CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii 1What is online journalism? 1 Dot corns, dot bombs, dot rot and roll 1 Some definitions 7 What makes online journalism distinctive? 18 What has been the effect of all this on journalism so far? 26 Further reading and references 28 2 The core journalism 29 'You cannot teach journalism' 29 The core journalistic process 30 Further reading and references 64 3 Online research and reporting 67 The impact of online on research and reporting 68 Further reading and references 98 4 Writing 102 Core writing skills 103 Story structure 109 Further reading and references 120 5Online story construction 121 Non-linear storytelling 121 Writing for online 128 Leverage those strengths 131 Further reading and references 149 6 Who's afraid of HTML? 150 HTML - random definitions 150 HTML - some urban myths151 What does a tag look like? 152 Exercises 154 Further reading and references 163 7 Design your web resource 164 Conflicting views and common ground 164 Language problems168 Is online the right medium for my message? 173 Who am I trying to communicate with? 174 Define the mission and goals for your site 180 Consider and organize your potential content 185 Putting the content sections into a structure 188 Page inventories 192 Give users the tools to find their way around the sections193 Present the whole package effectively 196 Interface and usability 206 Further reading and references 207 Index 209