Citizen Journalism Takes Command

Citizen journalism — or collaborative journalism — is said to be replacing traditional journalism in the 21st century.

Everyone knows what traditional journalism is. Those who might be too young to recall it probably have seen an old movie or two that could give them the gist of it. Traditional journalism is all about going door-to-door for the story, hunting down the experts to give their opinions on relevant topics, and looking up information in libraries, office buildings, and nothing being with WWW dot.

In this new internet age, the spread of information is far more rapid than ever before. If you need to find the right person to interview, it’s as easy as a few key strokes on a search engine. Need to get the opinion of third parties or the public? You can find your way to them, too. And all without ever leaving your desk–or smart phone, for that matter.

In checking out Paul Lewis’ Ted Talk on Citizen Journalism from Thessaloniki, Greece, I learned more about how citizen journalism is working for news organizations in particular.

Journalism is everyone’s job. In the age of traditional journalism, expensive, professional equipment was needed to capture sound, video, and still photographs. Now, as a large portion of the population has a smart phone, all of those tools are affordably combined into a pocket-sized device. When breaking news happens, anyone at the scene can immediately capture what’s happen on their device and upload it for the world to see. This collaboration and spread of information is creating the new era of journalism called citizen journalism. The lines of who is a reporter and who is not are blurring. People around the world not directly involved in news media, now get to decide what is newsworthy. And access to links with more information on any subject reported are just as easily accessible. Social media is transforming into the new form of news media.

Even the spread of breaking news becomes faster through citizen journalism. A small post highlighting what just happened can be shared without a conclusion to the story. Adding to that post as the story progresses in real-time is a benefit of citizen journalism. Smaller posts are acceptable in this new journalism realm. Even formal news stations are taking on this method of reporting. In essence, citizens are collaborating with the news media, and vice versa, to disseminate information like never before.

Obtained from http://rwconnect.esomar.org

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