ABSTRACT
Observers have proclaimed the Internet to be the future of communication. Katz (1999), for example, believed that the future of journalism is found on the Internet and that online news would one day become mainstream journalism: “The [World Wide] Web is transforming culture, it is transforming language, transforming information, and we’re seeing this in very dramatic and measurable ways, which some liken to the invention of movable type” (pp. 14-15). He noted that the old model of a few people providing information to many is “breaking down” in favor of many providing to many. Rules are being rewritten and the news media are being transformed. The way in which news organizations relate and interact with their audiences is also in transition (Pavlik, 1999).
