Readers' Poll
Add a Link
Message Board
Call for Papers
Advertising
Latest Issue
Editors
To Submit
The CiteSite
To Subscribe
Notices
Index to JCMC

     JCMC is requesting submissions for a special issue on "Online Journalism". Significant changes are taking place in the most prestigious newspapers and magazines around the world as well as in smaller community papers and magazines as they embrace various forms of online publishing. Whether this is manifested in a sophisticated home page, a replication of the print product or a completely unique online publication, there are numerous organizational, professional, philosophical and pragmatic issues associated with the electronic revolution. As many companies shift from daily or weekly publication schedules to a broadcast model of almost immediate news delivery, struggle with the cost of new media organizations coupled with low advertising rates, and endeavor to develop easy-to-use computer interfaces and easy-to-find web sites, the challenges and opportunities are many and the available research to guide either practical inquiries or to assess the societal and cultural implications is extremely limited.

     This special issue is particularly interested in scholarly research that investigates topics such as changes in the delivery and construction of stories, the potential shift in journalists' identity, the reader's interaction with the publication, organizational changes in media corporations or in start-up companies (both structural and personnel changes), company-specific approaches to capture reader interest, international differences in online strategies, the business models for online publishing, the impact of large commercial ventures on smaller web sites and lower budget publications, and the role of new technology development in shaping online publications. These topics are, of course, offered as examples of studies that would be appropriate and are not intended to be a definitive list of potential research issues.

     The conversation about online journalism should be informed and expanded by a variety of scholarly approaches that can contribute to theoretical, pragmatic and philosophical concerns. Essays and research from quantitative and qualitative methodologies are welcome as well as papers from critical, post-structural and post-modern perspectives.

    Submissions should be sent to either of the Co-Editors of the special issue, Caroline Cline (ccline@usc.edu) or Patricia Riley (priley@usc.edu) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California, no later than December 15, 1997. Submissions should be in ascii, HTML, or Microsoft Word format.