Explore The New World

In this reading, I am interested in the issue called “free press”. According to a report in 2005 from an organisation Freedom House, “of 194 countries in the world, 75 enjoy ‘free press’; in 50 countries, the press is ‘partly free’; in 69 countries, there is ‘no free press’”. There are many articles about the free press in China. “China does not now have a free press, except in zones whre something resembling it is allowed by the authorities to go on” (Jay R., ‘Barons to Bloggers’, p.22).

I come from a country where maybe be considered as one of the countries ‘partly free’ or ‘no free press’. When I read this debate, I have asked myself: What is free press? When I studied Journalism at the university in Vietnam, I knew that the press is a tool of the government and is controlled by government. One of hot topics in Vietnamese press recently is the PMU 18 scandal. The PMU 18 scandal is a multi-million dollar political corruption scandal that involved accusations of embezzlement, bribery, nepotism, and gambling at the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport at the beginning of 2006. The scandal is notable in that the press was allowed to report on the issue in great depth. However, in mid-2007, police questioned dozens of journalists who covered the case for the sources of certain published information. In May 2008, two reporters were arrested for “abuse of power for personal gain” while reporting about the scandal. In addition, several senior police officers involved with the case, including the major general in charge, were indicted for revealing certain

information about the case to the press. The arrests unleashed a torrent of protests from journalists and bloggers in Vietnam. However, several days later, the newspapers were silent on the topic, and newspapers that continued to report it reportedly received warnings from the authorities.

The beginning of 21st century has witnessed blog explosion in my country. Lots of journalists have used their blogs to present varied opinions.

So “each nation its own press has always been true”. Beside the political aspects, the press in my country have their own interesting things. The readers can find many story about young people around their study and their life. Also, there are many features about good examples in the youths and lead to the movements that have affected our community. The topic about young world is always the hot issue that I rarely find out in Western press.

“Convergent journalism brings together all media types (essentially print, online, broadcast and mobile), ideally to better deliver the news by relying on the strengths of each medium and sharing and reworking content.” – Geoff LoCicero

This subject will explore the following areas of practice associated with the emergence of online and new media journalism production. The social responsibilities and ethical frameworks for new media journalists, repurposing material across different media forms, intellectual property, privacy and new media, online newsroom management, contemporary news interfaces, including streaming audio, video and Flash.