Introduction to the Textbook

Newspapers are ancient instruments. It is easy for people, especially Americans of college age, to dismiss them because of their longevity. Much like the reaction to the traditional religions, there are many loud voices saying newspapers have outlived their usefulness and must atone for their sins.

But let us turn that perspective upside down for a moment. Why do some institutions last hundreds of years? Is it in part because they answer a deep, wide and constant need of the human spirit? One needn't be a cultural anthropologist to know the answer.

Newspapers can be traced to at least Roman times, when Acta Diurna ("Daily Acts") circulated in the Forum. It was the massive technological breakthrough of movable type in 1455 that truly gave newspapers a chance to live and become the force we know. Finally, with the vision and persistence of visionaries such as William Gordon Bennett and his one-penny New York Herald, the mass media truly emerged more than 150 years ago. The potent mix of technology and capitalism created a need for news and information that continues to grow in importance to this day.

The technological advances of the Industrial Age had a huge effect on communications in general and journalism in particular. Power presses, the telegraph, photography, radio and television have truly transformed the world. Mass media have been likened to the central nervous system of economies, governments and cultures.

Now an entirely new nervous system is under construction, the metaphor more electrical than ever, axons and dendrites being replaced with servers and modems. The content is both traditional and new, combining the ancient need of telling stories reliably and well with the modern ability to tell them with flash, flexibility and instant universal access.

This new medium also has the capacity for permanent storage - and instant universal retrieval. That means what you write today may be instantly read almost anywhere worldwide and used many, many years from now.

That alone should give journalists added pause to be sure what they are producing is of a very high standard indeed.

The potential consequences of this new medium are so great few have had a chance to study the possibilities-and dangers-it may bring.

The future of journalism was the subject of a wide-ranging issue of the Media Studies Journal, published by the Media Studies Center of the Freedom Forum in 1999. Scholars and practitioners from many media looked ahead at their own areas, but one thing emerged uniting all: "There is no getting around the fact that if one trend that defines the future of all media," the editors wrote, "it is their interaction with the computer and the Internet."

There is also certainty in knowing the lessons learned from centuries of evolving journalism must not be forgotten in the rush to master the technology, nor be ignored by those anticipating great wealth in the news and information industries.

It can all be so daunting. Browsing through a computer magazine, or listening to a salesperson droning on about RAM and bauds and pixels is enough to send many people back to TV-or even the newspaper.

This will not last. The change is here and will take place whether news people participate or not. If real journalists are not able to bring discipline and professionalism to the new news channels, there may come a time when even Matt Drudge would be remembered as relatively reliable.

Many promises are made to demystify going online and actually creating multimedia. This set of materials will keep theirs: explaining, as good storytellers must, in understandable terms what could easily be confusing. There are technical terms and (too much) jargon that comes with any discussion of computers and software and cyberspace. Although some of this is obfuscation, many of the terms have become required shorthand that comes with any discipline. The textbook has a comprehensive glossary at the back for whenever you hit a word or phrase that raises a question.

Those words in the textbook will often be in boldface, highlighted like some hyperlinks on the World Wide Web. It's easy to present some vital information about a Web server, for example, but not everyone knows what a Web server is. The glossary explains in ways you will be able to clearly understand.

By the same token, nothing is taken for granted about the reader's knowledge of the field of journalism-print or broadcast. Such terms as multiple sourcing or B-Roll are also in the glossary.

As with a strong epoxy or alloy, here is a mix of journalism with the latest communications technology-a mix that will create a bond enormously powerful and flexible. It will be one that will not only make the important work of journalism available to many, but will bring the power of reliable, interesting news and information to millions seeking power over their own lives.