Journalism is changing in four ways, Pavlik says: News content, the way journalists work, news industry structure, and the relationships among journalists, their sources and the public are all affected by new media. No one disputes this, and plenty of us have deep interest in these changes.

This book surveys a wide range of technologies, possibilities and current effects, but often it does not engage the reader effectively: "Yahoo! and many of the other major search engines have become significant portals into Web content and services and have evolved new forms of content access and presentation that go far beyond simple content searches. For example, Yahoo! offers MyYahoo!, which includes customizable news, chat, travel services, and much more" (page 66). 

Notable: The ethics chapter (pages 82-97) raises concerns about digital manipulation of still photos, video and audio: "To date, no industrywide standards define the level of image or sound alteration that is acceptable within the bonds of ethical journalism" (page 89). Chapter 6 addresses conflicts of interest between editorial and advertising, and Chapter 7 discusses other challenges associated with digital video.

Best fuel for classroom discussions: Chapter 8, "Audiences Redefined, Boundaries Removed, Relationships Reinvented," in which Pavlik (an educator at Rutger's University School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, New Jersey) discusses citizen involvement in journalism and democratic participation online.

Bottom line: The book produces the impression of a catalogue rather than a probing analysis, making it less suitable for graduate courses. It may be useful in an undergraduate survey course; not suited to a reporting or writing course.

To "Writing for Multimedia and the Web"