Citizen journalism
From SA Online Journalism
== WHAT MAKES MOUSES CLICK ==
Table of contents |
[edit] Recommended readings:
Dan Gillmor - We the media: Grassroots journalism by the people, for the people
Bloggers: A portrait of the Internets new storytellers Accessed online 11 Aug 06, www.pewtrusts.org
Mark Glaser - How to succeed as a citizen media editor. Accessed: 09 Aug 06, www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050322glaser
[edit] Defining citizen journalism
From the start it was clear that the internet will have profound influences in man's social sphere. The internet allowed people control over their own experience. At the heart of citizen journalism (hereinafter referred to as CJ), or grassroots journalism as Dan Gilmor calls it,lies the fact that the exclusivity of journalism as a profession is broken - it becomes an activity/hobby/career which can be practised in the public domain by people with has varying degrees of skill. "Roll your own news" is how Gillmor refers to it.
Further, it moves journalism from a lecture into a conversation. A central concept in We the Media is that of citizen journalists - those members of the 'former audience' who can now play an active role in news production.
The citizen journalist is an answer to the consumer model promoted by markets. The role of journalism in the emerging public sphere is thus changing. Gillmor thinks this role is to produce a better informed citizenry by expanding the information pool and distributing production. It argues that decentralising information and power through the internet has the potential to make the public sphere more democractic. It gives the masses a voice.
[edit] Where did it all start?
Dave Winer designed UserLand Software in mid 1999. The software, still in pre-release mode turned out to be one of the earliest weblog, or blog, applications.
Writing on the net wasn't entirely new, of course. People had done it for years in different contexts, such as email lists, forums, and newsgroups. Wikis - sites on which anyone could edit any page - also predated weblogs, but they hadn't gained much traction outside a small user community, in part because of the techie orientation to the software.
[edit] What are the pro's and cons of citizen participation?
On the positive side:
- It gives the masses a voice.
- It allows the story to unfold as it happens, without relying on professional reportage.
- Issues not especially relevant or important in the mainstream media, can be addressed by the community themselves on community webblogs.
- It allows a civic process to take place, much like square and church meetings in the olden days. It creates a biospheric village green.
- It can bring the obscure onto the international agenda.
- It is all-inclusive.
- It is for free or very cheap - but for how long is debateble.
- It gives additional depth to an event - extra facts, tips from outsiders, added insight etc.
- Unlimited space is available at all times.
On the negative side:
- It requires building and installing the infrastructure for an online community.
- Maintaining the sites take passionate commitment. It needs some form of managerial / editorial / motivator assistance.
- People do not necessarily contribute useful content, consistently. Citizens do more grousing than reporting, or lengthy boring accounts of themselves.
- Postings are often anonymous or carry pseudonyms.
- Factual reporting is at stake, and thus a loss in credibility.
- The poison-pen phenomena.
- So far there are not many success stories of real CJ websites, discounting the proliferation of community weblogs.
[edit] How is citizen journalism different from blogging?
Citizen journalism is the reporting of something that happened from the person’s personal perspective. It has become quite a trend. CJ may or may not be edited. Examples of this to follow: www.theinfozone.net
Blogging is opinion pieces. No editing is supposed to take place. A telephone survey of a nationally-representative sample of bloggers, conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, has found that blogging is inspiring a new group of writers and creators to share their voices with the world. While generally youthful, these writers otherwise represent a broad demographic spectrum of people who cite a variety of topics and motives for their blogging. Is citizen journalism a form of computer assisted reporting?
[edit] How has it changed the face of conventional journalism?
Mainstream journalism and citizen journalism does not take the same approach – a different definition of what the output should look like is required. Newspaper convention and ethic vs free speech. MJ tend to be reader/audience oriented, with a passive reader taking in what is given to him – objectivity is paramount to reporting. CJ allows for more subjective reporting, whilst still giving you the facts (hopefully). With the increased availability of open-source software and technology which are becoming widely accessible, it is likely that in a couple of years the face of journalism on some levels may change drastically. History shows that types of media are never replaced, they are just increasingly supplemented. CJ needs less high-flown rhetoric and more street smarts. It needs engaged relationships from the proprietor to the contributor and some compensation should eventually be envisaged to the novice reporter.
A new job title has seen the light – citizen media editor. [1] (see MSNBC.com, VenturaCountyStar.com, NorthwestVoiced.com and News-Record.com). Glaser calls this editor part moderator, part copy editor and part ombudsman.
CJ has also allowed conventional print media a new lease on life – online, but with a better chance of grabbing a dwindling younger audience.
== Types of citizen journalism == Community journalism – small communities make postings on the web, from recipes to church meetings;
Amateur journalism – as in the case of reporter.ac.za, litnet.co.za, where normal citizens are encouraged to publish articles, reviews, travel features etc on a consistent basis.
Intermittent journalism – as in the case of the Clinton/Lewinski scandal, tsunami tragedy, attack on Bagdad.
A neologism has seen the light as a result - netizens.
== Websites where active citizen journalism takes place ==
www.reporter.co.za
www.OhMyNews.com
www.litnet.co.za
www.theinfozone.net
www.ElMorrocotudo.com
www.AtinaChile.com
www.H2otown.com
www.Baristanet.com
www.Ctatattler.com
== Demonstration==
