Online Journalism: Theory and Practice

Week 2Lecture 2

Summer 2011

G. F Khan, PhDDept. of Media & Communication, YeungNam University,

South Korea

Part 2

Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism

http://onlinejournalism.wikispaces.com/Videos

Citizen journalism

“Is the concept of members of the public playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.” Source: Wikipedia

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

Terms

Participatory journalismOpen source journalism Online journalism Citizen journalism

Citizen journalism

Every citizen is a journalist E.g. ohmynews

모든 시민은 기자다http://www.ohmynews.com/

Most of the articles are written by other freelance contributors who are mostly ordinary citizens.

Who is doing it?

CitizensUsing blogs, wikis, digital storytelling

applications, photo- and video-sharing sites, Traditional media

Some traditional media companies feature citizen journalism, such as CNN’s I-Reporter

Users generated newsuser-generated news website, such as

ohmynews and NowPublic

New York Times blogsInfuses opinions, interpretation, and insight into

articlesNo longer static news environments

uReport Fox News & MySpace

iReport CNN sponsored citizen journalism (“On CNN”)

Who is doing it? Examples

What it covers?

Citizens journalism mostly take local approach, centering on news about a city or even a specific neighborhood, or focus on special-interest topics, such as financial matters or gender issues.

Why is it significant?People report their issues themselves

Provides a complete picture that cannot be seen by an outsider

Due to limitations of access and time traditional reporting may fail to present complete picture

Through blogs, citizen journalists have broken stories about political corruption, police brutality, and other issues of concern to local and national communities.

Why is it significant?

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

Gatekeepers

Gatekeeper conceptA gatekeeper is a person who controls access

to somethingSo what is a gatekeeper in journalism?

Someone who determines the newsHighlights 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

GatekeepersHowever, with the Internet, there have

been a number of gaps in the gate that once filter newsNewsweek chose not to publish the story on

Clinton-Lewinsky scandalIt was Internet reporter Matt Drudge who

posted the story onlineThe freedom of the Internet allows anyone

and everyone to contribute to stories nowTHE GATES ARE NO LONGER CLOSED

Gates now open to any and all info. if you have Internet access

Down side

With no filter information overload becomes an issue.Columbia Journalism Review did a

report on the study of online journalism todayConcluded that the Internet did not

necessarily translate into a better news environment

Down side

Problematic issues with no gatekeeper and everyone being able to participate

SlashdotcomOnline journalism site that relies on people to

report newsPeople 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

Down sideiReport and Steve Jobs

Report posted that Steve Jobs had heart attack

False, but reported anywayDescribed as a failure of open

systemsiReport tagline: “Unedited.

Unfiltered. News.”Is this really news? Are editors

even important?

Down side

Lack of professionalismmany citizen journalists have a weaker sense of

what constitutes a reliable story, free of conjecture

Most citizens journalist are not well trained and thus the news stories produced might be inaccurate, offensive, or otherwise lack credibility.

How to make it work?

Follow StandardsJust the FactsAvoid gossipNo irrelevant opinionsPlagiarismSpelling and GrammarPhotographic IntegritySelf IntegritySource Integrity

How to make it work?

Be unbiasedProvide a balance report by Presenting

competing viewpoints Earn readers’ trustSeparates a mere tale from a legitimate

news storyReceive community feedback on your

story or news

Thank YouQuestions & Comments