NAME:                      DAMELDA OLUWASEUN MOTUNRAYO

MATRIC N0:            136072014

LEVEL:                     HNDII SPTS-R

DEPT:                        MASS COMMUNICATION

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: Write a page on Online Journalism and Media Law

INTRODUCTION

Since the Second World War, most people around the world more or less got used to getting their news from newspapers, radio and television. In the last few years, there is a gradual shift in this matter as people are spending a lot of time in Internet in almost every corner of earth. As a result, print newspapers have started to suffer at least in USA and some Africa countries and to some extent in Europe. Now, there is a new trend in journalism and it is called Online Journalism. The first casualty is the printed newspaper industry and after a few years, there will be hardly any daily printed newspaper.  Online Journalism is now gaining a lot of ground and in Nigeria, news websites are still not a major threat to the newspapers and magazines but who knows within a decade when almost all of our educated people will have access to Internet, the same thing can happen.  

What is Online Journalism?

“Networked Publics,” University of Southern California, provides the following definition of Online Journalism:

Online journalism refers to news content produced and/or distributed via the Internet, particularly material created by journalists who work for mainstream market driven news organizations. While blogs and other emerging forms of online news communication are widely acknowledged as significantly influencing mainstream news content both on and offline, they are considered here a distinct phenomenon and treated under the category of alternative media.

On Online Journalism,Veteran Silicon Valley journalist, Doug Millison, says, 

The simple answer is, of course, journalism as it is practiced online.

Journalism is any non-fiction or documentary narrative that reports or analyzes facts and events firmly rooted in time (either topical or historical) which are selected and arranged by reporters, writers, and editors to tell a story from a particular point of view. Journalism has traditionally been published in print, presented on film, and broadcast on television and radio. "Online" includes many venues. Most prominent is the World Wide Web, plus commercial online information services like America Online. Simple Internet email also plays a big role. Also important are CD-ROMs (often included with a book) linked to a web site or other online venue, plus intranets and private dial-up bulletin board systems.

DEFINITION OF MEDIA LAW

Media law can be defined as laws that regulate the acclivities of the Media. In Nigeria, Media Laws are legislations made by the government in power at the Federal, State, and Local Government levels, to control or regulate the activities of the press in a part or all parts of Nigeria.  There is no country in the world where there are no media or press laws or where the press is not expected to operate within the ambit of the law. However, given the fact that freedom of the press is an essential requirement for democracy, the laws governing the press in the genuinely democratic countries are those which only seek to protect the fundamental rights of individuals and ensure the maintenance of peace and tranquility. Such laws are the laws of defamation, sedition, copyright, plagiarism, privacy, etc.