Several chapters from Charlie Beckett’s forthcoming book, SuperMedia: Saving Journalism So It Can Save The World, are available online.

The core of the book, published by Blackwell books on May 20, is the idea of Networked Journalism, which Beckett describes as:

Networked Journalism is a description and an aspiration. It reaffirms the value of the core functions of journalism. It celebrates the demand for journalism and its remarkable social utility. But it insists on a new process and fresh possibilities. It means a kind of journalism where the rigid distinctions of the past, between professional and amateur, producer and product, audience and participation, are deliberately broken down. It embraces permeability and multi-dimensionality

It is clear that, as Beckett argues, journalism is an unique moment. In his introduction, he sets out the context for journalism:

• News information has never been more plentiful and journalism has never been more abundant
• Journalists have never had more resources to reach people, anytime, anyplace, anywhere – and the audience has unprecedented accessibility to the news media
• Journalism has never been more necessary to the functioning of our lives as individuals and societies and for the healthy functioning of global social, economic, and political relationships
• There is the technological, educational, and economic potential for a vast expansion of journalism’s impact and for that impact to be beneficial

In this context, I would argue that the nature of news changes, from being a destination to a journey. Networked journalism is not just about the means of production, but also about how people get their news.

As I have written before, a piece of journalism is one stop on a journey of distributed information.

I’m looking forward to reading Beckett’s book.