Thursday, September 6, 2012

Media Convergence & Multimedia Journalism.


Media Convergence:

Media Convergence is the consolidation of two or more industries. At first, it was when traditional media, print and broadcast, began to use modern mediums (the Internet).  The two companies can share their content (content-sharing) or technology. These two forms of convergence are called cooperation and technological convergence, respectively. Another form of convergence that is more behind the scenes is cross-ownership. Cross-Ownership – according to Wilkinson, Grant and Fisher – is the ownership of different media outlets by a single company.

A gargantuan in this arena is News Corp, a media company founded by Rupert Murdoch. News Corp basically owns media outlets of every type: print, broadcast, online, and entertainment. Among its stable of print media is the "Wall Street Journal," the "New York Post," and multiple publications in other countries such as "The Australian" in Australia and the "Papua New Guinea Post-Courier." News Corps TV presence is known as Fox, which itself broadcasts sports (Fox Sports), news (Fox News) and entertainment (FX).  News Corp also owns the National Geographic channels that are on cable TV. New media outlets that are owned by News Corps include the popular entertainment website, hulu.com, a men's website (askmen.com), and many others.   (http://www.newscorp.com/index.html)
 



Multimedia Journalism:

In terms of multimedia journalisms, many media platforms fall into this category. Almost every media outlet produces content for two or more channels. In fact, the definition for multimedia journalism given in “Introduction to Convergent Journalism” by Wilkinson, Grant and Fisher is "the practice of gathering news and reporting it across multiple media."

One example of multimedia journalism is popular sport broadcasting network, ESPN. Not only does ESPN (known as the "World Wide Leader in Sports") appeal to its TV audience via multiple sports channels – ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU – it also has localized ESPN radio broadcasts (ESPN LA Radio).  ESPN also has a great Internet presence, including its main website and various other subsidiary sites. ESPN The Magazine is also another avenue the sports company distributes content. ESPN's also has a presence on the social media sites, such as constant updates on Twitter and Facebook. Multiple ESPN cell phone apps are also available to get live scores and in game stats. (http://espn.go.com/)

1 comment:

  1. Yes, News Corp. is literally a media empire. Lots of content sharing and cross-promotion among its various outlets. Like Fox News "reporting" on the the show American Idol! And certainly, ESPN reporters create multimedia content (I was looking for a particular story in your response).

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