NDM News: Citizen Journalism and hyper-reality

Citizen journalism and UGC (user-generated content)

1) Read the article from Media Magazine: The Rise and Rise of UGC (Dec 2009). Use our Media Magazine archive, click on MM30 and go to page 55.

Examples: 

• A story about Rodney King who was an African-American. After a high speed chase, the police officers surrounded him, tasered him and beat him with clubs. The event was filmed by an onlooker from his aprtment window with a camera and the home-video footage made prime-time news and became an international media sensation, and a focus for complaints about police racism towards African-Americans. Four officers were charged with assault and use of excessive force but in 1992 they were acquitted of the charges. 
• On December 26th 2004, an Asian Tsunami was another turning point for UGC. The footages of the event was mainly from the public citizens who recorded on their smartphones and cameras which can be referred to as "citizen journalism". Due to the tourists recording the disaster instead of the beautiful surroundings, days after the disaster, social networking sites provided witness accounts for a world-wide audience, helped survivors and family members get in touch and acted as a form all those involved to share their experiences. 
• The bombings on July 5th 2005 in London is another example of UGC. Citizen journalism was involved as the public recorded on their smartphones. 
• Twitter and flickr came to the forefront during the Mumbai bombings in India in late November 2008. As bombs exploded across the city, the world’s media got up-to date with events through reports on Twitter and Flickr. There were questions raised, however, that by broadcasting their tweets, people may have been putting their own and others’ lives at risk.
• A final example is the Hudson River plane crash. Where the story began with a dramatic picture of a plane half sinking in the river. 

Theory (audience reception etc.): 

• The uses and gratifications theory proposed by Blumler and Katz suggested that the media at least serves one of their pleasures. WIth the citizen journalism, it was certainly surveillance as the public and every other organisations received a very helpful evidence.
• The hypodermic syringe model was based on early observations of the effect of mass media. It suggests that the media injects its messages straight into the passive audience. This theory is challenged by the idea of citizen journalism as audiences are 'active' in this role rather than 'passive'. 

benefits to institutions 

• Institutions are benefited through citizen journalism due to the fact that it provides them a huge evidence and information which they publicise. Without videos, it would be hard for them to retrieve more information and evidence. 
• Also, citizen journalism provides free content for institutions which they don't have to pay for but they can create sales through publicising the video. 

benefits to audience 

• They are able to support investigations with evidence which they can exploit the lies. An example would be when the police officer pushed Ian Thomlinson who weeks later died, the police offer said they didn't push him which the video camera shows a complete contrast. 
• They are able to voice their opinions. 

wider issues and debates 

• There is no regulation of what is posted so a lot of content can be falsified and/or inappropriate. 

SHEP: 
Social: Within the media, the interaction has changed hugely in the sense that the audience are not "passive" anymore but are more "active" through citizen journalism.

Historical: Cameras became popular and affordable for people in 1991. 

Economic: Citizen journalism allows institutions to save money and not spend as much on footages. From publicising the footages, they can create money off that. 

Political: Typically the gatekeepers are the more powerful - considering the unmanageable amount of content produced, the powerful have less control over what information is filtered/not filtered.

3) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
A citizen journalist refers to an "ordinary person/citizen" that essentially reports neews by creating content such as videos with smartphones and cameras which can be used for evidence. 

4) What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
One of the first examples of news being generated by "ordinary people" was the Rodney King case. There was a riot in 1991 where it led to the police officers being involved in a car chase with a African-American. When they caught him, they surrounded him, they tasered him and they beat him brutally. Luckily, if it wasn'y for an "ordinary person" recording it with their camera, the case would have not much evidence. A random person started recording a video of the police officers brutally beating Rodney King from his apartment window which provided a huge evidence and it led to 4 police officers being charged with assault and use of excessive force.

5) List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
Now the news organisations offer many formats for citizen's participation which include message boards, Q&A, chat rooms, polls, have your says and blogs with enabled comment section. 

6) What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
The footage of the taken first-hand is more emotive and enticing. It gives the consumers a sense of pleasure which makes them think they are there witnessing what is happening. It is more reliable. 

7) What is a gatekeeper?
Gatekeepers go through the process of gatekeeping. Through this, information is filtered for dissemination, whether for publication, broadcasting, the Internet, or some other mode of communication. In other words, gatekeepers, decide what information to include and what not to include.

8) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
Due to the fact that UGC is increasing and many more people have the opportunity to create their own content, it forces gatekeepers to be sorting through many more information. 

9) What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
A primary concern is that audiences being less passive and more active in the content they see, is that their interests are prioritised. The issue with this is that often audiences interests aren't always 'newsworthy'.

What impact is new/digital media having on:

News stories: The new digital media has an impact on news stories through the development of advanced technologies. Technologies like smartphones has benefited both institutions and themselves in the sense that they can record parts of news stories. An example would be the 911 where perhaps the most crucial citizen journalism took place. An "ordinary person" recorded a plane smashing into the building. If this wasn't to happen, people wouldn't believe it as much as there wouldn't be an evidence. 

the news agenda (the choice of stories that make up the news): The news agenda is impacted by the new digital media through the increase in UGC. User generated content allows people to also essentially report on news through recording what is behind the news stories. Through this, the news is starting to become more of the interests of the society. 

the role of professionals in news: The role of professionals perhaps is now less valued due to the fact that anybody in the society can fill their role through providing evidence.