While. La sesta W del web journalism = While. The sixth W of web journalism

• Main Author: Valeria D'Autilia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Università del Salento 2013-12-01
• Series: H-ermes: Journal of Communication
• Subjects: journalism; web 2.0; communication
• Online Access: http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/h-ermes/article/view/13559

In the era of Web 2.0, the user is more and more dominant in deciding which information to consume. Each news is created, multiplied, overlapped, connected to each other and it generates more information by itself. Journalism comes out revisited: it is a revolution without any precedent, whose strength consists of the ability to tell all the events in real time. Here comes the need to update its principles and tools. Even the most classic rule of the 5 W comes out innovated, thanks to a sixth W that imposes itself and seems to overpower the others. We are talking about “While”, the symbol of the contemporary age. In the digital scenario, everything is simultaneous: accessing contents, sharing them and subsequent processing by journalists. The contact with the public is radically changed as well as the use of sources and the classical timing of journalism. It seems there is no longer any break between the fact and its narration: everything is continuous and velocity has become the very content of information.