The concept of citizen journalism is simultaneously fascinating and terrifying. I feel a certain trepidation as I try to understand where its come from, and where its going to go. Before our Week 9 lecture, I wasn’t aware that I was aware of citizen journalism. Now that the term and movement has been named, explained to me, and explored so concisely, I can understand that I’ve been exposed to countless examples of citizen journalism, mainly through the form of blogs and pamphlets. As an audience member and writer, I’m amazed at the depth and brevity of the citizen journalism movement, its seemingly spontaneous rising, the amount of passionate debate generated by it, its possibilities.
A definition of the term I agree with, appreciate for its simplicity, and which I will use for the purpose of this blog comes from this YouTube video. Lisa Williams describes citizen journalism, quite simply, as journalism that is done by non journalists, or people committing random acts of journalism. Basically, the citizen journalist movement embraces the idea that the readers are now participating in the authoring of the content (Williams). This ties in with Axel’s produser theory, which is that on the Web 2.0 platform, the consumer now equals the producer. An online example of this theory in practice is OhmyNews.com, a Koran collaborative online newspaper, with has more than 26, 000 registered citizen journalists all producing news from the bottom up, in a direct challenge to established media outlets (Kahney, Wired. 2003).
I think it’s this sense of challenge that mounts my feeling of wariness, my slight discomfort. A small part of me, the panicked, nervous part, sees the rise of citizen journalism as a threat to established journalism, while another (I hope, bigger) part of me simultaneously appreciates the idea of the individual voice, through citizen journalism, getting more leverage (Dan Gilmor). I’m aware that my latent feelings of trepidation are close minded and elitist, fueled in part by arrogance. As a creative writing student wanting to move into journalism, I am protective of my future craft. I know that I am not a professional writer, so I am not directly offended. I have years and years to go before I can say that I’m a professional, even ‘good’ writer, but I’m proud to be studying in this field. The assumption by some that a blogger whacking away at their computer is on the same level, journalistically, as a professional writer who has studied their field and has years of experience, is slighting.
Andrew Keen, author of ‘The Cult of the Amateur,’ argues that journalists “follow a set of standards, a code of ethics. Objectivity rules. That’s not the case with citizen journalists. Anything goes in that world (Vargas, 2007).” As much as the concept of citizen journalism makes me a little uneasy, I can see the narrow-mindedness and naivety of Keen’s argument. I have a firm belief in the power and shared intelligence of the community, and I think it’s safe to assume that as with anything in the digital literacy, the community will organize quality in a way that means only reputable, professional citizen journalists will be garnered attention.
I feel a bit torn. I’m making a conscious effort not to come to the panicked conclusion that citizen journalism means the end of traditional journalism; in doing so, I know that I will be ignoring the exciting possibilities generated by the citizen journalism movement. It would be ridiculous of me to assume that one cannot exist without the other, I feel that a far better way of approaching the existence of both citizen journalism, and ‘big media’ journalism, is in a way that is symbiotic and mutually beneficial. It’s important to accept that one of the main concepts behind citizen journalism that mainstream media reporters are not the exclusive center of knowledge on a subject - the audience knows more collectively than the reporter alone (Glaser, 2006). ‘Storming the News Gatekeepers,’ argues that journalism is enriched through the perspectives of everyday Joes and Janes, who offer more voices, more texture to public debate (Vargas, 2007).
I’ll try not to panic. I’ll try to be open-minded, to welcome the possibilities of bottom up journalism and “competition from the very public we serve (journalist Kenneth Neil).” In the words of Dave Gillmor, who has expressed my thoughts more eloquently than I could hope to:
"I hope we don’t lose big journalism, but want to see it as part of an ecosystem where all kinds of things from sole bloggers in deep narrow niches to what we have today…where it’s symbiotic as opposed to entirely competitive."
References (accessed May 10):
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=58iZpMRclwI
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2003/05/58856
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112602025.html?
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/09/digging_deeperyour_guide_to_ci.html
1 comment:
After reading countless number of posts supporting citizen journalism, you can only imagine my excitement to read a refreshing and balanced report of the topic. I am currently studying journalism and like you, remain protective of the discipline. I believe the best way to look at the topic is based around Farmer’s article, where he dismisses the notion of citizen journalists. He states that the difference between ordinary citizens and professionals is quality. Anyone can write and to some extent collect, analyse and disseminate information, but the difference and reason that professional journalism will always remain as the dominant news function in our society is the level in which news is produced. It’s accurate, informative, un-biased (despite many bloggers assumption that this is incorrect) and presents a fair report of proceedings and events. Something which isn’t possible for citizen journalists, who are left unaccountable for their actions and mistakes.
Citizen journalists have no accountability to what they write. Stories aren’t sub-edited to check accuracy, information used is normally copied off mainstream media and provide significant bias. Like you said, blogging is one of the main sources of citizen journalism, where bias is expressed in opinionative and unbalanced reports. To produce a story to the level expected of a professional journalist provides years of experience and it’s naïve to think otherwise.
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