2. Citizen Journalism -
Pros
• Expanded coverage
• More diverse
coverage
• Real time
• Up close, personal
• Engaging
readers/viewers
• Unfiltered
Cons
• Unreliable
• Potentially fraudulent
or a hoax
• Not verified
• Editors/producers
Loss of control
• Too subjective
• Unprofessional
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3. Defining Citizen Journalism
1. Everybody is a journalist
2. Serve as a resource for professional
journalists
3. A tool for professional journalism
4. Catalyst to develop stronger ties between
journalists and citizens/community
5. Journalist standards still relevant
Source: Shifting boundaries: Objectivity, citizen journalism and tomorrow's journalists, Bolette B. Blaagaard
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4. Everybody is a journalist
• Greater pressure on professionals to get it
right
Male, 23:
Now we are under heavy scrutiny from everyone.
If I do a mistake on my story, my readers will be
able to comment on the mistake, identify it,
correct the mistake, and if I don‟t pay attention to it,
I will be a bad journalist and my story goes from a
static product, it transforms itself into a plurality(?)
that is constantly changing, evolving, due to the
contribution of every citizen.
Source: Shifting boundaries: Objectivity, citizen journalism and tomorrow's journalists, Bolette B. Blaagaard
4
5. Resource to professionals
• Providing real-time information on news
happening where reporters are not
• Twitter, Facebook, texts replace The AP,
Reuters
• Creates tension for
reporters/editors/produces grounded in
objectivity, unbiases
• What if … the pictures showing police
beating up a person, but don’t show
what provoked it?
5
6. CNN‟s iReport – The Vetting Process
• Lila King, participation director for CNN
Digital,
• Focused on inviting CNN's global
audiences to participate in the news
• Launched 2007
• “Rigorous, time-consuming”
• Add context and analysis
• Tools to better prepare „citizen journalists‟
6
7. CNN‟s iReport – The Vetting Process
• Lila King on the 5th Anniversary:
• http://www.poynter.org/latest-
news/mediawire/141269/ireport-turns-5-
citizen-journalism-%E2%80%98at-the-
core%E2%80%99-of-cnn%E2%80%99s-
coverage-of-big-news/
7
8. The „Vetting‟ Process
Videos
submitted
iReport Desk
Producers
Contact
Contributors
8%
submissions
accepted
=
C
O
M
M
U
N
I
T
Y
1mm
Registered
iReporters,
2.4 mm
monthly
unique
visitors as
of May
2012
500
submitted
daily
8
9. Verify, Verify, Verify
• Contact contributor directly
• Use other reporters/producers who have sources
on the ground
EXAMPLE:
• Videos starting pouring in of protests in Ibadan,
Nigeria
• Contacted y Boma Tai, a 24-year-old pharmacist
• Protests prompted, in part, due to skyrocketing fuel
prices
• He was participating in the protest
• With help of CNN International reporters/producers,
they created a comprehensive report on protests
9
10. • “CNN wasn‟t really covering that story at all
until we started seeing an outpouring of
contributions of video and photos and
people writing into iReport over and over
for days,” said Lila King, participation
director for CNN Digital. “It made us say,
„Gosh, you know we really need to be
paying attention to this.‟ ”
SOURCE: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/regret-the-error/160045/how-cnns-ireport-verifies-its-citizen-content/
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11. Verify, Verify, Verify
• Use CNN subject-matter experts, affiliates
and local news reports
• Confirm photos – checking metadata of
images to make sure pictures were taken
win the actual location
• TinEye.com: Reverse Photo Search
11
12. Engagement = More content
• Lilia King:
• News gatherers & curators
• Dan Gilmour:
• Collaborators, conversationalists and
listeners
• Steve Safran, director of digital media
for New England Cable News:
• „Participatory Journalism‟ is a conversation
with citizens about news – carefully
edited, filtered – not “1,000 conversations at
once”
12
13. Citizen Journalism Requires Skills
•Barry Parr, founding editor of
Coastsider, San Mateo, Calif. (former
San Jose Mercury News editor
• Created a local news website
•It‟s hard to get people to contribute
•It‟s easy to get people to return a call
when they like your coverage
13
14. Citizen Journalism Requires Skills cont.
•Barry Parr continued:
•To do „citizen journalism‟ well, you
must remain committed to:
• Accuracy
• Being factual
• The truth
• Being thorough
• Being transparent
14
15. Today‟s Discussion Question
•Respond to this – citing examples
supporting or disputing this argument:
“Citizen journalism is a complete
waste of time, devaluing
professional journalists, confusing
readers and viewers and a pathetic
replacement for quality, credible
content.”
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