TRUST AND AUTHORITY ONLINE

Assignment 4Chenzi XuPauline

TRUST AND AUTHORITY ONLINE

Outline

Introduction-----Summary and key concepts

Analysis--- 3 values to be concerned about journalistic credibility

--- Comparison and contrast about how professional / traditional journalism and online media commitment to truth

---Why online media/blogosphere can be trusted and examples.

Conclusion (our opinion)

Three questions

2

Introduction

Online blogosphere develops very fast

As of August 3rd 2011: 166,808,521 blogs [http://www.blogpulse.com]

One issue raised: TRUST and CREDIBILITY

http://www.blogpulse.com/bplive_full.html

Key points

The READER is more essential than ever.

bloggers gleefully take on the external role of watchdogs on the watchdogs Jane B. Singer

TRUTH: who is credible?

AUTHENTICITY

ACCOUNTABILITY

AUTONOMY

What can affect journalists credibility and the information they give to their readers?

3 values to be concerned about :

Authenticity

Journalists depend more on the organization their work for than on the readers they write for.[A]uthenticity is a matter of individual moral responsibility, not something conferred by or derived from an employer, Hayes, Singer and Ceppos

Readers need to read credible, authentic news written by reliable journalists/bloggers

But one has to be careful: it is not about biased journalists and authentic bloggers: there partial bloggers and credible journalists.

Accountability

Transparency. Journalists must be clear about where, when, how they had their information.According to Hayes, Singer and Ceppos:accountability + transparency = credibility

The medium provides the capability; its up to humans to provide the credibility. And then its up to the community to say its so, Hayes, Singer and Ceppos.

Autonomy

Loyalty (to citizens) Independence

Social responsibility

But now, journalists no longer control who get to play, Hayes, Singer and Ceppos.

And if before journalists autonomy was challenged by governments (and still is in some countries), it is readers who require that journalists be loyal to them, and to them only.

TRADITIONAL MEDIA

ONLINE MEDIA

Representswho?

About Institutional authenticity andinstitutional reputation(representsthe news organization)

About Individual&moral responsibility (represents readers)

Therelationship with the audience?

In traditional media environment,professional journalists simply askreaders and viewers to trust them. (Inother words,the audience is passive.

In online environment, a news storybecomes part of a multi-sourced networkof information about a given topic. This environment is more open andinterconnected, and brings moretransparency. The audience is active.

Howthey works?

Journalists have positioned theirprotected freedom fromexternal oversight as a fundamentalperquisite to the credibility of a FourthEstate able to report impartial truth.This kind of autonomy is relativelydifficult to challenge in the past.However, increased attention toerrors today is an important sign oftrustworthiness.

Participatory media forms and formatsand interchangeable relationship betweenconsumers and providers are very importantfeatures in todays media environment.

Why online media/blogosphere can be trusted

1) bloggers enhance transparency of journalism, always working hard on building trust with their readers.

2) allows readers to interact/participate in social debate. Example : Wenchuan earthquake in China. http://focus.tianya.cn/

3) niche expertise/transparency in motives/ transparency in process/ forthrightness about mistakes

Examples

First lets remember, as the authors said that alternative journalism has always existed: today it is under the shape of blogs, before it was essayists who would write short stories, political parody, so journalism has always been not solely objective reporting.

About trusting blogs: in France, rue89

Conclusion (our opinion)

Both traditional and online media commitment to truth, today, they complete each other to establish the trust for the media industry itself and for the media consumers.

Plus, journalism is based on a relationship journalists and readers. It is up to the journalists to be credible, and the readers to decide who they want to trust, what kind of information they trust, to discern valuable information from partial one, and be critical of what he reads online.

In our modern days, journalism is about mutual trust between journalists and readers: it is an interconnected relationship: journalists need readers more than ever to listen to the readers voice and feedback, and readers need journalists trustworthy news and also challenge the work of journalists.

Our Questions

How do you identify/judge the trustworthiness of news and news providers, is there a standard for you to decide?

In your country, what do you trust more? Citizen journalists who often go online or professional news providers? Please explain why and tell what you know as much as possible.

In what ways we can establish the credibility of online media?

Bibliography

http://www.blogpulse.com/Blood, R. the Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog. New York: Perseus Books, 2002Gillmor, D. We the Media: grassroots journalism by the people, for the people. Sebastopol, CA: OReilly Media. 2004Lasica, J.D. Transparency Begets Trust in the Ever-Expanding Blogosphere. Online Journalism Review. 2005 Singer, J. B. Contested Autonomy: Professional and popular claims on journalistic norms. Journalism Studies. 2005