Week 1: Student Response and Assignment

ThursdayMay 3 at 12:37pm

Manage Discussion Entry

Computer-Assisted Journalism (CAJ) is the use of technology to deliver perceptiveness to the stories. The computer is the innovative genius, and it helps define the information of what the journalist researched. The journalist leans more into the virtual world. To finish out a task in journalism, it takes planning. Planning is useful for the outlining of a story. The five R’s in the book is Reporting, Research, Reference, Reconnaissance, and Rendezvous. Now all the critical R’s have one thing that is prevalent, which is making sure the reports are correct and analyzed to release information (Paul & Hansen, 2007). However, not every statistic are online. There are restrictions and limitations to Computer-Assisted Reporting. Some of the boundaries are the privacy of information that cannot be released or aged paperwork that cannot refresh the database and cannot be seen by a reporter. Houston (2009) revealed, “and if it is not online, then journalists should see if there is information, particularly decades-old information, stored on CD-ROMS, or available at libraries, or commercial vendors” (p. 29). It is required to request permission to receive documents that are locked away. The request is known as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The FOIA releases private and undisclosed documents that takes almost a month to get it approved or not (FOIA. gov). Not every reporter or their aid will obtain all the information to write a story. It is essential to understand the depth of finding a story, the research, and the sources.

Tolanda

References

FOIA. gov (2018). The basic function of the Freedom of Information Act is to ensure informed citizens, vital to the functioning of a democratic society. Retrieved from https://www.foia.gov/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Houston, B. (2009). The investigative reporter’s handbook: A guide to documents, databases and techniques (5th). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin

Paul, N., & Hansen, K. (2007). Computer-Assisted research: Information strategies and tools for journalists. Columbia, MO: Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc.