Emails and journalism,(academic), by gustavo arnizaut

1

INTRODUCTION TO THESIS

Some of the interviews gathered world-wide in order to compose the articles about the Digital Divide were made possible by the existence of email. While conducting the project based in London, emails helped me manoeuvre through budget constraints and surpass the distance between different sources, in order to have a broader coverage of the issues.

Gathering opinions in different countries could have been extremely expensive, had I relied exclusively on the medium on the telephone, so I used emails as one of the best tools available to reach specialists around the world in order to discuss the Digital Divide.

However, there are problems innate to email communication that can seriously affect reporting if a journalist trusts in it blindly for newsgathering. Emails can be considered very handy, a step forward in communication, but they can still inhibit some of the best journalistic practices.

The following dissertation discusses the use of this electronic message system in journalism taking into account my personal experience while reporting about the Digital Divide in these past months. I hope it will prove to be useful.

Gustavo Arnizaut

“EMAILS and JOURNALISM- another tool for newsgathering�

2

1- INTRODUCTION More than ever, communication has been influencing our society in various activities ranging from interpersonal to economic relations.

Since information became a

commodity centuries ago (1), it has not only been responsible for bringing news as a raw source of knowledge but also for developing trade across borders. Since Guttenberg’s printing press, journalism has never suffered an impact on the scale of that resulting from the adoption of new technologies in the past years, especially the Internet.

“Information transmitted at ever-greater speed and volume across national frontiers conjures up the image of a global village whose inhabitants are linked, thanks to scientific progress, as never before,” wrote Fenby (1986), The current phenomena mark the transition of the post-industrial model of society into one which has its pace dictated by fast technological changes. People are watching a change in the world’s means of production and are giving information a key role in the development of society at the beginning of the third millennium.

The first to mention the term ‘Knowledge Society` in 1959, was Peter Druker (1997).

He predicted that information and knowledge would be the main agents for economic activity in the future. In the 1980’s, Alvin Tofller (1997) wrote about a coming ‘third wave` of changes leading to industrialism’s fall and the creation of a new civilisation, which he called the ‘Information Society`.

As reported in the preceding articles about the Digital Divide (2), the most influential countries of the world are already experiencing the new information revolution in a broader extent. By having the disposability of satellites, computers and telephone lines they are not only controlling but making communication possible from areas where previously a lack of access and transmission systems could delay or prevent information from reaching the rest of the globe. Human-interest stories are now more easily reported from beyond a country’s borders, and there has been an international increase in business in the so-called global society, due to the revolution of information technology.

3

At the central core of these changes is journalism- the business of information (3). More than any other activity it has had to readapt itself to the coming society but still struggles to find its best model for operating, in order to keep business profitable and up-to-date with the modern world’s demands. News agencies keep global investors as clients by providing real-time online information about markets world-wide. Only five per cent of a two trillion dollar-a-day trade corresponds to the global commerce of goods. The remaining 95 per cent shifts between global stock markets operated by investment desks, fully provided with financial reports and news on computer screens.

Those investors also rely on news agencies transmitting fast, accurate reports that can be used as guide for a better understanding of financial trends.

Traditional newspapers are also providing their services on the web, adapting stories from conventional newspaper-style formats into an electronic concept which better suits the coming generation of their readership (Hobbs; 1997) (4). Newspapers are still considered by society as the most reliable source of information among all media products but more than ever they realise how the internet and modern communications systems have been useful in their aims of informing the world.

“The journalism on line is a reality in Brazil. Nowadays there is no media company that does not have a site on the web or an information service in real time,” says Luis Queiroz, a news agency Estado reporter who is specialised in the IT sector.

The influence of the internet is not simply limited to the traditional journalism companies. The web has also bred the independent freelancers’ market and has opened space for its own web-based media products such as virtual magazines, online services, interactive conferences and other sources of information.

Journalism and technology have already reached a level of integration that has transformed the daily routine of duties on the news desks. Research and interviewing are just a few journalistic techniques among those that are being changed by the coming technology, and the same could be said of reporting as well. Within this modern framework, the internet has been the main link for the revolution towards the information society previewed by Tofler.

4

Information, knowledge, time, space, speed and distance are the basic interdependent elements on which the digital world is based. These elements are intrinsically related to modern journalism, which has been developing a new profile by using new instruments for newsgathering and transmission of information and in accordance to the society’s demands.

2. DE-LIMITATION and JUSTIFICATION In the wake of the development of the technological revolution in journalism, this study is aimed at evaluating e-mail as one of the main communication channels between journalists and their sources.

Despite the increase of research capacity through the web, largely explored by journalists, it could be said that electronic mail has not yet been as effective for news gathering as other devices, such as mobile telephones. But despite the fact that e-mails will possibly never replace other forms of more direct contact with sources, such as telephone or face-to-face interview, there has been an increase in its use as a complementary tool for journalists while interviewing and reporting. “As more and more people go online, e-mail is becoming increasingly useful for accessing sources. Its main advantage is that it is quick, with access world wide with the press of a button.�(De Burgh; 2000) Sources have adapted themselves to the new electronic communication whether in order to become informed on current events, inform news desks about their activities or to reply to questions from journalists. However, there is still a gap between how sources and journalists perceive the need of using emails in order to improve stories in the search for information and quotes.

This work discusses some improvements brought by emails into journalism but also some problems relating to the use of this new tool in daily practice. Due to the transition period through which the media industry and society as a whole have been passing through, the substitution of more conventional forms of communication by emails in journalism is only happening partially. Thus, this discussion will be limited to email

5

usage coping with journalistic principles instead of trying to arrive at premature conclusions about the issue.

Perhaps, in a few years time, another study could bring a better picture of how journalism will have embraced email as one of its main technological allies in the gathering of information. But it will depend on further developments carried out by a modern information society of which journalists are just a small part. This change in society will also be subject to the level of technological spread around the world, as pointed out previously on the articles about the Digital Divide.

In order to analyse the trend of electronic mail usage for journalistic purposes, this study is based primarily on the experiences gathered while I was taking interviews for the articles about the Digital Divide. It also takes into consideration other interviews with journalists, specialists and sources, who gave their impressions about how they envisage e-mail fever and the place reserved for it in their professional routines.

This study is aimed at spotting the benefits and perils of email technology influencing journalism and could be a primary step for future debates about the issue that are likely to come.

3. PROBLEMS for the STUDY Because internet expansion is still in progress, the consequences on different levels are still to be absorbed and studied by academics. There are many books that discourse about the web but mainly in the fields related to research, business, web design and marketing on the internet.

Despite the extensive bibliography about the new media, the subject is generally discussed in terms of its design and on editorial grounds. Journalism online has been mainly treated as a new product, developed to fit into computers, rather than on TV receivers or radio, and intended to fulfil the expectations of a modern web-wired audience.

However, the belief that there could be a different methodology for newsgathering guiding online journalism has not been deeply explored by academics. The idea of an

6

information society wired on computers for hours a day, could lead real time journalism into interactivity instead of relying upon an established one-way communication for mainly providing information. In this case, the readership or the sources involved in the stories would take part online by replying or adding information to what was published a few minutes before.

In 1995, Gisele Arthur, the ruling parties’ press officer in the Brazilian Lower House, negotiated with news agency Estado in order to provide free access to real time news for every political party represented in the Brazilian Congress. “It was a revolution among political leaders. They all started following the news agencies and working on their replies to the media based on immediate reports they had just read on the web,” she said.

Nonetheless, the politicians continued to use the telephone if they wanted any comment or reply to be sent after receiving the news. ”If the story published needed an immediate reply, they never did it by email. They ordered the secretary to make a phone call and talked directly to the editor or reporter responsible for the story,” said Ms Arthur.

The interactivity concept embodied in online media is basically limited to polls and feedback sections, etc. Story bylines on web sites are always followed by the author’s email address, which could be useful for further contact or comment. But how sources intervene on the news core and if emails could be effective tools on serving online journalism trends are still open questions.

The capacity for interaction through the web and how it would fit into the journalistic commitment to reporting accurately objectively and on a live basis has been forgotten as a potential case of study. A few authors have developed the idea about on-line journalism as having a new architecture for a mass media, in which journalists and sources would have to reposition themselves in accordance with a system where information comes at the same time from different directions (6). (Newhagen and Levy; 1998) In order to gain more information about this online concept and its methods for newsgathering I have also had to rely on the web, which offers a few web sites suggesting innovative services and ideas fitting into this context.

7

Journalism online is adjusting itself into something closer to what is suggested by the definition of a proposed mass media system. The coming multimedia broadband technology could be a step towards interactivity, and may be another device that could develop the discussion on a deeper level.

4-OBJECT OF STUDY This study is aimed at evaluating the specific contributions and problems related to email applications in journalism. Email is already a common tool used by journalists, academics and sources, exchanging impressions, opinions and factuality.

More than ever, distances become irrelevant and the time taken to access sources are shortened by email, which gives journalists a wider perspective to report on international issues, consulting specialists without depending on the use of high cost phone calls between countries or relying on personal contact lists. The number of alternative sources available on the web amplifies this phenomenon, making it easier to track down specialists keen to contribute to the reporter’s work.

As Fleming(2000) said: “Email is convenient. The person being contacted does not have to be available when the message is sent. It just sits there until they check their email, then they are able to reply with a few simple key strokes that cut out the need for stamps, envelopes, or looking up telephone numbers and ending up with an answer phone.�

On the other hand, the nature of this electronic system of messages leaves gaps which are not totally in accordance with the best of good journalistic practices for interviewing and reporting (5). In general, the different timings between sources and journalists could make email communication an unreliable channel for information under tight deadlines.

More over, by answering questions via email, the sources could transform their answers into a permanent document that could never be denied in the future if a story spins

8

against the source’s first statements. Depending on the issue to be investigated and reported, this fear could deter sources from replying to interviews through emails.

Among other journalistic problems are those relating to the lack of interactivity in email exchange. Once questions are posted and by the time answers are given, the interviewer will not be allowed to interfere in the process as could be done in a phone or face to face interview. Although more reflective, the answers might lose spontaneity from the interviewee, which in normal situations can lead to great quotes or scoops.

Another problem coming from the lack of interactivity is the fact that aides and secretaries surround many sources. By addressing an interview to the interviewees’ email accounts, it does not automatically mean that they will be the ones to reply. The intermediaries of the information could be an obstacle to the rapport between both sides as they could be the ones responsible for replying to the emails on someone’s behalf.

All five matters related above- intermediaries; spontaneity; document; deadlines; and wider perspective- are focused on in this study. Despite the difficulties found in interviewing via email, journalists haven’t given up using this tool in order to gain new sources and dig up information for their stories before deadlines run out.

A few journalists contributed to this work with opinions about their experiences in order to enrich the discussion about the common problems involved in email exchanges. In addition, an empirical methodology is included which illustrates the dilemmas inherent in the concept of email usage that were found during this work’s development.

4.1- WIDER PERSPECTIVES (the benefit) In a progressive relationship to the spread of the internet around the globe there will be an increase in the amount of sources available on the web. Newsgroups and Mailing lists are niches of expertise that could be utilised by journalists while looking for sources and comments related to the stories that are being covered.

Even if not directly quoting from sources related to a particular story, journalists could obtain useful information by emailing people who were not previously included on their personal contact books.

9

Profnet.com, a US based web company, was set up to provide free of charge a list of email addresses of academics and specialists in different subjects.(5) By making their contacts available on the web, Profnet.com web site claims to have “revolutionised the communication between journalists and sources.” It lists more than 500 specialists and around 50 media organisations in the US, from local papers to national TV Networks such as NBC, which use profnet.com while looking for new sources for their stories.

“E-mail is a great way to get in contact with people and to get questions asked or the information sent. I save much time thanks to internet and e-mail,” said Bengt Carlsson, the economics editor of the Swedish paper Dagens Nyether. He believes that, at times, tracking down an email address could be much easier than getting access to personal phone numbers. (6) Web sites are providing links to potential sources, although its user may not check an email account for a considerable time.

“This message system make easier the contacts that would be difficult to establish by phone. It’s an important instrument for obtaining information if no direct contact with the source is needed,” says Celso Fontão, the former chief editor of the Brazilian TVE national news edition.

From another perspective, email exchanges have reduced the costs of communications, although they have widened the range of sources on to an international level. Consulting sources abroad who were met by the journalist on previous occasions or even on first contact could enrich the coverage of a story before its release. “The email expands the contacts’ boundaries because of its objectivity, speed and low cost,” said Celso Fontão.

Reporters can now add an international touch of expertise to their reports without depending on expensive phone calls between countries or cities or leaving their office or home.

This situation definitely applies to the reports about the Digital Divide presented in this project. From London, many contacts were established with sources in other English cities, Norway, Sweden, and the US and especially in Brazil, where the majority of the interviews were collected. In a few cases, the sources were never seen before but replied to the requested interviews after a brief introduction explaining the aim of the articles and who had indicated them as potential sources.

10

The Brazilian news agency Estado claims to have reduced its regional telephone bill by 80 per cent after installing AOL’s instant messenger system. “The three offices in Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo communicate constantly through emails. We suggest stories, exchange information among other things. The email is also useful to receive documents to be used in stories, which were sent by sources. Before you had to wait days to arrive after it has been posted,” said Luis Queiroz, an IT specialist reporter.

In a roundabout way, sources are using emails to pass information through, instead of making individual phone calls to journalists requesting coverage of the subject proposed. By selecting journalists to their mailing lists, companies and sources are accessing more media companies and journalists in one click.

Since 1992, when Multipurpose Internet Messaging extensions became available (Fleming 2000), email storage capacity overcame text limits, making graphics, video and sound transmission possible. This improvement allowed photos or long press releases to come attached to the content forwarded, representing a short cut for communication. As a result, the information gets to the reporters quicker without depending on courier or postal services.

At Galaxy, a London based courier company that has News International, Harrods and Channel 4 amongst its clients, business courier services were hit harder with the launch of fax machines than emails. Bryan Coyle, a senior controller believes that using emails or couriers will depend on the value of the information you want to be transported.

“Emails can be read or seen by everyone, Confidential information will never be sent by email,” he said.

For an accurate report on the email messages forwarded to them, reporters can further on check the information in direct contact with the sources, by telephone or even personally.

About 20 emails per day carrying official information from ministries and governmental bodies are sent every day to the account of João Carlos Gonzales, the TV department chief of Radiobrás. Those messages are normally converted into briefs, TV stories or background information for the newsreader during the network’s live transmissions.

“With TV journalism, emails became one of the most important instruments on providing real time news. They’re normally well addressed to the editors and can be

11

used sometimes as breaking information in the opening of a news edition,� said João Carlos Gonzales, The shortcut provided by email in the communication between information players allowed more speed for the flow of information. As a consequence of email usage, journalism crosses boundaries in order to report from a global perspective, adding information and views from a different range of world-wide sources if needed.

Journalists and sources are no longer separated by geographical limits or budget constraints, and both are taking advantage of this new tool by following simple research on the web and a touch on the keyboard in order to forward an electronic message.

4.2 DEADLINES Reporting facts under tight deadlines is one of the main characteristics of the journalism profession. In those circumstances, emails have not yet become a reliable tool for getting interviews on time for writing copy for printing.

This delay is not a problem intrinsic to the system but a matter of goodwill between parties. The message system has already been proven to be sometimes more effective than phone calls in attempting to get to the sources. Once the message is sent, and despite technical problems on servers that might occur, it is expected to reach the recipient that it was addressed to.

If the replies are received on time, it is a matter of good faith of the source to respect the deadline imposed by its interviewer.

This situation brings the relationship between reporter and source to the heart of the matter. Emails are not considered as intrusive as a phone call and in a way less harassing than the latter. With no excuses to be given on a computer basis communication, sources can delete as many messages as received on a simple command. But on the other hand, answering machines could restrict contact as well, and either way the information requested will get back through on time. “I think it is difficult for journalists to go blind on emails if there is a deadline. They might use the emails for special interviews or to gather information that could add

12

something to their copy. But to use emails in order to get instant reply or information, I think it is dangerous. Not all the sources check their emails every day, ”said Luiz Queiroz, a Estado news agency reporter.

Afterwards, it becomes a matter of when the source will reply to the reporter. If there is any personal commitment on replying to the message, the answer might only come in accordance to the interviewee’s time availability and disposition. These two factors are closely related to the level of trust developed between the two sides. If there’s a lack of commitment from the source to the reporter, it is difficult to imagine emails serving journalism on a day to day basis, such as in a daily newspaper.

4.3 DOCUMENT In the search for information, journalists realise that a good chat carried on personally or on the phone can create important leads. Sometimes tips are just warnings not attributed to anyone, but are nonetheless given to a reporter by a source who wants the information to leak out. If coming from a trustful source, ‘off the record` information are precious words to be listened to, tracked down, but never attributed.

In this sense, emails are not a guarantee or conducive to protecting the identity of the source. Once the words are written, emails become documents, easily printed out, stored, or checked, and could denounce the origin of the information.

Having emails associated to a document could also deter sources from giving opinions especially in investigative stories or on political ground. Frequently, journalists are accused of misinterpretation of the words they listened during an interview but it cannot happen with emails. As with signed statements, emails carry their own signature.

“I agree that in opposite to personal contact, while chatting or in packed places where sometimes interviews happen, emails are an instrument seen by sources as an unfriendly tool because it makes information official with no margin for argument,” said Celso Fontão, the former chief editor of TVE news edition.

The electronic message can have the same reliability as a tape recorder or a camera and that is why it can represent a threat to sources that want to manipulate information.

13

However, managing information is part of a tricky game in which sources and journalists take part, and that sometimes turns against the latter or the truth itself.

João Carlos Gonzales, the TV department chief of Radiobrás said; ”Even more now, the accused, the victims and the ones who ‘duck and dive` are using the emails in order to profit from the news or revert a bad situation. They will never wait for a paper to come on the day after.” According to him ”, the internet is benefiting the ones who know how to handle it better, as in a normal journalistic situation, but the professionals should be aware of bad intentions that come from the sources.”

On the same hand, Fernando Godinho, a Folha de SP’s former correspondent in Buenos Aires, believes that “reliable information does not come subjected to the tools used during the interview. It can be good or bad in a chat, recorded or not, and even by email.”

4.4 SPONTANEITY Although human beings have developed different means of dialogue than speech, such as using signs or writing, nothing yet offers a better deal on information exchange than personal contact. “Email provides less context than other methods of communicating.

Because of the lack of context, misunderstandings are more likely in email than with other communication methods.”(Lamb and Peek; 1995) By listening to someone’s voice, or watching an interviewee speaking, journalists can usually catch more about the emotions and meanings suggested during the contact with the sources. Although eliminating distance problems, interviews by email carry clear disadvantages if compared to personal contact ones. Paddy Crawford, a freelance cameraman involved in documentary work, points out one of the problems: “Sometimes the interviewee’s features and gestures say much more than what was spoken. Nothing substitutes this contact.”

14

Those emotions are subject to the source’s involvement in a determined issue; changing in accordance to the time when the interview was conducted and the atmosphere surrounding the meeting. These elements, among others, are the ones that bring spontaneity to the answers, forcing the interviewee to manoeuvre his answers due to the level of pressure or intimacy during interviews.

“I think that the timing of emails is different from a phone call or face to face interview.

The source has more time to think about what to say, though it can lose spontaneity.

Sometimes a sentence said during a live contact could turn into wonderful quotes but if transmitted by email could not be even noticed, because in this case, it lacks the sarcasm and the tone of voice during the interview,” said Luis Queiroz, a Estado news agency reporter.

However, as important as those last factors, a good interview depends on the journalist’s capacity to push the interviewee in order to get better quotes. In the case of emails, there’s no interactivity involved between source and reporter, and that reinforces the lack of spontaneity, but does not eliminate the utility of electronic messages in the search for good results in interviews.

Celso Fontão, the former chief editor of TVE news edition, said: “Since there is no possibility for personal contact, the emails demand careful attention on the elaboration of the questions. They should bring a general perspective and a wider approach as long as it will be an interview with no dialogue involved.”

By not having the power to interfere, as in a normal conversation, the journalist cannot challenge the answers given except by further research about the facts or by another questioning session. While answering interviews via email, sources might take advantage of the time they have to reflect in order to hide information and to put across a better discourse in the interview. “I think that email replies relate to the sources’ ethical behaviour and rights. They can answer whatever they think it is politically correct and in that case journalists will never have any trace of emotion from them as opposite to personal interviews,” said João Carlos Gonzales, the Radiobrás TV department chief.

To challenge the sources’ manipulation of information, which could also happen in a personal contact if misinformation, inexperience or time constraints are involved,

15

reporters should always keep the channel, opened for future questionings. In this case, phone calls could be used as a more effective tool in order to re-establish the truth of the facts instead of just accepting the versions given by an interviewee. If there are no deadline constraints, then email could also be used to contact the source again and may be less imposing than ringing the sources later.

5.5 INTERMEDIARIES Despite the fact that emails are addressed to a source’s personal account, there is still a level of insecurity involved in this sort of communication since intermediaries can handle the message.

Many authorities or sources at different levels leave the management of their email accounts to press officers, personal assistants or secretaries, who often filter the information, forward the interviews requested or even reply top the emails on their superiors’ behalf.

It is common practice for journalists to be stopped by intermediaries, such as those mentioned, while trying to access sources either by phone, visits or emails. This work will not discuss the press officers’ duties but the gap opened by electronic messages allowing aides to act on behalf of an institution or person instead of just re-addressing queries to the sources themselves.

“This email can be easily manipulated .If the source has no time available to answer the question or think it is boring to do so, he could ask an assistant to do the job. But I doubt that a aide could answer everything on the same way the boss could and that becomes a risk because tomorrow the source wouldn’t be allowed to contest the information given,” said Luis Queiróz, a news agency Estado reporter.

Although possible, this practice is denied by the majority of press officers. “We evaluate the importance of the emails sent to us and try to convince the politician to give some attention to it, but I never answer on his behalf,” said Gisele Arthur, the press officer for the ruling parties in the Lower House at the Brazilian Congress.

16

Hélio Perazollo, the Brazilian Textile Association’s press officer, normally answers emails by diverting the journalist to the ABIT web site or by giving them a phone call.

“If the information they ask is available to me I send them the answers or tell them to check the web site. When there is a request for interviews by email, I inform that it might be very difficult to answer it via web because of the time availability of my boss,” he said. But even if time can be arranged for the interview, under normal circumstances it would be done by phone.

The risk of coming up against intermediaries is innate to journalism but by becoming more inaccessible to the press, sources hand on to their assistants the duty of answering phone calls and messages. On the other hand, journalists take those quotes as if they were as important as the authority’s or at least as a formal excuse for not reaching the real source of news. It is a growing procedure in the UK and in Brazil as well, as pointed out by the journalist João Carlos Gonzales. ”I don’t agree but the assistants are each time more responsible for answering the questions. And normally the press officers give the worst replies imagined, very delayed and that don’t add opinions that would transmit their bosses’ thinking,” he said.

In order not to be surprised by intermediaries blocking the way to the sources or replying on their behalf, journalists try to establish a first contact before sending them messages. This could be seen as a security measure that could avoid reporters being trapped in the bureaucracy of companies and public institutions. But this procedure is not only recommended for email communication. As in phone calls, if sources are notified previously, the intermediaries would not be in the position to deliberately block the reporter’s access to the relevant party.

5. METHODOLOGY From May 14 to July 28 while the project about the Digital Divide was in development, 16 people received emails from me requesting interviews. They were expected to contribute as sources to the articles that compose the first part of this work by giving opinions about the subject.

17

This section brings the results of these contacts, sometimes established after previous telephone calls or personal contacts. Other potential interviewees were contacted firstly by email and never had any previous contact with this reporter. Some of them never replied.

There was no strict rule followed for the establishment of these contacts. The number of messages sent differs from source to source, and likewise, the space of time in between those messages. A few sources needed more than one message and others did not.

This irregular strategy for interviewing respects the concept that communication between people, especially for journalistic practice, does not follow set rules. Different sources required more requests for information than others.

The results obtained after these contacts are the base for the development of this academic study and suggest how emails have been effective for journalism.

5.1 RESULTS Out of 16 interviewees: (a) Five replied to the request answering the whole questionnaire; - Three of them replied within eight days after only one message sent; -One replied within 15 days; -One replied after one month; two email contacts were needed. (b) Two answered the questions partially and did not bother to reply to the new messages.

-One was contacted twice and the other four times. Both by email. (c) One replied to the message but not the interview alleging travel reasons and time shortage. (d) Eight potential interviewees did not answer the questions at all.

-Six were contacted at least twice but never replied to the messages.

18

-Two were contacted four times. Once their assistants notified the message as received.

Twice the interviewees were informed personally about the questions waiting to be answered. They never replied.

6. CONCLUSION By reducing distances and communication costs, emails brought more dynamism to journalism on a general level. However, email applications in the practice of journalism on a daily basis are still subject to the constraints pointed out previously n this study.

Emails cannot yet be considered a reliable work tool or a substitute for other ordinary forms of contact between sources and journalists. It is true that there has been an increase in the use of the electronic message system among media professionals, however.

Hobbs (1997) criticises journalists' reliance on the Internet: “It makes it easier for them to report on local, community and national events from the comfort of their cubicles. It saves money for the newspapers because it reduces travel expenses and saves time.�

But at the end of the day, good journalism is subject to the value of the information and this is certainly what dictates the type of communication system which best applies for coverage- emails, phone calls, letters or personal contact. Nothing substitutes good, old practices and the physical presence of a reporter at a news site or in direct contact with the interviewee.

In fact, the email has not come to dominate or replace other instruments in the newsgathering process but functions as a complementary tool. Under this condition, more people have adopted email because of its functional quality. Its usage implementation is closely dependent on the technology spread and on further developments of a global information society.

However, journalistic achievements concerning internet usage are already obvious. The new shape of the online mass media architecture defended by Levy & Newhagen (1998) will probably modify even more the relations between journalists, sources and news clients in a few years time. “The online mass media system forces journalists to examine their role in the context of a parallel distributed communication architecture,

19

which manifests inherent interactivity,� the academics wrote. This architecture implies a power distribution over the news agenda mainly controlled by journalists. (7) Yet, this interactivity has not been achieved in plenitude because of the Digital Divide, the lack of computer literacy and internet access world wide. The technological devices, arriving along with the use of broadband internet, which allows interventions besides video and sound transmission added to text, could prop up the emails reliability inside journalism.

The concept of online news, which is nowadays limited to a news online condition, might suffer a massive impact from the coming technologies improving interactivity on the web. Adding to the growth of a readership composed of a new generation of computer literate people, emails will have an important role for communication. For instance, email is not a complete instrument for the information exchange in journalism, but is being tested and approved for use by the qualities it embodies.

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY (1) Boyd-Barret, & Rantanen, T.(1998), ‘Global News Agencies` in Globalisation of News; eds Boyd-Barret, & Rantanen, T; Sage Publications ltd, London, UK; pp1 -19

20

(2) Carneiro, L. (1999) ; Divagações Digitais- Mudança, Sociedade do Conhecimento e Teletrabalho; UNEB, Brasília, Brazil.

(3) Castels, M.(1999); ‘A era da informação: economia, sociedade e cultura ` in A Sociedade em Rede; Paz e Terra, Sao Paulo , Brazil.

(4) Fenby, J. (1996); ‘Origins` and ‘From Cartel to Competition` in The International News Services; Schocken Books, New York, US. pp 23-43 (5) Fleming, C. (2000), ‘Journalism and New Technology`, in Investigative Journalism; ed. De Burgh, H.; Routledge, London, UK, pp. 183-184; (1) Hobbs, H. (1997); ‘The Internet; Hope, Hype or Damnation? ` (On line). Available: http://www.babson.edu/medialiteracyproject/4e.html (2) Lamb,L. & Peek, J. (1995) , ‘Emails lack of emotional and personal context makes it best suited to factual discussions` in Using Email Effectively; O’Reilly & associates, INC , US; pp. 20-21.

(3) Levy, M. & Newhagen, J., (1998); The Electronic Grapevine; Eds. Borden, D. & Harvey, K.; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah NJ. (4) Parra Filho, D. & Santos, J., (1998); Metodologia Científica; Futura, Sao Paulo, Brazil.(2000) (5) Shapiro, C. & Varian, H. (1999); ‘The Information Economy` and ‘Pricing Information` in Information Rules, Harvard Business School Press, Boston Massachusetts pp. 1-19 (6) Sherwood, H. (1972); The Journalistic Interview (revised edition); Harper and Row Publishers; US. (7) Toffler, A. (1999); A Terceira Onda ; Record, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ;

8. END NOTES 1-(Boyd-Barret 1998) “the globalisation of news was a reality for the 19th century news agencies, and therefore long precedes globalisation-by-television.”

2- Reports from the UN development program show the unequal distribution of internet sets and other communication devices around the world. Only 300 million out of 6 billion people in the world are connected to the web. 85 per cent of the internet users are concentrated in the developed world, as it means: Europe, North America and Japan.

The issue is largely explored in two articles of the project, which compose this academic work.

3-(Fenby 1986 ;pp 23 ch.2 Origins.) “ On the business side , the major news agencies began to defy commercial logic in their first decades and have gone on so ever since.

The European entrepreneurs and NY newspaper bosses who founded the first agencies were clearly businesslike. The Europeans were out to make money, the New Yorkers to

21

cut newsgathering costs. High minded thoughts of making the world a better-informed place in order to promote international understanding did not enter their calculations.”

4- (Hobbs; 1997) (Online) In the United States and some Western European countries, the Internet is being positioned as a way to slow the decrease of the loss of younger readers, which has declined precipitously over the last 30 years. Perhaps online newspapers can lure younger readers to the newspaper reading habit.

5. Lamb and Peek (1995;pp21) suggest that there are times to use the phone instead of email, as follows: -When you want someone to respond to a series of questions that could take a long time to answer; -When you’re talking about feelings or emotionally charged subjects; -When you need an answer right away from a person who doesn’t read email regularly or who tends to put it of.

-When putting it in writing could be intimidating or unfriendly; -When you require security. A phone call or private conversation is more secure.

6. (Hobbs; 1997) “But this kind of reporting makes is possible for reporters to cover people and events without directly experiencing those same people and events. It discourages reporters from interviewing sources who are not in immediate proximity to a telephone or a computer. It leads to what critics have called a "status quo" journalism, where the ease of use made possible by the Internet and the telephone encourage journalists to rely exclusively on sources who make use of these tools. In the process, the voices of people in our communities who lack access to these tools become invisible, and their concerns, experiences and realities never make it into our newspapers.”

2. Newhagen and Levy (1998) wrote: ”Newspaper and TV production can be imagined as having an hour-glass-shape: large amounts of information flow in linear fashion from many sources through a narrow journalistic ‘neck’ and on to a mass of readers and viewers. The ability to control this flow rests to the journalists resulting in an asymmetry in social power, with scales clearly tipped toward the journalist.” Some news sources have the ability to co-opt this agenda-setting role by strategically positioning themselves at a point where the hourglass has already narrowed but still prior to the journalist in the news flow.”

22

INTERVIEWS

(1) Luis Queiroz- O Estado de São Paulo- IT journalist (Brasilia, Brazil) Interview by email –lqueiroz@ldg.com.br (2) Joao Carlos Gonzales- Radiobras-TV department chief (Brasilia, Brazil) Interview by email- joaocarlos@radiobras.gov.br (3) Celso Fontao- Former Editor chief of TVE news edition (Brasilia, Brazil) Interview by email- celsofontao@uol.com.br (4) Fernando Godinho- Folha de SP former correspondent in Buenos Aires (London, UK) Interview by phone – 0208 76852356 on August 24 (5) Bengt Carlsson- Dagens Nyheter economy editor- journalist (Stockholm, Sweden) Interview by email - bengt.carlsson@dn.se- on July 30.

(6) Helio Perazzollo- ABIT press officer (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Interview by email- imprensa@abit.com.br- on September 12.

(7) Gisele Arthur – Press Officer for the Brazilian government parties at the Lower House.

(Brasilia, Brasil)

23

Interview by email- gisele.arthur@camara.gov.br – on September 6.

(8) Bryan Coyle – senior cab controller at Galaxy courier services.

(London, UK) Interview on September 7 in Hackney, London.