The future is virtual

Updated on: Saturday, December 26, 2009

Kolkata: ICFAI University, Tripura organised a Media Workshop on ‘Future of Journalism in Internet Age’ on December 23.

The speaker was Soumyajit Mahapatra, chief public relation officer, Calcutta Telephones and Secretary, Public Relation Society of India. This workshop aimed at highlighting the opportunities in cyber journalism in the near future.

Soumyajit said, “Cyber journalism has archival value. Internet is a pocket sized Media Empire. Internet is our society. It is barrier breaking and results in the victory of information. In print journalism there is a lot of paraphernalia but internet journalism breaks the layers.”

Internet has become the platform for political discourse. The uproar against Tharoor for his posts on Twitter give testimony to people’s affinity to social networking sites. Facebook at present has 350 million users.

“Internet has become an inseparable part of our lives. I can stay without a pen but not without the blackberry or my laptop,” shared Soumyajit.

Online versions of Indian newspapers are read by people in 62 countries.

According to Mahapatra, in internet journalism the most sought out area is crime for the age-group between 18-49 years. And above this age it is health related news. The most neglected fields are art and culture. A lot of readers away from home read Indian newspapers online to fight homesickness.

In contrast to print journalism, Mahapatra felt that packaging did not pose as a problem in internet journalism. Space is saved as knowledge links can be provided for already available information.

Industry forecasts, he said, have predicted that by 2015 more advertisement money will be spent on internet journalism as compared to print journalism. A combination of text, audio and video makes internet journalism a complete package. These options are also available in electronic journalism, but far more expensive.

The disadvantages of excessive internet use that were pointed out were dry eyes and excessive addiction which can lead to health hazards. Copying and lifting information is an issue which needs to be dealt with. Quality of information and reliability are of grave importance.

Subhaprasad Bhattacharya, executive media relations, ICFAI Flexi Education, said, “Our purpose for organising this interactive session is to inform young journalists about internet journalism opportunities.”

The future is virtual

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