Media Convergence and Multimedia Journalism

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Media Convergence:

This convergence is a larger aspect than that of Multimedia. Media convergence is a theological definition of a rapidly growing phenomenon. This is being considered new journalism. Basically, it just means that overall, each outlet of news is merged into one. Television news can be produced in a radio segment, then into a slide show, etc. Industries are starting to converge as well. MSNBC can host stories for many other news outlets to branch off of. Saving the smaller companies time, money, and staff.

An example of Media Convergence is my story of NPR. Just today the California court of appeals ruled Prop.8 to be unconstitutional. I first heard of this story on the radio while driving to school. When I got to school I went to straight online to: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/02/07/146526143/prop-8 .

Here I read a more in-depth explanation of the appeal. While becoming informed, I also could view the actual court document, which was uploaded to the article’s page. In addition to the ruling, there were comment and multimedia share buttons. I then posted the article to facebook to allow my friends to see the news. Within minuets I was able to hear a story, read an article to learn more about the subject, and share my experience. Overall, Media convergence is the theory to communicate and compute content.

Multimedia Journalism:

Multimedia convergence basically help illustrate a story better for its reader. Here, one can follow a story with a picture, or map. Sometimes even a video. The reader can also interact with other readers through polls, chat rooms, and comment boxes. There is also share buttons to connect the story to social media sites. Sharing these sites then allows other to be more informed and better acquainted to news topics.

Media Convergence also allows a story to be better told through different media. For example one of my favorite sites is NPR’s music. Recently I came across this page: http://www.npr.org/2012/02/06/146362608/songs-to-spin-to-from-a-fitness-guru. Here we have an interview that is actually interesting. Short and sweet, yet it has graphics and something people can relate to. Music can be really motivating, especially when it comes to exercise. Within this story we are also given a music selection. Here we can download it for future use, share it, or just listen to it now.