Friday, October 19, 2012

Now reporting live from…Your cell phone?



As a technology based generation, our phones are our lifelines. They help us communicate with friends overseas, tweet about funny comments, take photos, and the amount of aps that smart phones have available make the options truly endless. For most of us, going a day with out our cell phones, to quote Joe Biden, is just pure malarkey! Little do we know our cell phones could help us to become the next Tom Brocaw.

Citizen Journalism: a growing phenomenon

A fairly new concept is arising along with the increasing demand for smarter phones. This phenomenon is called citizen journalism.  The concept of citizen journalism is simple; it’s based upon public citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information. (Citizen Journalism ) This trend has been made much more prevalent due to the increase in smart phones and social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Citizen journalism is getting increasingly more media attention due to the amounts of mobile devices. But, citizen journalism didn’t necessarily begin when cell phones became popular. While reading about the history of citizen journalism, I learned that it dates back to the 1800s when activists such as Thomas Paine, took action and published his feelings about the government in pamphlets. Fast-forwarding a few decades, citizen journalism became increasingly popular during controversial events. Video footage of the assassination of President Kennedy and the Rodney King riots were filmed by citizens who just happened to be there. (Guide to Citizen Journalism )

The growth of the World Wide Web led to an increase of citizen journalism. It allowed people to voice their opinions on certain issues for a mass audience. Average Joes could blog about pressing issues, issues such as 9/11, the Iraq war, natural disasters, the government, and other current events. Now, we have smart phones making citizen journalism even more prevalent. There is now the ability to write about what is going on in the blink of an eye. Mobile devices are allowing citizen journalists to become even more popular, but is everyone in favor of this trend?

Truth: Something that the media tends to leave behind

At times we are flooded with so much information from the media and news, it makes it difficult to decipher what is true and what is fabricated. Citizen journalism picks up where news falls short. With citizen journalism we see actual footage of pressing issues that open our eyes, giving us the cold hard facts. A website I stumbled upon titled 5 news stories changed by the rise of citizens journalists (New Stories Changed by Citizen Journalism) Really helped me understand the basis of citizen journalism. The stories included raw footage of the 2009 Iran presidential election, the Egyptian protests, and footage from 2010 Moscow Metro Bombings. Three out of the five stories were citizen journalist stories involving police brutality and mistreatment.



The Video that shocked me the most was the Oscar Grant shooting video. It showed police shooting an unarmed and already handcuffed 22 year old. Bystanders witnessing the entire scene took out their camera phones and received footage that later was used as proof in the trial. Eventually convicting the officer who shot Oscar of involuntary manslaughter. This evidence provided by various citizen journalists helped to serve justice, something that larger news mogul’s can fall short on doing.

Citizen Journalism, a friend or foe?

Citizen journalism was in no question a pro, in serving justice for the Oscar Grant case, but there are some cases where it can be seen in a very negative light. In order to be a good, objective journalist, one should be able to leave opinions and bias out of their work. Many argue that citizen journalism does not do that, people become passionate about current issues and when they get footage of police brutality or a large riot, emotions will definitely be involved. (Pros and Cons of Citizen Journalism )

There is also the argument that citizen journalists do not want to be journalist, they may just feel passionate about a certain pressing issue. Or they may capture something that is appalling or disheartening and want to share it with others in order to get word out about it.

All in all, citizen journalism keeps us in the know

Citizen journalism is a great idea. It helps to get news out in a more raw and honest way. What could be more real and believable than actual footage of current events? This is the time for people to really speak up and make a difference and citizen journalism allows that, while influencing and impacting the world.

6 comments:

  1. I completely agree. During the spring semester of my freshman year the Maryland Basketball team upset Duke for a share of the ACC title. The entire campus exploded; students and fans began to jubilantly riot on Route One. People within the riot and on the outskirts of the riot took out their cell phones and began taking pictures, recording videos, and posting on facebook and twitter. Unfortunately the celebration took a turn for the worse when the police arrived. The police beat up many of the rioters when the rioters were not even resisting. This was police brutality and the cops were caught in the act. They were caught by citizen journalists taking pictures, recording videos, and posting on facebook and twitter with their cell phones. Citizen journalists showed the world what happened that night.

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    1. I agree with the ideas outlined in this post. After doing my own research and discovering the pros and cons of citizen journalism I feel that I do agree that citizen journalism is an overall positive thing for society. Reporters can't be everywhere at every moment and this is where the citizens of a certain community come in. These citizens have the power to document and collect information about the reality of a current event that may have been changed by someone who was not present at the event. Citizen journalists have the interesting and exciting opportunity to become a part of the global sharing information network and present unbiased information that leads to a better understanding from the surrounding populace. While I do agree that citizen journalism is a positive for society, I also can see the negative side of this occurrence. Most journalists are taught how to protect themselves in certain situations that they may run into while reporting. This is not true for people who are doing their own investigation and journalism. These citizens may not have any experience in the situations that they are a part of and have the possibility of getting hurt and being exposed to something that is dangerous for them. Jason Stverak brings up this idea on his Journalism Review Blog, "traditional media have put journalism last for at least a decade, cutting thousands of jobs and wondering why readers, viewers and listeners flee. America lost a generation of professional journalists. That is a serious threat to self-government" (http://bit.ly/OU8wgy)
      Overall, I find that there are both pros and cons for citizen journalism but it really depends on what the situation is to decide what the risks vs. the rewards are for an individual.

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  2. Kenly,

    You bring up some great points about the benefits of citizen journalism and how it has evolved over time. I had no idea that this trend first started in the 1800's and has grew over time; I was previously convinced that people began mass reporting eyewitness accounts solely with the beginning of the internet. It is hard for me to imagine any type of news without the internet or modern social media. Also, I completely agree with you and your sources when claiming how influential this type of journalism is. In your example it helped convict a police officer for involuntary manslaughter! It seems like this piece of evidence was the most influential factor in the conviction. This also got me thinking: how would have these news stories such as the ones you referenced be different without citizen journalism? In one example, we can almost be certain that the officers responsible for beating Rodney King would not have been caught.
    I started doing my own research on this interesting topic, and found that citizen journalism is much more than just reporting controversial stories. CNN.com runs a feature called iReport, where users can upload their own video and share their stories. The material does not have to be breaking or controversial, as categories of uploaded material include scenic photos, traffic reports, and/or personal stories regarding their local commmunities. In conclusion, I agree with you; citizen journalism has been very beneficial to reporting a more accurate and wide range of news around the world. It will be interesting to see how the phenomenon continues to evolve.

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  3. Citizen journalism is an interesting idea that could go either real bad or real good in my opinion. Having just a source where every day citizens were reporting news could be cool and fun, but there are many other things you'd have to worry about. Such as honesty. This could lead to a whole ton of fraudy news. In the link provided above by Kenly, they list pro's and con's of citizen journalism. One con that stood out most was how with citizen journalism you happen to see more bias involved. This is currently in use, there are 15 citizen journalist websites in the United Stats (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=List_of_citizen_journalism_websites)

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  4. Many traditional journalists do not agree with the idea of citizen journalism. According to Shane Joseph, he believes that this new phenomenon does not look into facts and could contain false information. Shane Joseph states that citizen journalism allows for unbiased information to be displayed. He also likes the fact that in this type of journalism editors do not have the opportunity to alter or reject his posts. It allows citizens to see the world without having to worry if the information was changed or alter. I agree that citizen journalism is ultimately positive and that it keeps us abreast with current events.

    http://www.broowaha.com/articles/13040/citizen-journalism-vs-traditional-journalism-

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  5. Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! reverse phone lookup

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