Media Convergence and Multimedia Journalism: Brianne Schaer

Media convergence is when different types of media come together to better provide information. In Quinn and Filak's Convergent journalism: An introduction, convergent journalism is described as a tactic to better reflect and address the culture of a particular audience. Media convergence allows a particular publication to reach a more diverse audience by partnering with other publications that may have more knowledge of a particular subject, more resources, or a wider viewership. An example of a news source that practices media convergence is the Huffington Post, which frequently links to and hosts content from a variety of other sources. Even the Daily 49er has been linked to by the Huffington post on various occasions. This use of linking to other news outlets both in a particular story or just listing news partners on a website is an invaluable tool to gain readers from other sources or to better provide information to current readers. In an age where people expect to be able to consume information at a rapid speed, a news source must be able to not only generate exclusive content but also direct people to content from other sources.



Multimedia journalism is the use of different platforms to tell a story. Rathe than just writing a story, a practitioner of multimedia journalism would also take pictures, shoot video and provide other interactive content, such as maps and charts. Eric Newton describes the importance of multimedia journalism in, "How digital tools improve newspapers." He says, "Digital tools make print reporters a hundred times more readable and relevant than they were in the last century." He supports his argument throughout the article, saying that digital tools are more widely available now, since a reporter can use his or her cell phone to add more depth to a story but recording video and voice, or by taking pictures. An example of multimedia journalism is NPR. NPR provides its audience with written stories, voice recordings, video and numerous other multimedia platforms to tell a complete story and provide as much information for as wide an audience as possible.