So to do something else extra relating to the Consumption and Production lecture, I've decided to look at citizen journalism and how it has grown. This relates as it is a consumer producing media to then be consumed by other users. We contributed to this with our iReports that we uploaded to the internet, free for all to consume and interpret as they saw fit.
The first important thing to note about citizen journalism is that its practionioners are not professionally trained. They can be absolutely anybody contributing to the flow of information. It is easy to confuse citizen journalists with freelance journalists or community journalists. These journalists are not employed under news organisations.
Mark Glaser, a freelance journalist who frequently writes on new media issues, said in 2006:
"The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube."
Another name for citizen journalism is participatory journalism. These fall under five categories as defined by JD Lasica are:
1. Audience participation (such as user comments attached to news stories, personal blogs, photos or video footage captured from personal mobile cameras, or local news written by residents of a community)
2. Independent news and information Websites (Consumer Reports, the Drudge Report)
3. Full-fledged participatory news sites (NowPublic, OhmyNews, DigitalJournal.com, GroundReport)
4. Collaborative and contributory media sites (Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Newsvine)
5. Other kinds of "thin media." (mailing lists, email newsletters)
6. Personal broadcasting sites (video broadcast sites such as KenRadio).
The first ever newspapers were extremely subjective and written by the ordinary citizen. It could be said that this is where citizen journalism began. It was only after the introduction of advertising in newspapers, did journalists receive official training and wrote objectively. Another factor that led to this was the introduction of the inverted pyramid, implemented after receiving messages through the telegraph. The 1988 US presedential election was a jumping point for citizen journalism, where trust in the media organisations began to wane in the public.
Professor Mary-Rose Papandrea, a constitutional law professor at Boston College, notes in her article, Citizen Journalism and the Reporter’s Privilege that
"In many ways, the definition of journalist has now come full circle. When the First Amendment was adopted, “freedom of the press” referred quite literally to the freedom to publish using a printing press, rather than the freedom of organized entities engaged in the publishing business. The printers of 1775 did not exclusively publish newspapers; instead, in order to survive financially they dedicated most of their efforts printing materials for paying clients. The newspapers and pamphlets of the American Revolutionary era were predominantly partisan and became even more so through the turn of the century. They engaged in little newsgathering and instead were predominantly vehicles for opinion.
The passage of the term “journalism” into common usage in the 1830s occurred at roughly the same time that newspapers, using highspeed rotary steam presses, began mass circulation throughout the eastern United States. Using the printing press, newspapers could distribute exact copies to large numbers of readers at a low incremental cost. In addition, the rapidly increasing demand for advertising for brand- name products fueled the creation of publications subsidized in large part by advertising revenue. It was not until the late nineteenth century that the concept of the “press” morphed into a description of individuals and companies engaged in an often competitive commercial media enterprise."
This quote backs up what I was initially saying.
Citizen journalism can be found in many places. Things as simple as blogging can be considered a form of citizen journalism and is an example of the consumer taking in media products and churning them out with their own intepretation and experiences influencing the end product. This can help by "dumbing down" journalism and making it easily interpretable for the average consumer. It also hinders journalism by sending out false or biased messages, which undermines the underlying ideals of journalism by ensuring objectivity in reporting. Nevertheless, news organisations are beginning to realise the benefits of citizen journalisn. These citizens can make their jobs easier by finding news and bringing the stories to them. They can directly upload videos to professional news sites and the news organisations can filter through and find newsworthy stories.
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