Flash Journalism - the short version

[Keyword: onlinejournalism]. As someone who's been teaching the skill for three years I'm looking forward to reading Mindy McAdams' book on Flash Journalism (nice coining-of-phrase there, by the way) - in the meantime, she's written an overview of the practice at Online Journalism Review with some of the reasons why journalists use Flash, summed up in the following quote:

"Flash addresses two key needs in online journalism: integrating multiple media (content), and reaching the widest possible audience (compatibility)."

It also emphasises the importance of interactivity in Flash journalism. If you ever create a 'Next' button you're thinking in the wrong way:

"Users appreciate having the ability to choose, according to Mega Communications' Villalobos. “The things we get the most traffic out of is when the users get to decide what they’re going to see,” he said. “You can’t do that on TV. You can’t do it in print. Online is the only place where you can redefine how stories are told.”"