Holly Edgell, Executive Producer at KOMU 8

Kendra Cook: How do you define online journalism?

HE: To me online journalism is journalistic content produced by legitimate journalistic outlets. When I say legitimate, I mean an outlet that follows recognized, basic journalistic ethics (e.g. Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics) and employs some or all of the many forms of journalistic storytelling. True online journalism strives for accuracy and to provide readers/viewers/users with a full picture of a given topic/issue/event; may include reasoned and clearly labeled opinion pieces; and provides a forum from feedback and interaction with the audience. Online journalism might be one woman reporting on health care in a blog format or a national web-based magazine. The key word is JOURNALISM, whatever the platform may be.

KC: When and why did you become involved in online journalism? What involvement, if any, do you have in online journalism?

HE: I became involved in online journalism over the past four years or so both for my job at KOMU-TV and also outside of work. First, I became a blogger for the Society of Professional Journalists Diversity Blog "Who's News" ( http://blogs.spjnetwork.org/diversity/?p=5) As executive producer at KOMU-TV, I trained myself to post (after rewriting from broadcast style) stories on our web site using Avid Content Manager. About two years ago I oversaw the development of a section on our web site with Spanish language news content . Now, in addition to continuing to contribute to the "Who's News" blog, I blog as SPJ's Region 7 director on "The Heartland Beat"  I also dabble in freelancing. I did a "Q and A" style interview of Russ Mitchell (CBS News) for journalismnow.com. Recently I wrote three in-depth articles for a start-up online magazine based in Toronto, but that magazine has been slow to get off the ground.

KC: Do you see an online journalist differently from a blogger?

HE: It depends. I think there are people who use blogs more or less as personal diaries or journals. A blogger of this kind is not a journalist. A blogger who uses the blog format to report the news in a journalistic way? I would say that person is practicing journalism. There are hybrids out there, too. That's harder to differentiate.

KC: The Society of Professional Journalists has a Code of Ethics that says journalists should be accountable for unethical practices, objectivity, mistakes in reporting, etc. Does this describe online journalism?

HE: It can. It depends on the intentions and practices of the particular online journalist or outlet.

KC: What do you believe are gender differences, if any, in online journalism?

HE: I don't have any concrete statistics on this. My sense is there are more men than women, but not by that much.

KC: What do you see as the overall future for journalism?

HE: I see the various platforms continuing to evolve, growing more web-oriented. I do not believe that news on radio, television and magazines will disappear anytime soon. Newspapers may disappear in their paper form, but not overnight. I think savvy media managers will find the best ways to take the strengths of traditional platforms and maximize them, while building on the online foundation we already have. Journalists will always have jobs if they can adapt to changing technology, make sure they are versatile and not locked into one particular medium, and are in touch with their audiences - especially in terms of relevant content and providing forums for feedback and interactivity.

Interviewee: Holly Edgell
Holly Edgell is currently the executive producer at KOMU 8 in Missouri. She is also an assistant professor of journalism at The University of Missouri. Edgell first began working in journalism in 1991, hired as the news director at Great Belize Television in Belize, Central America. Later on, she took a two-year detour into public relations before she would enter graduate school in the mid 1990’s. After graduate school in journalism and mass communication at Kent State University in Kent, OH, she moved onto her first job as a newscast producer at NBC affiliate in Youngstown, OH known as WFMJ-TV. She has also worked as a producer in Pittsburgh at WTAE-TV (ABC). From September 1998 to August 2001, Edgell switched to special project producing in Cleveland at WOIO-TV (CBS) and eventually in Detroit at WDIV-TV (NBC). In 2001, her teaching career began at Florida A&M University as an assistant professor of journalism. Then, she was hired by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 2006. Edgell specializes in producing (newscast and special projects/segment/field), teaching and training, newsroom management, and writing for broadcast, web, and print.


Interviewed by Kendra Cook
Kendra Cook is from Waterloo, IA and is currently a junior at The University of Iowa. Cook plans on graduating in May of 2011 with a major in Communication Studies, and minors in both English and Mass Communication. Cook also plans to have completed Career Leadership Academy by 2011. In addition to education, she is employed at Systems Unlimited, taking care of individuals in their homes who have disabilities. This OurBlook chapter online is her first publication.