- What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
A ‘Citizen Journalist ‘is defined as a media user who produces
media texts, for example blogs. The also capture events and things taking place
live and alter the media in to their own personal opinion.
- What was one of the first examples of news being generated by
‘ordinary people’?
The first example of news being caught live was the case of
Rodney King, he was an African-American. After a high speed chase, the 4 LA officers
had surrounded him, tasered him and beat him with clubs. The event was being
filmed by an onlooker from his apartment window. The home-video footage had made
prime-time news and became an international media sensation, and a focus for
complaints about police racism towards African-Americans. The 4 LA Four
officers were charged with assault and use of excessive force, but in 1992 they
were acquitted of the charges. This acquittal, in the face of the video footage
which clearly showed the beatings, sparked huge civil unrest. There were six
days of riots, 53 people died, and around 4000 people were injured. The costs
of the damage, looting and clear-up came in at up to a billion dollars.
- List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by
news organisations.
Ø Message
boards
Ø Chat
Rooms
Ø Question
& Answer
Ø Polls
Ø Have
your says
Ø Blogs
with comments enabled
Ø Social
Networks:
1) Bebo
2) MySpace
3) Facebook
4) You
Tube
- What is one of the main differences between professionally shot
footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
The main difference is that the first hand footage (UGC) is
more hard-hitting and emotive compared to professionally shot footage behind
the police lines as it is an on the seen account.
- What is a gatekeeper?
Gatekeepers are the professional editors and producers who control
what is and isn’t shown on the news live.
- How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
Gatekeepers are becoming less powerful as they cannot control
the user generated content and what is shown on the blogosphere, where small minorities
are able to project their views and ideologies.
- What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the
rise of UGC?
One of the concerns is that they may lose jobs, as the institutions
now use sources from the citizen journalists, also known as crowd sourcing.
Examples
The case of Rodney King, he was
an African-American. After a high speed chase, the 4 LA officers had surrounded
him, tasered him and beat him with clubs. The event was being filmed by an
onlooker from his apartment window. Four officers were charged with
assault and use of excessive force, but in 1992 they were acquitted of the
charges. This acquittal, in the face of the video footage which clearly showed
the beatings, sparked huge civil unrest. There were six days of riots, 53
people died, and around 4000 people were injured. The costs of the damage,
looting and clear-up came in at up to a billion dollars.
Another example is the
natural disaster of the Asian Tsunami on December 26th 2004 was another turning
point for UGC. Tourists were recording one of the
worst natural disasters in recent times. In addition, in the days after the
disaster, social networking sites provided witness accounts for a world-wide
audience, helped survivors and family members get in touch and acted as a forum
all those involved to share their experiences.
A third example, the London
bombings on July 5th 2005, provided another opportunity for citizen journalists
to influence the mainstream news agenda. No one was closer to events than those
caught up in the bombings, and the footage they provided from their mobile
phones was raw and uncompromising. This first-hand view, rather than
professionally shot footage from behind police lines, is often more
hard-hitting and emotive.
A fourth example is the package of writings, photos
and video footage that 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho, an undergraduate at Virginia
Tech, mailed into NBC News. Between his first attack, when he shot two people,
he sent the package from a local post office, before going on to kill a further
30 people. In his so-called ‘manifesto’ Cho showed his paranoia and obsession,
likening himself to Jesus Christ.
The fifth example used is of the Mumbai
bombings in India in late November 2008. As bombs exploded across the city, the
world’s media got up-to date with events through reports on Twitter and Flickr.
The next example is the story of the Hudson River plane crash on January 15th
2009 was broken to the world. With a dramatic picture of a plane half sinking
in the river, and passengers crowded on the wing awaiting rescue Janis Krun
tweeted: “There’s a plane in the Hudson.
I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy.”
Benefits to institutions
The benefits to the institutions
are that they get more than opinion and that they are opened to criticism for
example, blogger who get paid, for advertising on blogs.
Benefits to audience
The benefit to audiences is that
they are able to portray their views more freely and this gives support to a
more pluralistic environment as there are more than 1-3 views on different
debates.
Wider issues and debates
What effect does this have on the
professional journalists if the citizen journalist is able to post up their
footage online?
Social
Wider use of social media, for
example on twitter people can tweet and retweet stories, incidents, pictures
and videos, similarly to Facebook where the audience is able to share their
view and opinions online.
Historical
The turning point was the first ever use of cameras to record and send in video
graphic evidence to portray the tyranny and reality of the world, rather than a
biased view of the newspaper and its institution.
Economical
From an economic perspective, the
use of user generated content saves money for them and is cheaper to use
compared to journalists.
