Does citizen journalism have a role outside conflict zones or are traditional media outlets simply using participatory journalism in superficial manner?
I will look at how citizen journalism is being embraced by the media and whether it's being warmly received or forced upon them. I will also examine how much impact citizen journalism is having outside the high profile conflict zones.
The pertinent question is whether or not citizen journalism is actually gaining a hold in the media. Is it being incorporated by the traditional media outlets or are they skilfully mastering it to simply fill the odd gap in their coverage? The goal should be for this kind of journalism to add to the skilled reporting of trained journalist in everyday stories.
One of the major proper outings for citizen journalism on a large scale in 2009 was the Hudson River plane crash in January. Mark Little was in Washington at the time reporting on President Obama’s inauguration. He said:
“I turned on CNN, but what was the irony about that? Within 5 minutes the pictures they were using on CNN were from mobile phones sent via the internet… I was, tuning in, as was my reflex action, to mainstream media to see what going on and what are they showing me? Video taken by punters on the tops of roofs overlooking the Hudson or people who were actually on the plane.”
MISTRUST OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM
Is that the extent to which citizen journalism can add to established reporting, though? There is an uneasiness among journalists and people in traditional media organisations about what citizen journalism means for them and their profession. It would be easy to condemn this, but some of their fears are well founded.
In September 2009 a Luas tram and a Dublin bus were in collision at the intersection of O’Connell Street and Abbey Street. RTÉ were alerted to the crash on twitter by people who saw it. Bryan Dobson reported the news that day and he has raised a good point, even if it is laced with fear:
“As people started to twitter and communicate about this, they started to say things like ‘I think there are casualties’, ‘I think there’s people dead’… Now, at that point, that’s where we hold off. We say, well we don’t have a reporter on the scene yet. We’ve been talking to the guards and the ambulance service and they’re not talking about any casualties yet. They can’t confirm that there haven’t been any but they’re certainly not confirming that there have been any, so we hold off”.
In that kind of situation the journalistic standard must be upheld. A media outlet cannot mistakenly report deaths and not suffer damage to its reputation. While citizen journalism added to RTÉ’s reportage, and even alerted them in the first place, it cannot substitute for properly investigating a story.
IT journalist Sheila Averbuch sees citizen journalism as a source of news rather than a news product itself:
“It’s citizen-sourced journalism, but it’s not journalism. Eye witnesses on the ground are miked up for sound, as it were, now able to report back to and it’s down to the professional journalists to wrap it, verify it, package it and broadcast it.”
This would seem to representative of the dismissive attitude of most media professionals to citizen journalism, which Paul Andrews wrote about. He believes that professional journalists are too quick to dismiss amateur journalists when, as he says, the actuality is that “the most vital and moral dispatches on the web are being created by amateurs”.
TWO-WAY FLOW OF NEWS
It seems that the relationship between journalist and citizen journalist must become more like a conversation that a wholesale acceptance of each other’s output. If the media properly embraced citizen journalism we could see a newspaper’s readership adding to a journalist’s story. Even back in 2001, American journalist Dan Gillmor was involving his readers as citizen journalist. He says:
“one of the things I’m sure about in journalism right now is that my readers know more than I do… There have been occasions where I put up a note [on his blog] saying, ‘I’m working on the following and here’s what I think I know,’ and the invitation is for the reader to either tell me I’m on the right track, I’m wrong, or at the very least help me find the missing pieces”.
This new ‘conversation’ was written about by Glenn Fleischmann: “a mix of journalists, ordinary readers, and subject experts responding to their colleagues with no intermediation, and little compunction.”
It seems to be accepted that the traditional media will remain the dominant player in the world of news. Gillmor thinks that they have to make room for citizen journalism. He thinks that blogs are just one of the platforms provided by the internet for this kind of DIY journalism.
“No question, this is another kind of journalism. Technology has been leading us toward new ways of looking at things, and the idea of talented amateurs becoming part of the conversation is just the next logical step.”
EXTREMISM
Extremism on both sides is apparently holding back the partnership of citizen journalism and journalism. The media’s extremist fear is apparent, but it is mirrored in the overly confident attitude of citizen journalists, but particularly bloggers, in the Western world. One blogger at a 2008 Greek conference on citizen journalism noted that:
“The conference so far seems to be a celebration of self-congratulation with a strong dose of fear mixed in, reflecting the traditional media's sense of terror over new means of communication.
A call for the incorporation of the new forms into the ancient regime. The problem is that like a dying empire the newspapers have a future no more assured that that of the Romanovs or the Hapsburgs. They desperately seek to define the coming changes in the vain hope that by naming the beast they can somehow control it.”
From his reaction, it is clear that some bloggers and citizen journalists are guilty of the same self-applauding behaviour that they vilify the media for. There is an extremist view represented here. The fear is that the media will completely subsume citizen journalism and the bloggers will be left unacknowledged for its rise.
EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS
Bluffton Today in South Carolina is one prominent example of where citizen journalism has been successfully melded into the mainstream media. The hyperlocal paper is the first to really integrate citizen journalism into a traditional media outlet. Launched in 2005, it uses a new model of journalism even though it belongs to a publisher with a well established stable of papers.
“What makes the paper and site a prima example of a true hybrid between professional and amateur participatory news is its deliberate choice to have (slightly edited) user-generated content as its prime source of news and information.”
The success of the paper and website is based on the fact that it is opening the old channels of news dissemination. There is a two-way system now in place of the old lecture mentality of most newspapers and TV and radio stations. Citizen journalism is coming to complement the established journalism of the media industry. There is an openness now in the production of news:
“it is important to note here how convergence culture seems to instill increased levels of transparency in the media system, where producers and consumers of content can ‘see’ each other at work, as they both play each other’s roles”.
Another outlet going some way to embrace citizen journalism is the BBC. They get products of citizen journalism by both requesting them and also simply being offered them. The deputy editor of the corporation’s news website, Paul Brannan said: “the umbilical chord between the BBC and its audience was stronger and more instant because of this approach.”
The BBC has also had its fair share of citizen journalist participation in big news stories such as the London bombing in 2005 and, like broadcasters worldwide, the Iranian protests in 2009, but these are one offs. The purpose of this essay is to consider the foothold citizen journalism has won in the everyday reportage that fills the gaps between big events.
What may be making both big and small outlets of the traditional media sit up and take notice of citizen journalism is the cost benefit.
“Few news organizations have the staff manpower to cover everything that their readers are interested in, but by tapping the volunteer (or cheap) resources of the citizenry, a news organization can potentially provide coverage down to the Little League team and church-group level”.
CONCLUSION
Setting aside the cost benefit to media owners, which is a major factor in smaller outlets embracing citizen journalism; it seems that there is a gradual thawing of attitudes of both the media industry and the citizen journalist. The flow of reportage is becoming a two-way stream. Citizen journalists are taken professionally produced content and adding to it. In some cases they are supplying content which is fine tuned by professionals. If a degree of sensibility is kept then the two are set to complement each other in every way possible.
ENDS
[1,494 words]
BOOKS
Allan, S. 2004. News Culture, 2nd Edition. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Downing, J.D.H. 2001. Radical Media, Rebellious Communication and Social Movements. London: Sage Publications.
Franklin, B. 2009. The Future of Newspapers. London: Routledge.
Quinn, S. & Lamble, S. 2008. Online Newsgathering; Research and Reporting for Journalism. Oxford: Focal Press.
Thurlow, C., Lengel, L. & Tomic, A. 2004. Computer Mediated Communication. London: Sage Publications
Tremayne, M. 2007. Blogging, Citizenship, and the Future of Media. London: Routledge.
CHAPTERS
Deuze, M. 2009. The Future of Citizen Journalism IN: Allan, S. & Thorsen, E. (eds) Citizen Journalism: Globabl Perspectives. p257. New York: Perseus.
Lasica, J.D. 2002. Blogging as a Form of Journalism IN: We’ve got blog. New York: Perseus.
JOURNALS
Deuze, M., Bruns, A. & Neuberger, C. 2007. Preparing for an Age of Participatory News. Journalism Practice, 1 (3).
Searls, D. 2001. Journalism 2.0. Linux Journal, (86).
INTERNET
Outing, S. 2005. The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism. [Online].
[Last accessed 04 May 2010]
Wherlock, C. 2008. Citizen Journalism and the Traditional Media. [Online].
[Last accessed 04 May 2010]
TELEVISION
Averbuch, Sheile, (2010). Interview. IN: Ireland’s Biggest Hits. RTÉ 1. 01 January 2010.
Dobson, Bryan, (2010). Interview. IN: Ireland’s Biggest Hits. RTÉ 1. 01 January 2010.
Little, Mark, (2010). Interview. IN: Ireland’s Biggest Hits. RTÉ 1. 01 January 2010.
I will look at how citizen journalism is being embraced by the media and whether it's being warmly received or forced upon them. I will also examine how much impact citizen journalism is having outside the high profile conflict zones.
The pertinent question is whether or not citizen journalism is actually gaining a hold in the media. Is it being incorporated by the traditional media outlets or are they skilfully mastering it to simply fill the odd gap in their coverage? The goal should be for this kind of journalism to add to the skilled reporting of trained journalist in everyday stories.
One of the major proper outings for citizen journalism on a large scale in 2009 was the Hudson River plane crash in January. Mark Little was in Washington at the time reporting on President Obama’s inauguration. He said:
“I turned on CNN, but what was the irony about that? Within 5 minutes the pictures they were using on CNN were from mobile phones sent via the internet… I was, tuning in, as was my reflex action, to mainstream media to see what going on and what are they showing me? Video taken by punters on the tops of roofs overlooking the Hudson or people who were actually on the plane.”
MISTRUST OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM
Is that the extent to which citizen journalism can add to established reporting, though? There is an uneasiness among journalists and people in traditional media organisations about what citizen journalism means for them and their profession. It would be easy to condemn this, but some of their fears are well founded.
In September 2009 a Luas tram and a Dublin bus were in collision at the intersection of O’Connell Street and Abbey Street. RTÉ were alerted to the crash on twitter by people who saw it. Bryan Dobson reported the news that day and he has raised a good point, even if it is laced with fear:
“As people started to twitter and communicate about this, they started to say things like ‘I think there are casualties’, ‘I think there’s people dead’… Now, at that point, that’s where we hold off. We say, well we don’t have a reporter on the scene yet. We’ve been talking to the guards and the ambulance service and they’re not talking about any casualties yet. They can’t confirm that there haven’t been any but they’re certainly not confirming that there have been any, so we hold off”.
In that kind of situation the journalistic standard must be upheld. A media outlet cannot mistakenly report deaths and not suffer damage to its reputation. While citizen journalism added to RTÉ’s reportage, and even alerted them in the first place, it cannot substitute for properly investigating a story.
IT journalist Sheila Averbuch sees citizen journalism as a source of news rather than a news product itself:
“It’s citizen-sourced journalism, but it’s not journalism. Eye witnesses on the ground are miked up for sound, as it were, now able to report back to and it’s down to the professional journalists to wrap it, verify it, package it and broadcast it.”
This would seem to representative of the dismissive attitude of most media professionals to citizen journalism, which Paul Andrews wrote about. He believes that professional journalists are too quick to dismiss amateur journalists when, as he says, the actuality is that “the most vital and moral dispatches on the web are being created by amateurs”.
TWO-WAY FLOW OF NEWS
It seems that the relationship between journalist and citizen journalist must become more like a conversation that a wholesale acceptance of each other’s output. If the media properly embraced citizen journalism we could see a newspaper’s readership adding to a journalist’s story. Even back in 2001, American journalist Dan Gillmor was involving his readers as citizen journalist. He says:
“one of the things I’m sure about in journalism right now is that my readers know more than I do… There have been occasions where I put up a note [on his blog] saying, ‘I’m working on the following and here’s what I think I know,’ and the invitation is for the reader to either tell me I’m on the right track, I’m wrong, or at the very least help me find the missing pieces”.
This new ‘conversation’ was written about by Glenn Fleischmann: “a mix of journalists, ordinary readers, and subject experts responding to their colleagues with no intermediation, and little compunction.”
It seems to be accepted that the traditional media will remain the dominant player in the world of news. Gillmor thinks that they have to make room for citizen journalism. He thinks that blogs are just one of the platforms provided by the internet for this kind of DIY journalism.
“No question, this is another kind of journalism. Technology has been leading us toward new ways of looking at things, and the idea of talented amateurs becoming part of the conversation is just the next logical step.”
EXTREMISM
Extremism on both sides is apparently holding back the partnership of citizen journalism and journalism. The media’s extremist fear is apparent, but it is mirrored in the overly confident attitude of citizen journalists, but particularly bloggers, in the Western world. One blogger at a 2008 Greek conference on citizen journalism noted that:
“The conference so far seems to be a celebration of self-congratulation with a strong dose of fear mixed in, reflecting the traditional media's sense of terror over new means of communication.
A call for the incorporation of the new forms into the ancient regime. The problem is that like a dying empire the newspapers have a future no more assured that that of the Romanovs or the Hapsburgs. They desperately seek to define the coming changes in the vain hope that by naming the beast they can somehow control it.”
From his reaction, it is clear that some bloggers and citizen journalists are guilty of the same self-applauding behaviour that they vilify the media for. There is an extremist view represented here. The fear is that the media will completely subsume citizen journalism and the bloggers will be left unacknowledged for its rise.
EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS
Bluffton Today in South Carolina is one prominent example of where citizen journalism has been successfully melded into the mainstream media. The hyperlocal paper is the first to really integrate citizen journalism into a traditional media outlet. Launched in 2005, it uses a new model of journalism even though it belongs to a publisher with a well established stable of papers.
“What makes the paper and site a prima example of a true hybrid between professional and amateur participatory news is its deliberate choice to have (slightly edited) user-generated content as its prime source of news and information.”
The success of the paper and website is based on the fact that it is opening the old channels of news dissemination. There is a two-way system now in place of the old lecture mentality of most newspapers and TV and radio stations. Citizen journalism is coming to complement the established journalism of the media industry. There is an openness now in the production of news:
“it is important to note here how convergence culture seems to instill increased levels of transparency in the media system, where producers and consumers of content can ‘see’ each other at work, as they both play each other’s roles”.
Another outlet going some way to embrace citizen journalism is the BBC. They get products of citizen journalism by both requesting them and also simply being offered them. The deputy editor of the corporation’s news website, Paul Brannan said: “the umbilical chord between the BBC and its audience was stronger and more instant because of this approach.”
The BBC has also had its fair share of citizen journalist participation in big news stories such as the London bombing in 2005 and, like broadcasters worldwide, the Iranian protests in 2009, but these are one offs. The purpose of this essay is to consider the foothold citizen journalism has won in the everyday reportage that fills the gaps between big events.
What may be making both big and small outlets of the traditional media sit up and take notice of citizen journalism is the cost benefit.
“Few news organizations have the staff manpower to cover everything that their readers are interested in, but by tapping the volunteer (or cheap) resources of the citizenry, a news organization can potentially provide coverage down to the Little League team and church-group level”.
CONCLUSION
Setting aside the cost benefit to media owners, which is a major factor in smaller outlets embracing citizen journalism; it seems that there is a gradual thawing of attitudes of both the media industry and the citizen journalist. The flow of reportage is becoming a two-way stream. Citizen journalists are taken professionally produced content and adding to it. In some cases they are supplying content which is fine tuned by professionals. If a degree of sensibility is kept then the two are set to complement each other in every way possible.
ENDS
[1,494 words]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Allan, S. 2004. News Culture, 2nd Edition. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Downing, J.D.H. 2001. Radical Media, Rebellious Communication and Social Movements. London: Sage Publications.
Franklin, B. 2009. The Future of Newspapers. London: Routledge.
Quinn, S. & Lamble, S. 2008. Online Newsgathering; Research and Reporting for Journalism. Oxford: Focal Press.
Thurlow, C., Lengel, L. & Tomic, A. 2004. Computer Mediated Communication. London: Sage Publications
Tremayne, M. 2007. Blogging, Citizenship, and the Future of Media. London: Routledge.
CHAPTERS
Deuze, M. 2009. The Future of Citizen Journalism IN: Allan, S. & Thorsen, E. (eds) Citizen Journalism: Globabl Perspectives. p257. New York: Perseus.
Lasica, J.D. 2002. Blogging as a Form of Journalism IN: We’ve got blog. New York: Perseus.
JOURNALS
Deuze, M., Bruns, A. & Neuberger, C. 2007. Preparing for an Age of Participatory News. Journalism Practice, 1 (3).
Searls, D. 2001. Journalism 2.0. Linux Journal, (86).
INTERNET
Outing, S. 2005. The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism. [Online].
[Last accessed 04 May 2010]
Wherlock, C. 2008. Citizen Journalism and the Traditional Media. [Online].
[Last accessed 04 May 2010]
TELEVISION
Averbuch, Sheile, (2010). Interview. IN: Ireland’s Biggest Hits. RTÉ 1. 01 January 2010.
Dobson, Bryan, (2010). Interview. IN: Ireland’s Biggest Hits. RTÉ 1. 01 January 2010.
Little, Mark, (2010). Interview. IN: Ireland’s Biggest Hits. RTÉ 1. 01 January 2010.
