Pete June 10, 2018

Citizen Journalism

Exercise

 

Find some examples of news stories where ‘citizen journalism’ has exposed or highlighted abuses of power.

How do these pictures affect the story, if at all? Are these pictures objective? Can pictures ever be objective?

Write a list of the arguments for and against. For example, you might argue that these pictures do have a degree of objectivity because the photographer (presumably) didn’t have time to ‘pose’ the subjects, or perhaps even to think about which viewpoint to adopt. On the other hand, the images we see in newspapers may be selected from a series of images and how can we know the factors that determined the choice of final image?

Think about objectivity in documentary photography and make some notes in your learning log before reading further.

 

Bloggers around the world have been posting their content in every increasing volume over the last 20 or more years. A great deal of this content is news based and is the basis for what has become known as Citizen Journalism.

A definition of citizen journalism is “When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another, that’s citizen journalism.” (Rosen, 2009).

To the casual observer the extent of citizen journalism may not be immediately apparent, however, you may be surprised to know that this type of news gathering was instrumental in the images we saw of the following recent incidents:

Iran’s Green Movement (2009)

The Occupy movement (2011)

The Umberella Protests in Hong Kong (2014)

The Arab Spring (2011)

UK Riots (2011)

Norways Attacks (2011)

9/11 World Trade Centre attacks (2001)

South East Asia Tsunami (2006)

London Terror attacks (2006)

Buncefield Oil Depot Fire (2006)

 

And not forgetting what can be called the “grandfather of Citizen Journalism” the Zepruder footage of John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

And prior to 2016 and the sale of its parent company Corbis images to China Visual Group citizen photojournalist had a dedicated agency to publish their work on Demotix – which I was a member and supplier of content to. Unfortunately, its website no longer available but a read of is Wikipedia page highlight the stories that citizen journalists broke and help to bring to the mainstream.

Back in 2006 writing on the BBC news website Torin Douglas highlighted how that “[in] 2006 the year of the Buncefield oil depot fire, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami and the London bombings, thousands of images and eyewitness accounts poured into the BBC and other newsrooms. Many were broadcast.”.  Douglas states that in an internal meeting “One editor said that before the bombings they’d never have believed such coverage possible.” and relating to Buncefield Oil Depot disaster that “On the morning of the fire at the Buncefield oil depot, the first picture reached the BBC within 13 minutes of the explosion. The first video was a few minutes later. By lunchtime, there were 5,000 images, by the end of the day more than 10,000.”  One senior editor was quoted as saying “ We’re not gatekeepers anymore, controlling the flow of information” he said. “We should use the new technology to engage better with our audience. They can help improve the quality of our journalism.”

Now this is not to say that citizen journalism is perfect, there are concerns over the ethics or editorial control of these stories – for example traditional investigative journalists are expected to have definable/traceable sources  for that information that they write about to ensure credibility and stories a are subject to rigorous scrutiny of their editor before publication. The blogger does not have that be can publish as and when so desires. In the same article, Douglas refers to  BBC an internal meeting about the context the BBC receives from citizen journalists: “Some just want the story to be told, others are seeking a fat cheque. Some want to keep their local community informed, with a website or local TV station. Others – and this includes many of the bloggers – want to change the world.”

The Pro’s of Citizen Journalism

• Citizens can be at the right place at the right time to capture an event.
• It is democratic.
• Through independent outlets it can reveal stories the mainstream would not dare to publish.
• Established news outlets may be biased as they’re under editorial control from owners, shareholders or governments, while citizens have no such influences.
• Much of the citizen journalism is in the form of mobile phone video, there is little doubt about authenticity if it is coming from a current event as it’s not realistic to make any alterations, it is simply shot from the point of view of the bystander.  News organisations, on the other hand, employing professional stills photographers may be careful about what they include in or exclude from the frame, editors are likely to select and crop in order to meet with the story they wish to tell.

The Con’s of Citizen Journalism

• Views may not be balanced or corroborated.
• May lack credibility.
• Motives are various and perhaps suspect
• Ranking of pictures or text may be by popularity rather than importance.
• Stills pictures particularly could have been manipulated or scenes set-up and acted out.
• Safety – the citizen may not be aware of their rights and has no legal or colleague support when putting themselves in danger.
• The less well-established news outlets may not be as careful with the content they accept, and may even look out for outrageous stories just to boost their own readership; this could be exploited by anyone trying to get famous quickly or to distort the truth.
• Citizens may post anything on micro-blogging sites and it can be completely untrue and misleading, there is no control over this.