A Citizen Journalist's Perspective on Citizen Journalism - A practice in "Blogging in a new media world"

The emergence of online and global media has significantly impacted upon the ways in which contemporary news and current affairs can be consumed and new online media formats such as mp3-downloads, mobile phone alerts,podcasts, blogs and RSS Feeds have completely transformed traditional media consumption.

With the rapid rise in online technologies, traditional newspaper providers have been forced to create online print versions and face the challenges of online ‘produser’ involvement which allows audience members to become users and creators of their own news environment (Bruns, 2008). Oblack states in one of his articles that online media is creating interactive and contribution-based opportunities for readers to “express their opinion, to exchange viewpoints and to participate in public life” (2005, 91). I believe this is an important point as online media contribution is dramatically impacting on the relatively passive position of the reader who before was not able to quickly interact or respond to material. The adoption of new media technologies has also signalled a shift in the distribution and consumption of news with Grossberg (1998, p45) confirming that new electronic means of communication have revolutionized how people communicate and consequently live.

Currently, some forms of news are becoming unique to the online world (Pavlik, 1999, 56). The availability of chat rooms, discussion groups, feedback mechanisms and email links on webpages have meant that online news can now be discussed, analyzed and critiqued much simpler than before (Oblack, 2005, 100). In addition, other digital advances such as podcasting have signified development for public broadcasters in a global sense (Cook, 2006). One direct benefit of podcasting is that it allows people to attain information directly from providers not filtered by the traditional methods of the media (Cook, 2006). ABC Online:Podcasting is a perfect example of a traditional news media company using new technologies such as podcasts to keep up with technology and attract a larger listenership.

New media technologies have rapidly expanded in recent times with web logs or ‘blogs’ becoming popular alternative news providers. According to Downie and Macintosh, blogs can provide readers with niche information and tailored services which allow for people to express their own opinions and analyse specific issues (2006, 11). It can be therefore said that blogs (this link is for the BBC blog network) reflect what people want to see, read and hear which allows users to integrate and customise the news to their particular tastes, lifestyles and opinions (Cook, 2006). This is where ‘citizen journalism’ comes into the equation. Sites such as Indymedia, Slashdot (for technology news) and Ohmynews (Korean opinion leader) are examples of sites which are fundamentally disrupting the “industrial journalism model” (Bruns 2008a). Interesting to not that Ohmynews has the motto 'every citizen is a reporter' as the majority of articles are written by freelance contributors.

Comments and feedback are very important parts of citizen journalism as they allow for rich discussion and evaluation rather than passive media consumption. “Open participation allows a post to be freely and immediately evaluated by anyone. This may result in either positive or negative feedback, in effect rating the quality of the post. This process is constantly evolving, overlapping and interwoven.” This statement is particularly relevant as it links back to my idea that ‘open’ user-generated sites need some kind of monitoring and moderation to ensure consistency and effectiveness. Indymedia in this respect lost impact as anyone could add material which led to irrelevant content flooding and spam issues. One of the most successful ‘open’ gatewatcher sites is Slashdot.org which by comparison uses a communal moderation system whereby users are able to rate the quality of their peers’ contributions. Based on these ratings, articles and comments are “displayed more or less prominently, or even disappear from view if their rating falls below a threshold” (Bruns 2008b). I believe this kind of system is key to the success of these websites as user comments and ratings ensure content is consistent and relatively reliable.

The creation of Youdecide2007 and Qlddecides.com by Axel Bruns and Jason Wilson is an excellent example of citizen journalism at work with the project encouraging users to submit their own articles and critique others with the aim of stimulating debate and discussion. Additionally, citizen journalism moves away from the idea of ‘gatekeeping’, towards a more new form of collaborative news produsage known as ‘gatewatching’ (Bruns 2008b). This process signals a shift away from the traditional news process (see diagram) towards more produser-led content creation and collaboration. This new process bypasses journalists and editors to create bottom-up rather than top-down news coverage. For diagrams explaining these two concepts please see my post 'Gatekeeping vs. Gatewatching'.

Wikipedia could also be considered a form of citizen journalism as users are encouraged to edit articles based on the most up-to-date information possible. For instance, when someone dies or a huge disaster occurs, users are instantly editing wiki entries to reflect the most recent information available. Just like users of Slashdot, Wikipedia users can also be considered gatewatching produsers and content contributors as they are constantly checking facts and improving articles both in terms of reliability and consistency (Bruns 2008b). Articles that have misleading facts are quickly edited by more informed users and once accepted by general consensus become ‘fact’. 

Citizen journalism however raises a number of issues including credibility of sources and ideas, bias in reporting and a lack of the "expert factor". Additionally, produsers are generating content outside of a commercial environment and generally are not paid for their efforts. For instance Tyson Ibele, a 19-year-old from Minneapolis only won $1000 for her intricate and time-consuming advertisment she created for Sony. In a professional agency, an advertisment like this could end up potentially costing millions. 

For more information about the variety of different online news sites now avaliable please click here.

References

1. Bruns, A. 2008. Who controls the means of produsage? Re-public. http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=277 (accessed April 7, 2008)
2. Bruns, A. 2008a. Produsage: Towards a broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation Re-public. http://www.produsage.org/files/Produsage%20(Creativity%20and%20Cognition%202007.pdf (accessed April 7, 2008)
3. Bruns, A. 2008b. Gatewatching, Not Gatekeeping: Collaborative Online News. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00000189/01/Bruns_Gatewatching.PDF (accessed May 10, 2008)
4. Cook, T. 2006. Blogs, the Internet and media diversity. Type Pad. http://trevorcook.typepad.com/weblog/2006/06/blogs_the_inter.html (accessed October 1 2006).
5. Downie, C. and A. Macintosh. 2006. New media or more of the same? The Australian Institute, May 2006: 1-15.
6. Grossberg, L., E. Wartella, D. Whitney, D. 1998. Narratives of Media History. In Mediamaking: mass media in a popular culture. Sage: Thousand Oaks.
7. Oblack, T. 2005. The lack of interactivity and hypertextuality in online media. Gazette: The International Journal for Communication Studies, 67(1): 87–106.
8. Pavlik, J.V. 1999. New Media and News: Implications for the Future of Journalism. New Media and Society, 1(1): 54–8.