows journalistic values in the site. They also schedule
real-time reporting on Syria, for example, which indicates the timelines of the
news. When the world is looking for information on Middle East, Al Jazeera is
at the right place. They understand the field better than other news outlet.
As for the coverage on uprising in Egypt, users are
presented with a one-minute-forty-second video on occupy of Tahrir Square and
the trial of Hosni Mubarak, former president of Egypt. Not only that, the video
also shows how people react on the verdict. What makes it more breaking news is the live blog Egypt,
which is updated almost every two hours or so.
Timeliness is playing a key role in the news, especially for
online (and breaking) news. So, if you decide to walk on the path, at least you know what it
takes to be a good one.
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