Flash Journalism

Now, more than ever, journalists have an abundance of tools at their disposal to create new and innovative ways to analyze and present information to an audience. With Flash journalism, a journalist can create a multi-layered graphic that uses images and text to concisely give information in a hands-on format. Like most new technologies, Flash journalism should be used wisely and with a careful hand. 

Placing text on a graphic is not a quick fix, and an audience can become confused if the journalist does not include an analytical component to the piece. Information is abundant, but one of the most important jobs of a journalist is to go beyond the data, grasp the meaning of a story and portray it to the public in the most accurate, clear way possible. 

Kevin Quealy’s article about online interactive news had a quote I think any convergence student should live by, “We should remember to make it secondary to the real brains of our projects, which is analysis, perhaps in the form of some query suggestions, interesting points, or hidden trends.” Flash journalism has countless advantages for online journalism, if the journalist knows how to use it wisely

-Abbie Schmid