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After reading Mark Briggs’ chapter on crowd-powered collaboration, journalism seems to be easier than it once was, contrary to Phil Meyer’s quote: “They are raising the ante on what it takes to be a journalist”.
Briggs’ point that journalism is becoming more about social interaction and feedback than it once was made me think about the history of journalism. Did journalists in the nineteenth century write with the intention of not receiving feedback or social discussion? I can’t help but think no. The soul of journalism is clearly portrayed through what exactly what is happening with the rising popularity of blogs. Recording new and impacting events and stories that will ultimately reach word of mouth; blogs just close the elapsing time gap between printed stories and audience feedback and conversation.
I will agree with Meyer’s quote when it comes to multimedia abilities of journalists and the time they devote now to instant updates of news. Because of social media on the internet, news has been sped up and ambitious, committed journalists want to keep up as best they can. All the while, they realize the emphasis of attention grabbing visuals to help improve readership, so having experience in these photographic, videographic, interactive additives makes a journalist more attractive to editors and publishers.
Going back to the chapter though, I thought using citizens to improve the quality of news is fantastic. The example featuring Lila King from CNN helped me understand how exactly the whole thing works. It’s great for publications because it’s like having hundreds of reporters everywhere, but you don’t have to pay them. The only pit fall I can foresee with this is making sure that information from citizens is fact. Fact checking has always been important, but it’s crucial when journalists don’t even know the people they are receiving updates from.
King said that the iReport on CNN has become like a community, so perhaps having repeat sources can build trust but regardless, fact checking is always the most important step in revising stories.
Having blogs encourages a dialogue between the journalist and the public, which makes news less intimidating and authoritative. When people feel as if their opinion will be heard, they are more willing to be loyal to a specific journalist or publication.
I read an article about a reporter who got bought out by The New York Times, and there is controversy over his Twitter account. This Twitter tag includes the acronym ‘nyt’ and The New York Times is claiming that his Twitter and his thousands of followers belong to them. This raises concerns with blog reputations because there’s a question that hasn’t been answered yet: Do journalists’ social media encompass their employer or is it their property to showcase their work and beliefs in one social media outlet?
Citizen journalism is certainly having its impact on what and how news is covered. Which begins the question: what is the point of trained professional journalists? I would like to submit that a formal education hopefully expands your knowledge base particularly through the liberal arts which in turn teaches you how to to think and how to be discerning and how to be ethical in your practices.
I agree, professor. But I also think formal training in journalism allows professional connections to be made and a credibility that citizen journalists may get a late start on. My major is not journalism because every journalist I talked to before college told me majoring in journalism was a waste, and they wished they had majored in English or something else. Focusing largely on journalism in higher education seems only to limit the knowledge one can learn because journalism isn’t difficult to learn, it’s just difficult to master because of other influences that could be learned in concentrations other than journalism.