2008 CPRF Presentation

cr e a t i v e nd u s t r i esi

creativeindustries.qut.com

Journalism as Social Networking: Lessons from the

Australian youdecide2007 Project

Professor Terry Flew, Media and Communication, Queensland University of

Technology

Dr. Jason Wilson, e-Democracy Director, GetUp!



Citizen Journalism‒ ‘when the people formerly known as the audience

employ the press tools thy have in their possession to inform one another’ (Jay Rosen)

‒ ‘journalism as a conversation or seminar’ (Dan Gillmor)

‒ ‘challenging the status of the journalist as the sole “expert” or definer of “reality”’ (Chris Atton)

‒ ‘challenge the entrenched division of labour (producers of stories versus consumers of stories) that is the essence of media power’ (Nick Couldry)



youdecide2007 Australian Federal election citizen journalism site



Three Layers of Impact of New Media Technologies

1. artifacts or devices (technologies) that enable and extend our ability to communicate;

2. communication activities and practices we engage in to develop and make use of these technologies;

3. social arrangements, institutions and organizational forms that develop around the use and management of these technologies.



Change factors in journalism (Mark Deuze)

Core elements of professional self-definition

Underlying concepts and applications in practice

Impact of new media technologies

Public service ‘Watchdogs’ to the wider public

‘The public’ using media to tell own stories

Objectivity Neutrality, impartiality and ‘professional distance’

Multiple and conflicting points of view

Autonomy Free from censorship Collaborative production models

Immediacy Time-dependent media Ongoing editing and user involvement (palimpsest)

Ethics Formal code of ethics ‘Ethics on the run’



Journalism as social networking

‘Produsage’ (Axel Bruns) ‘Pro-am’ or ‘semi-pro’ journalism’ (Leadbeater & Miller;

Jay Rosen) ‘Redaction’ (John Hartley) ‘Preditors’ (Toby Miller) ‘Networked journalism’ (Charlie Beckett) ‘Crowdsourced journalism’ (Jeff Howe)



Crowdsourcing projects are generally characterized as being the product of a

few super-contributors and a mass of people who contribute some minor bits.

I've heard this called the "dirty little secret of open source," the fact that most

of the heavy lifting is done, not by the crowd per se, but by a few select

individuals from within the crowd. I'd like to posit another rule: Any

crowdsourcing project must install one go-to guy (or girl) who will thanklessly

toil day and night to keep the project on the rails.” (Jeff Howe, 2007)



Where we’ve had the biggest problem [in citizen journalism initiatives] is assuming that untrained citizen reporters can quickly and adequately replace professional and trained reporters… We do ourselves a lot of damage if we underestimate the training and professional rigors of journalism. I’m talking about the standards and training that go into building a journalist. Journalists don’t just come off the shelf. (Marc Cooper, Huffington Post, quoted in Glaser, 2008)



Types of citizen journalism/ networked journalism work

1. Content work

2. Networking

3. Community work

4. Technical work



Content work

Editing and making content Sustaining a news generating community Managing legal and ethical issues Managing quality issues Generating stories for site ‘stickiness’ and

signposting



Networking

Integrating into broader ecology of mainstream and independent news sources

Visibility and viability Cultivating sources and publicity outlets Re-use of content across multiple platforms and sites



Community work

Service to users including site participants ‘Pros’ as educators and honest brokers Cultivation of ‘super-contributors’ User needs

Training Site-specific information Mediation



Technical work

On-site tech work Off-site tech work Meta-tech work



Conclusions1. Significance of citizen journalism may be more in

prototyping new production models and practices than in overall audience size/user base

2. Relationship between mainstream media and independent sites is more permeable than either side commonly acknowledges - ‘R&D’ of future news production

3. Sharing of experiences is vital, as all initiatives are works in progress rather than finished models

4. Rethinking journalism training and education out of its ‘high modernist’ mode

2008 CPRF Presentation

Technology

Transcript of 2008 CPRF Presentation