The Internet has opened up the world of journalism to a new set of influences. It provides a new media platform that is of relevance across the spectrum of communications perspectives, as well as offering fresh impetus to economic theories on the nature of information.\ud
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This study provides an overview of the place of news journalism in the new information environment fashioned by the Internet. Major trends identified include the building of online communities, the exploration of the democratic potential of online citizenship, and the developing potential for the bypassing of traditional media gatekeepers. New ICTs provide journalists and publishers with fresh outlets for content. However, the process of generating that content is fundamentally altered by the new possibilities for disintermediation, including 'everyman ’ journalism, activist publishing and official Internet publishing by the state and others. The Internet is seen to add to the impetus towards globalisation and corporate consolidation, even as it lowers barriers to entry to media and permits greater diversity. Against the rhetoric of cyber-libertarianism and free market ideologies that influence much discussion of ICTs, actual Internet communications developments are observed, journalists in online and traditional media entities are interviewed, and a structured assessment is made of the current state of Internet news publishing in Ireland.\ud
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Development of the Internet as a new publishing medium is assessed as modest but significant, not least for its introduction of greater interactivity, which indicates the beginning of a shift from the broadcast, few-to-many model of media to a more open environment, potentially acting as a counterweight to massification and conglomeration. For the most part, journalists in Ireland show a real appreciation of Internet issues, and, while they readily recognise changes in the information environment, they remain confident of the central role of journalism in public discourse