Web Sites That Dig for News Rise as Watchdogs

I think there will be a lot of controversy in the future on investigative journalism. People have access to creating journalistic web sites and including any type of information that they want to appear for users to read. Many people rely on the media and/or print for information about what is going on around the world because they believe the information is reliable, accurate, and credible. However, if anyone starts creating a site to inform the public, problems may arise about how that information is even included on the web site. In order for investigative journalism to thrive in the future, reporters must analyze documents, research the social and legal issues, and deeply investigate a topic of interest.

Also, a lot of the online news web sites may not accurately report on an issue because of its sponsors. For example, VoiceofSan Diego is a "nonprofit corporation supported by foundations, wealthy donors, audience contributions and a little advertising." This web site receives its funding by sponsors, and this can sometimes influence how much investigation is done by the reporter.

False information to the public will hinder the credibility of any online news source. Thus, the reporter needs to interview and conduct research for supporting information.

However, I also believe that the independent news web sites have more 'freedom' on the type of information that they report because it does not have to compete in the market in order to receive funding. The only problem, as mentioned earlier, is conducting investigations on topics of interest.

I think that the values and principles of traditional broadcasting and print media will show that these are here to stay, especially because of a lot of convergence of broadcast videos and articles on the web.

I am surprised to know that there are sites that can do journalism very cheaply, such as The New Haven Independent, and this can be very helpful during this economic crisis. However, investigative journalism is extremely important because I want to rely on accurate, newsworthy articles. If investigative journalism is not taken seriously, people will lose trust in the media, as it is already happening with some news sources.