Jordanporter0909's Blog

Citizen Journalism….an unseen future November 3, 2009

Citizen journalism, also known as street journalism, has been a part of the American institution for centuries. But, only recently has citizen journalism been taken to new heights with the development of new technologies. The mainstream media can either choose to accept and embrace the emergence of street journalism, or try and compete with the overwhelming numbers of civilians able to develop and share news stories and content. Either way, this sort of journalism is shaping the way we consume our news.
We are living in a time where the convergence of media has allowed the people of this day and age to upload, post, and broadcast anything they see noteworthy as news from virtually anywhere. Within the last couple of years citizen journalism has evolved into something that will eventually change the face of the world forever.
The exposure of the tsunami that struck southeast Asia in December of 2004 was one of the most influential moments for social media and its connection to mainstream news. Blogs and groups on social networks like Facebook were able to quickly establish and provide information to both victims and the rest of the world.
The cell phone video shot by a Virginia Tech student named Jamal Albarghouti was not only a disturbing, first-hand look of the shooting that left 32 dead and 23 wounded, it was also viewed by millions of people on CNN and on YouTube. News of the shooting was first assimilated through text messages and blogs to those who were unaware about what was happening on campus. Some questioned whether the student-shot video was actually journalism, but as we’ve learned from class, despite its amateurish nature it unquestionably contributed to how others received the story.

Inventions such as twitter allow everyday individuals to follow their favorite sports players or hollywood movie stars from their own living room. Twitter is allowing ordinary everyday people to connect with and follow famous people and groups. Therefore, allowing people to be updated right then and there on what is happening to people around the world.
There was an instance in may of 2009, where an earthquake in china was reported on twitter before the story ever broke to CNN or any other major press agency. This was the first time ever recorded that this soft of incident had happened. China’s government later banned Twitter and Facebook from the public to suppress the user-generated content being uploaded into the internet public. I believe China was afraid of the overall power user generated journalism can be capable of.

It seems to me that the art of professional journalism is becoming somewhat extinct. With most of generation Y getting their news from social networks and other forms of today’s media, professional media is taking a backseat to members of the public producing and developing their own news. User generated content is something that is relatively new and will continue to assimilate into our culture as more and more people become tech savvy. People no longer have to have a professional background to be able to edit and share news. The quality of this writing may be less than perfect. As long as people classify this form of news as acceptable, citizen based journalism will become a type of social norm for decades.