Book excerpt: Citizen journalism, blogging, community and user activity are today's buzzwords in the online news business. Publishers and editors see the potential windfall that the web can offer and are now investing heavily into this venture. With today's newspaper circulation, readership, and profit slipping, media outfits have no choice but to embrace a new reality: the Web is now the most powerful medium. This means a unique brand of journalism is needed to cater to the demands of the new generation of media consumers. This new brand is called multimedia journalism. How do we execute multimedia journalism online? What type of things do we have to do in order for our news site to succeed? What are the tools needed to be able to execute multimedia journalism, effectively? This book guides the reader as to how to create innovative multimedia reports and presentations. It explains the nature of today's media consumer and talks about ways to gain new users as well as sustain a high rate of return visits. The book also talks about other important factors of online journalism such as audience, design, promotion, ethics, job prospects, and future directions for online news.