Journalism &Citizen Journalism

Breann BozeRay Wang

Mandy Falkner

Definitions

Traditional JournalismWritten or oral assembly “characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation.”

Citizen Journalism“…when the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another.”

State of Play

Evolution of Citizen Journalism

Cavemen painting events on rock walls

Bible brought to the masses by Gutenberg’s printing press (1400s)

The people could analyze and interpret without the “gatekeepers at the pulpit”

Led to differing public opinions/writings—Protestantism

The Federalist Papers (1787-1788)Hamilton, Madison, Jay

85 essays published in newspapers

Evolution of Citizen Journalism

Newspapers and news networks allow readers to write/phone/send in film footage and other information for public viewing.

Blogs, video (YouTube), cell phones, radio, etc.

Newspapers and broadcast news networks shift to the Internet.

Change in Traditional Journalism

News Networks (broadcast)Increasingly visual/audio societyIncreasingly fast-paced

Stories and footage available on-demand onlineFleeting era of trusted anchor

Newspapers (print)Shifting to the Internet to stay alive

Brings in youth audienceInternet is less expensive than printing methods

American Newspapers Visual

Convergence of New and Old Media

Jenkins’s convergence culture

New York Times blogsInfuses opinions, interpretation, and insight into articles

No longer static news environments

uReport Fox News & MySpace

iReport CNN sponsored citizen journalism (“On CNN”)

Gatekeepers

Gatekeeper concept

So what is a gatekeeper in journalism?Someone who determines the news

Highlights particular stories, promotes trends, restricts the flow of information

Gatekeepers

In the old days, traditional media were the gatekeepers to information

Newspapers were limited in how much they could print

Broadcast was limited in how much time they had to report news

Gatekeepers

However, with the Internet, there have been a number of gaps in the gate that once filter news

The Drudge report

Newsweek chose not to publish the story on Clinton-Lewinsky scandal

It was Internet reporter Matt Drudge who posted the story online

The freedom of the Internet allows anyone and everyone to contribute to stories now

THE GATES ARE NO LONGER CLOSEDGates now open to any and all info. if you have Internet access

Gatekeepers

BenefitsLittle towns which got no coverage on their local events could now do their own reporting thanks to access to new technology.

Gatekeepers

With no filter, except maybe your own interests, information overload becomes an issue.

Columbia Journalism Review did a report on the study of online journalism today

Concluded that the Internet did not necessarily translate into a better news environment

Gatekeepers

Problematic issues with no gatekeeper and everyone being able to participate

SlashdotcomOnline journalism site that relies on people to report news

People submit news on the web, the editorial staff selects the best news, posts them, and allows them to comment online

Works great until Trolls arrived on the site

Gatekeepers

iReport and Steve JobsReport posted that Steve Jobs had heart attack

False, but reported anyway

Described as a failure of open systems

iReport tagline: “Unedited. Unfiltered. News.”

Is this really news? Are editors even important?

Media LiteracyAct/process of accessing, analyzing, evaluating media

How bias and censorship effect message

StandardsJust the Facts

Avoid Hearsay

No irrelevant opinions

Plagiarism

Spelling and Grammar

Photographic Integrity

Self Integrity

Source Integrity

Professional Necessity

Defamation: Libel, Lies, and Slander… Oh My!

Censorship and Realism“Objectivity as an ethical touchstone, as one of my sources said, is faltering in mainstream journalism. It doesn't provide the kind of guidance and direction that it once did…. Problems of finding a believable voice keep growing in mainstream journalism, and this is related to the shift in power.” --Jay Rosen, Associate professor of journalism at NYU, author of journalism blog Pressthink.org

Some places known for taking sides

Against Journalist Codes

Jeremy Glick v. Bill O’Reiley: ~2:38 YouTube example

“Some People Say” YouTube example– Problems with sources

• Incident with CNN Reporter– Controversial CNN Reporter Takes A Vacation

Misleading Info. & Alterations• Factcheck.org (http://www.factcheck.org)

– Site that shows what mass media is showing compared to what the real facts are – Brought by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenburg Public Policy Center; Project of

theirs• SourceWatch.org and PR Watch.org

– Same idea– Like Wikipedia do have ground rules– sourcewatch.org

• Photo editing– photopocus.com--photo retouching and manipulation

– Dartmouth--George W. Bush

– Creates distrust especially today with Photoshop as well as people who know how to use it– Some magazines who doctor photos put in disclaimer to avoid prosecution– Anybody can do this, though; not just magazines

» Orange Rainbow

Concluding Education & Credibility

• “One of the most powerful and enduring raps on mainstream media is that it identifies too much with the people and institutions it cover and too little with the readers who pay good money for subscriptions.” Coverage of airlines, banks, and casinos—all of which is habitually more concerned with corporate earnings than customer service—epitomizes that trend. “The trick,” Johnston wrote, “is a change in perspective” that reframes the news around audiences, rather than sources.”

~Curtis Brainard, Columbia Journalism Review

Citizen Journalism (in essence)

• Citizen journalism has been around since communication began

• Technologies have and will continue to allow citizen journalism to develop and become even more prevalent in society– Issues of credibility and mediation remain

unsolved

• Citizen Journalism vs. Traditional Journalism– Which do you prefer?

“Bibliography”(Online Sources)

• http://www.delicious.com/rwang

• http://www.delicious.com/bboze

• http://www.delicious.com/afalkner

“Bibliography”(Offline Sources)

• Carpenter, Serena.  "How Online Citizen Journalism Publications and Online Newspapers Utilize Objectivity Standard."  Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 85.3 (2008):  531-542.

• Harper, Christopher. "Journalism in the Digital Age." Democracy and the New Media Ed. Henry Jenkins, David Thorburn. Cambridge: 2003. 271-280.

• Henry, Neil. American Carnival: Journalism under siege in an age of New Media. Berkley: University of California Press, 2007.

• Pavlik, John. Journalism and new media. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.

• Regan, Tom.  "Newspaper failures are old news.  Time to focus on solutions." Christian Science Monitor 12 Mar. 2009: 16.