The evolution of the mass media can be
attributed to the advent of technology that initially sought to improve it but
has eventually revolutionized it. The role journalism plays in society has
changed over the past few decades; now not the institution that put out
information in the" hypodermic
needle" mode to a dormant audience, it is now an interactive
platform for the vibrant and discerning audience. This has given rise to the
citizen journalist. Defined by Charles Measures as, "Pretty much everyone
who has the means to report what is going in the world around them"- This
definition therefore alienates completely the exclusivity that mainstream
professional journalism may bring. Here, anyone who has access to the
means(internet access and digital technologies) can report, period! That is the
beauty of citizen journalism; a refreshing,
unbiased,propaganda-free,raw,uncensored no holds barred angle to the news. In
other words, no gatekeeping,censorship whatsoever.
The context of the article to is explain the
role of the citizen journalist. To understand the traditional media. The
effects of citizen journalism on traditional media production and the
ever-growing need of these traditional media houses to strategize to meet the
changing trend in mass media work.
Traditional media
consists of the old ways of disseminating
information such as TV,radio,magazines and newspapers among others. These forms of media though have been
overshadowed by the advent of the social media-a term used to describe the new
generation of computerised, digital or
networked information or communication technologies. Examples being internet
based fora , Facebook, Twitter and others. The social media can be described as
the playing field of the citizen journalist. This is platform on which they are
most active, mostly through the use of blogs.
The role of the citizen
journalist has been enhanced greatly by social media. In the past, citizen
journalists would have been contributors to a traditional media content. They
represented simple forms of content(blogs), letters to editors of news papers
and fast paced, raw news from ongoing protests or dangerous war zones. They
hardly or rarely competed with professionals or their ability to satisfy the
audience, but that was then and this is now.
Citizen journalism now competes with its more traditional counterpart
for both quality and impact. For example, a blogger's exposé can shift public
discourse as effectively as an article by a mainstream reporter. Amateur
newscasts from the frontlines of war or disaster zones even before the first
reporter arrives are all clear evidences of how much citizen journalism has
embedded itself in our world today and totally erodes the reporter as "first responder" as was the case
in the past. The journalist now seems to be refiner of thousands of amateur
talent rather than the man at the forefront himself.
The effects of citizen journalism
are more in keeping with the strengthening of the standards of good reportage
than it having an adverse effect on traditional media. Nowadays, traditional news houses are putting
out pluralistic, monotonous stories, thinly biased stories that set the agenda
to correspond with their pre-existing values and views and not necessarily feeding
the audience with the unadulterated truth-And this is what citizen journalism
does not do. For example, the recent market fires had little to no citizen
journalism angle to it and was widely covered by traditional media and was used
as a political battleground in certain sections of the media that had political
affiliations instead of addressing the core factors as citizen journalism would
have done.
In the past, media
houses saw the need to involve an evolving audience in their content without
distorting or taking away from its fact-based module. Therefore, there were
phone-ins on radio and television. Opening of websites solely for comments and
not contribution, and newspapers regularly creating columns for public opinion
where it served as a forum for the ventilation of public grievances on usually
the most topical political issue. The audience's choice of content was
considered at best "frivolity". What the audience wanted to read or
hear about therefore could only be provided by the audience itself as
traditional houses had become, formulaic and methodic in their approach mainly
to protect their reputation and to keep the money from advertising avenues
coming in. Citizen journalism though is a cheap, effective option to the mainstream as technology has
proven with a reach as wide as the sky and a massive impact ability. This
created a financial problem for newspapers, revenues dwindled and people turned
to the internet for their news. This brought the traditional media to a damning assessment of itself and finally
the need involve the audience in its content production. Three key questions
can be asked towards achieving this goal;
1. How to tell good
stories with the use of audience-submitted content
2.How to involve
the citizen journalist in the news
production process
3.How to use the digital
networks as more powerful platforms and
channels for the distribution of content.
Mechanisms are in place
across the traditional media community to answer these pressing questions.
Newspapers nowadays have various applications known is most circles as
"Apps" on cell-phones to
enhance accessibility. Radio and TV websites are constantly asking its readers
to post their own stories and contribute material however
"irrelevant" it may seem. Newspapers are targeting a computer-savvy
breed of journalists to strengthen their position on the new media map.
In conclusion, citizen
journalism has forced the hand of the traditional media. It has amassed so much
power that most of its pioneers are being victimised, Wikileaks founder Julian
Assange and more recently, Edward Snowden(leaker of classified American spy
cables) . It has made the traditional media modern, having it part ways albeit
reluctantly with their archaic and safe ways of operation. In any case, the two
are in a relationship where one benefits from the other without causing any
harm to the other. As media houses are
largely now dependent on citizen journalism stories for most of the content they put out. Traditional media
therefore must define its responsibilities to citizen journalists even to the
extremes like the hackers and whistleblowers. Their work makes them stay
relevant in this day and age of social media. Offering to protect them and
assist them, they have to be seen as partners that dovetail perfectly not
disruptors of the status quo. Censorship, surveillance and other internet freedoms
should be maximized and looked at from different points of view such as the
from the viewpoint of the ordinary person whose voluntary work the organization
is benefitting from.
REFERENCES
1. (Measures, 2013)
2. (DeMers,2013)
3. (Bruno,2010)
4. (Nikkanen,2013)
http://www.socialmediadefined.com/what-is-social-media/
http://www.manovich.net/LNM/Manovich.pdf
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7031.pdf
http://www.manovich.net/LNM/Manovich.pdf
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7031.pdf
http://www.newmedia.org/what-is-new-media.html
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