Editors' code of practice: HTML editing exercise

This is the newspaper and periodical industry’s Code of Practice. It is framed and revised by the Editors’ Code Committee made up of independent editors of national, regional and local newspapers and magazines. The Press Complaints Commission, which has a majority of lay members, is charged with enforcing the Code, using it to adjudicate complaints. It was ratified by the PCC on the 1 August 2007. Clauses marked* are covered by exceptions relating to the public interest.

The Code

All members of the press have a duty to maintain the highest professional standards. The Code, which includes this preamble and the public interest exceptions below, sets the benchmark for those ethical standards, protecting both the rights of the individual and the public's right to know. It is the cornerstone of the system of self regulation to which the industry has made a binding commitment...read more

Quoted from source

Reviewing the Reviewers: Video Tutorials

Video tutorials can be an easy and quick way for online journalists to gain new skills; we viewed and reviewed several great and not so great guides to pod casting, blogging and html.

The only blogging tutorial we reviewed was most vividly described on Katriona Lewis’ blog as “laboured heaving nasal slur” that “pushes the boundaries of the ‘Dummies guide’”. Benedicte Nylund was less critical, calling it “perfect for people that do not have a lot of experience on playing around on the web” while also considering it “very basic”.

The two HTML tutorials (1, 2) we looked at do not receive much acclaim either. While Luca Saviozzi seemed relatively positive and discretely indicated that “the narration is a bit clumsy and it doesn’t seem to follow a prepared structure” most reviewers were less subtle in making their point. Daniel Triplow - who wrote an exceptionally well presented review of the second HTML tutorial - was very to-the-point with his criticism and advises enthusiasts to visit a better one.

Podcasting was also represented in two tutorials; one for Mac users and one for PC users. Most reviewers were generally positive about the video about Podcasting with iTunes. Ceci Anesi's blog gives a clear, balanced view on its contents.

Sam Park best explained the PC video, which demonstrates how to distribute large amounts of images through Podcasts. Sarah Dean, who also wrote a Mac review, recommends another tutorial for Microsoft users.

Does anybody really need a tutorial for this?

Though delivering what it promises, Blogger Tutorial - How to Start Blogging with Blogger seems to have been made only for the most severely intellectually challenged among us.

The video starts with step by step instructions on how to create an account and is followed by a basic posting demonstration, which is self explanatory anyway.

Problems like the slow upload speed and programming glitches most blogger users face are mentioned, though solutions are never discussed.

With mistakes and delays throughout, the video seems to have been a one take effort with no editing at all.

Despite all its disadvantages, the tutorial does what is promises, it shows its audience how to get started on blogger.

How reliable is the internet?

Over the past decade or so, the internet has become one of the worlds biggest sources of news. Now potentially anyone has the ability to publish up to date information and this has had a major influence on the way people follow world events. However this does raises concerns over the reliabilty of web sourced information.

The first issue when questioning the reliability of the internet is that anybody can publish anything. This makes it easy to misinform large numbers of readers or create inaccurate or opinionated content. Though this is true, ‘old’ media have always had even more power in doing the same thing. Mainstream traditional media, whether print, television or radio, still have the ability of reaching huge audiences and influencing their opinions. Moreover while many new media outlets are still maturing, their non-digital competitors have usually already found a trusting (or at least agreeing) audience.

The virtually infinite size of cyberspace contributes greatly to the audience’s choice of sources. Anybody can find an outlet of information that they will understand, find interest in, and trust to be accurate and unbiased enough to satisfy their needs. Where old media audiences are often limited to a small range (or often even a single) outlet for all their news, the internet allows its users to visit different sources for different kinds of news.

As mainstream new media outlets gain popularity, they are pressured into providing reliable information and become similar to traditional news sources. At the same time more controversial and openly opinionated outlets also gain more attention through internet publication, and the variety of opinions and views available to the public becomes greater.

One problem that arises with new media is the randomness of sites people may be referred to for some types of information. People may Google a specific topic and choose whatever shows up first as their source of information. This method of finding information is often extremely unreliable yet used by millions of people.

It is likely that as the internet develops further and reputable websites start to settle and find their market, new media will eventually become very similar to traditional media in both reliability and accessibility. The most visited websites are currently still search engines, as the internet grows as a part of society, people will stop searching for information and start knowing where to find what they want. The more this happens, the more new media will become able to truly excel over its traditional rival when it comes to truthfulness, reliability and objectivity.