As the Arab uprisings have swept across North Africa and the Middle East, it has become clear that the dependency on citizen journalism for the latest scoop, is a trend that’s here to stay. But what are the risks involved when everyone with a mobile phone and Internet access can act as a reporter?
The Egypt uprising in February 2011 was referred to as “The Facebook Revolution” . With the recent exploding development of social media; blogging, tweets, YouTube and other video sharing sites, combined with increased connectivity, dictator governments can no longer hide behind censorship, nor rule by effective manipulation of the truth.
Citizens all over the world are increasingly inspired to speak up against human rights, and mainstream media now turns to ordinary people to cover stories they have limited access to.
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks , recently called social networking and Facebook “the most appalling spy machine that has ever been invented”, in an interview with Russia Today.
But even if personal privacy and integrity seems to be a memory of the past, citizen journalists have taken social media to new levels where it seizes to evolve around narcissistic needs of expressing personal thoughts, and instead is about fighting grave political injustices.
Basic principles of journalism at risk
With almost every citizen now having the ability to report on ground breaking events, we are also faced with the risks of loosing the editorial quality and control provided by established media organisations.
· The ethical dilemma:
How do we deal with the fact that being the first to break a news story, outrules ethical guidelines - especially in countries which lack a tradition of independent journalism. We all remember the mobile footage of Saddam Hussein’s execution, which circulated the Internet minutes after his hanging.
· Getting it right:
In today’s competitive media market, the viewer’s credibility of the news they watch is crucial. With no newsroom, or editor to spot inaccuracies and false material, as in the normal procedure of broadcasting, news agencies always take a risk when trusting amateur reporters. This became very clear when filmed material shown by Reuters , Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya turned out to be old footage, wrongly claimed to have been filmed during the revolts in Syria and Yemen.
· Personal risks:
Journalists reporting from conflict areas take huge personal risks, and when ordinary citizens set out to do their job, it can have devastating consequences. Many of the Chinese bloggers behind the scandal of inadequate building standards after the earthquake last year were later arrested, and instead of reaching their goal of opening up a closed society, more restrictions were instead put on Chinese social media.
Future demands
In the next decades we will see an undoubting decrease in TV ratings, while more and more people turn to the web, and demand to instantly be able to access the latest news on portable tools.
In the next decades we will see an undoubting decrease in TV ratings, while more and more people turn to the web, and demand to instantly be able to access the latest news on portable tools.
Traditional news organisations may now depend on citizen journalism to satisfy the need for immediate and exclusive access to important events around the world, but it is also in their financial interest. The material is often free, or costs a fraction compared to sending a professional reporter to cover the same story.
Thus, international media outlets now face the challenge of creating well functioning business models based on an efficient and fruitful cooperation with citizen journalist, while trying to avoid the obvious risks involved.
So far, CNN has proved to be the most successful with its popular iReport . This online tool allows anyone to upload and share a story, which if it meets the organisation’s standards, will be posted on their website and watched by thousands.
A trend here to stay
With the increased need of fast access to the latest news worldwide, accompanied by the technology to make it possible, there is no doubt that the involvement of citizen journalists will sky rocket in the years to come.
With the increased need of fast access to the latest news worldwide, accompanied by the technology to make it possible, there is no doubt that the involvement of citizen journalists will sky rocket in the years to come.
Mainstream media is faced with no choice but to keep developing safe tools and guidelines to take advantage of this growing, global trend that will completely change the media landscape as we’ve known it.
