Results matching “uk eye witnesse”

Citizen journalism has been haunting newsrooms since Dan Gillmor wrote We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People in 2004. Suddenly, for Gillmor epigone and imitators (not for Gillmor himself), there was a new hero, the citizen journalist, struggling against a bad guy called the traditional journalist.

In fact a very bad guy this old journo: outdated, working for a mainstream media – disgusting, isn’t it ? -, linked to corporate interests, limited by the newsroom horizon, not very well connected (nor well educated) and with no knowledge of what can interest average people! Moreover, truth and accuracy were no longer his cup of tea…

On the contrary, the citizen journalist had so many qualities: as a newcomer, he was young, fresh, innocent, independent, with a lot of new ideas on journalism and democracy and on top of that a real love of truth.

But the problem is that this ideal citizen journalist only exists in some bloggers’ views.

The British Broadcasting Company, which has been lauded for its use of citizen contributions especially during July's London bombings, has made its interactive site, Have Your Say, freer from editing.  Previously, the site's staff reviewed emails submitted by readers and viewers and published only a selected few. Now, the multitudes of reader comments the BBC receives will be posted directly to the website by its public. 

Two weeks ago when the terrible bombings in London took place, citizen journalists played a vital role in disseminating information and photographs (see previous posting). In yesterdays renewed terror they seem to have been less active. At least is this the opinion of Vincent Maher, who is teaching new-media at the Rhodes University School of Journalism & Media Studies, South Africa. According to Poynter he said: "I was forced to conclude that, while waiting and watching what the bloggers were up to, I saw precious little actual citizen journalism ... All I saw was a bunch of armchair critics and, frankly, bland repetition. ... I find it very depressing, as a teacher of this post-it NOW culture, that the traditional media beat the citizens." He does not understand why the traditional media were faster even if they had reactively to go on site whereas many citizens where already there. Instead the blog postings only evaluated or repeated content of traditional media. Steve Outing, Poynter, is more optimistic: "It is early in the grassroots journalism game, so I'm not going to get distressed yet." In his opinion the news media will have to think about how to encourage citizen journalists, for example by paying them like at Ohmynews, a Korean website (see former posting).

Source: Poynter

What started with last years holiday season tsunami in Asia has emerged on the other side of the world... and appears to be establishing itself as a permanent fixture of the media landscape. "User-generated material," images and video via camera phones and blogged reports from ordinary citizens caught in London's July 7th blasts were picked up by major news outlets, adding immediate first hand accounts to the tragedy. While filing out of London's smoke-filled metro system, victims of the attacks with photo and video cell phones recorded the events and sent them directly to Mainstream Media sources such as the Guardian, BBC and Reuters who included the images in their coverage. MSM generally seems to welcome citizen content. Editor of ITV News, Ben Rayner, commented, "It's the way forward for instant newsgathering, especially when it involves an attack on the public." Helen Boaden, director of news at the BBC said, "As people get used to creating picture and video on their phones...they increasingly think of sending it to us when major incidents occur. It shows there is a terrific level of trust between the audience and us, creating a more intimate relationship than in the past." ITV News also contacted witnesses who had blogged their experiences, asking permission to use the text and images they had posted. Ms. Boaden said that within an hour of the explosions, the BBC had received 50 images, a number that within a day had jumped into the thousands. Still, there are precautions that news organizations must take in publishing citizen content. Although he believes that mobile phone images will grow more important with time, John Ryley, executive editor of Sky News warned, "We are very keen to be first, but we still have to ensure (the images) are authentic."

Source: The Guardian