THINK BEFORE LINK

WHY LINKS?

Providing external link is one of the beauty of the online media as it provides unlimited sources of information to various resources. Link is an additional feature and it makes your website "stand out" among other competitors.  Traditional media like print and broadcast do not have that opportunity but website has. So utilise that feature.

Link is the symbol of truth, accuracy, fairness, honesty and transparency. Your story should be complete  and clear  even without the links. The links should provide additional information. Link is an opportunity to make your news organisation known  wider and enhance its reliablity. "Linking adds credibility," says Tom Brew in Poynter.org.  If you do not link then "reader cannot drill deeper into the story." This is the issue of competition and link is a great  marketing tool too. If you do not link, readers will leave your site and you will lose.

MIX & MAX

Do not make too many links in one story. Make a balanced combination of text, audio, video and photos in the links. Major media organisations including Newsweek have mixed all together.  Research has found that adding too many link does not sound good. Linking trend  has reduced plagiarism and unethical "copy and paste trend."  If you want to provide links of many sites then you can just mention their names but provide the link of only one in each paragraph.


WHAT TO LINK?

* Only related and relevant to your news story
* Very important to make this link
* Promotes journalistic values, ethics and norms
* Encourages democracy, human rights and freedom
* Advocates truth, transparency, fairness and credibility
* Promotes unity,  harmony and  peace
* Helps promote liberal views
* Only reliable sites

WHAT NOT TO LINK?

* Work of plagiarism
*  Violates copyrights
* Too much controversial
* Libelious, pornographic and defamatory contents
* Promotes extremism and terrorism
* Advocates for murder and violence
* Incites hatredness and promotes biasness
* Unethical and unreliable
* Sites with horrific contents

"NO LIFT BUT LINK"

There was enmity and bitter rivalry among the media organisation in the past over the issue of plagiarism. However, the advent of internet has ended that trend. Giving links even if it is a rival media organisation, has become  accepted practice today. We can see the trend of providing external links even in the leading news organisation like  BBC and  CNN  among others. Providing link is very important for blogs and lesser known media organsiation to make it more "credible and reliable." 

IS IT ENDORSEMENT?

No. Providing links to an external site is not an endorsement. It is only to provide greater access to the readers through your website.  "It is service utility to the readers," says Lea Donsky in poynter.org.
Linking to the external site  "does not imply an endorsement or sponsorship of such sites."  But the news media should check whether the external link meet its general editorial guidelines or not.

LINKS TO CONTROVERSY

Nearly 400 years ago, British writer John Milton wrote Areopagitica advocating for freedom of expression.  The essence of his writing was to give freedom to flourish ideas and not to impose censorship.  This is relevant even today.  The work of creative thinking should be given freedom to explore if it is not against the journalistic ethics.

However, there should be no links to the sites which  promote extremism, terrorism and with horrific contents.

ENEMY WEBSITES

No link is given to the enemy websites. When Nepal government declared Maoist Communist guerillas as terrorist organisation, no any link of this organisation was given in government media sites.  There was no link in this Government run newspaper about this Communist run site.

I think,  Hamas run newspapers do not make link to the Israeli newspapers about the suicide bombings.  Some of the friends including Ruth said in the Forum discussion that there is nothing complete objectivity that I think, is right if we see in practice.

THINK THIS BEFORE LINK

Is this relevant and necessary?
Is this ethical?
If yes, then  link.

MY ASSIGNMENT

I have selected three news sites for my first assignment for the course. These are: Alarabiya, CBN and Gwaker.

Alarabiya

Alarabiya seems to be very popular news channel which presents credible local, national and international news, current affairs, business and financial markets, sports and talk shows.

Founders

Alarabiya is based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates which is partly owned by the Saudi broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting Centre. In 2008, New York Times quoted Alarabiya director Abdul Rahman al-Rashed, as saying that the station was founded "to cure Arab television of its penchant for radical politics and violence."

Credibility

* On January 26, 2009 American president Barack Obama, within a month in the White House, gave his first formal interview as president to this television channel that enhanced its credibility as a reliable and trustworthy media organization of the Arab World.

* It was the first channel to air the assassination of Rafik Hariri, prime minister of Lebanon.

* According to New York Times, Alarabiya presents “objective reporting rather than for shouted opinions.”

* Arabic and English language services and TV and websites in both the languages make it more reliable and credible news channel. It has Urdu and Persian service in the website.

* This is 24/7 news channel and updated news regularly.

* Well edited, professional looking and presence of correspondents in many countries in Arab and western world make it more credible.

Pro- American

There are some accusation to this news channel to be pro- American and pro –Saudi because of its anti Islamic extremist policy and Saudi investment.

Controversy

* It was in controversy since its launch in 2003. It was banned to broadcast from Iraq after it broadcast an audio tape of deposed president Saddam Hussein. Iraqi government had banned the channel for one month in September 2006 accusing it of “imprecise coverage.”

* Iran expelled its correspondent in 2008 and its offices in Gaza city was bombed in 2007 after Hamas criticised it saying the channel” misquoted Hamas leader.”

* One Alarabiya reporter was killed in the US bombing in Iraq in 2004 and another reporter was abducted and murdered in the same country in 2006.

Main Rival

It is reported in the news during its establishment in 2003 that Doha based another popular TV channel, Al Jazeera, is its main rival. Al Jazeera became popular because of its breaking news coverage especially of the Al-Qaida and Arab World.

Impartial

Quoting various sources of the news agencies, the news site, for example, in its main news heading, (December 9, 2009) says “Sarkozy warns against religious "provocation.” It quotes the French President Sarkozy as writing in “Le Monde” newspaper making the main news trustworthy, convincing and credible. Presentation of news quoting reliable and multiple source make it more trustworthy. Alarabiya fulfils most of the criteria of the reliable news channel therefore this is a credible news channel.

CBN

CBN is renowned professional international Christian news organisation covering politics, world affairs, health, family, spiritual life and various other issues.

Credibility

* English and Spanish language and TV makes it more reliable and credible.

* This is 24/7, updated round the clock, well edited and appropriate font size and colour.

* “unlimited sources of news” through various links.

* Reliable news sources from news agencies and well quoted sources.

Christian News

*This is affiliated to the Christian religious organisation so the readers have the feeling that it is not free, fair and impartial to other religious believers

* Main target is to Christian adherents

* Many news and video on Christianity

Impartial News

Despite its affiliation to the Christianity, the channel’s reporting seems impartial and fair. A story headlined“ High Death Toll in Baghdad Bombings” is filed by a reporter of renowned news agency, Associated Press, where he has given multiple sources including quotes from two top politicians, a senior army officer and press release of the Prime Minister’s office. This makes the story more truthful, reliable and credible.

In addition to this the US ambassador to Iraq and eye witness are also quoted as giving account of the incident and background information adding more spices to the tragic news.

By-line stories of news media are generally reliable. The news agency, Associated Press, adds the reliability and credibility of the news story further more. In addition to this, multiple high level sources are directly quoted therefore there is no any question about the reliability and credibility of the story. Furthermore, a number of Associated Press writers have contributed to this news. The news seems to be verified, cross checked and followed all the journalistic code of ethics. This is an example of credible news reporting.

GAWKER

Contrary to Alarabiya news channel, Gawker is not a serious news channel as its website is not professional looking, news is not updated regularly, sources are not properly quoted and news is presented like personal opinion.

Unreliable

News is mixed up without writing in a series of subject area and informal language and slangs are used.
The news is not appropriately edited, not regularly updated, no consistency and vulgar language is used. The readers’ comments are printed without editing and there are many instances of coarse language and words in the news related to Nelson Mandela.

Gossip Site

This is a gossip, fun, celebrity obsessed news site without a serious look into the news happening in the world. "Tiger Woods Shows why Text Message Flirting Sucks" and "Another Person Sues Sacha Baron Cohen, This Time for 110 Million" clearly shows it is celebrity obsessed entertainment type of news site. The news is written without any credible sources.
In news heading "20 percent American want to impeach Obama right now," showing the news sites is conservative and does not accept the change being taking place in the USA.

Lacks Standard

The qualities of good news accuracy, objectivity, balance, concise, clear and recent are missing in the site therefore It is not safe to use this site as a news source.