online journalism: theory and practice week 2 lecture 2 summer 2011 g. f khan, phd dept. of media...
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Online Journalism: Theory and Practice
Week 2
Lecture 2
Summer 2011
G. F Khan, PhD
Dept. of Media & Communication, YeungNam University,South Korea
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.”
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 something
So 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 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
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 side
iReport and Steve JobsReport posted that Steve Jobs
had heart attackFalse, 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