INTRODUCTION
This article examines how citizen
journalists using the social media affect the activities of the traditional
media, and how the traditional media are positioning themselves to meet the
changing trend in mass media work. In
dealing with the subject, we define citizen journalism; what social media is,
with respect to traditional media; how social media and traditional media
generate content; the steps taken by the traditional media to meet the new
trend; then the conclusion.
WHAT IS CITIZEN JOURNALISM?
The
term citizen journalism refers to a wide range of activities in which
everyday people contribute information or commentary about news events.
From
the layman's point of view, Citizen Journalists are ordinary people who assume
the roles of reporters. A Citizen Journalist is also a socially aware
individual who by virtue of the internet and social media tools such as
Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger gathers information and reports or publishes for
consumption by the society.
WHAT
IS SOCIAL MEDIA?
Social
media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create,
share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and
networks.
Platforms
like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have created online communities where people
can share as much or as little personal information as they desire with other
members. The result is an enormous amount of information that can be easily
shared, searched, promoted, disputed, and created.
Social
Bookmarking tools and news sites such as Digg, Delicious, Reddit, and countless
others make finding specific information, images, or websites increasingly
simple by assigning or “tagging” individual sites with searchable key words.
HOW THE TRADITIONAL MEDIA GENERATES CONTENT
Traditional
media, also known as legacy media before the advent of Social Media and Citizen
Journalism made use of the gatekeeping role of the mass media to select and
filter news stories for content generation. The gatekeeping role generally
implies that editors and journalists will filter news stories for dispersal.
More importantly, the traditional media contrasting the current trend of
user-generated content does manufacture and generate content primarily through
reliance on printing technology, radio and TV production tools for the purpose
of data collection and eliciting of information from their subjects or
interviewees from the field. A typical traditional media house executing TV
production will have its reporters go on the field with their cameramen to
shoot videos and conduct interviews for their periodic news bulletins. This
contrasts the new approach brought forward by the new media which allows for
some professional journalists to generate content for their news bulletins by
just “logging” in to social media. For example, Zainab a reporter at Daily
Graphic posts questions on Facebook to elicit public opinion on social
issues and in turn publish them. The reverse of this will have been that Zainab will trek the streets of Accra to
seek public opinion.
HOW CITIZEN JOURNALISTS GENERATE CONTENT
Citizen
journalists are able to produce news for their prospective consumers through
social media platforms such as facebook, twitter, youtube, among others. They
also use a range of technologies, such as digital audio and video, online tools
for posting and accessing stories, authentication protocols to restrict who can
submit or edit content and RSS to facilitate efficient dissemination of
content. Citizen journalists blog stories about political corruption, police
brutality and other issues of concern to local and national communities.
The
dawn of citizen journalism is gradually changing notion; ‘the reporter is the
first respondent’. A journalist is no longer the only pair of eyes and ears
amid distant chaos, nor is he/she the sole interpreter of budgets, summits, and
geopolitical tensions. It is therefore not surprising that professional
journalists combine their own work with materials found from online sources
which are often produced by citizen journalists.
TRADITIONAL JOURNALISM VS CITIZEN
JOURNALISM
According to
Annabel (2013),''traditional journalism versus citizen journalism, It would be
too far to say that traditional journalism is going down the same bumpy road
VCR(Video Cassette Recorder) went down as soon as the DVC(Digital Video Camera)
was released. Now that social media is increasingly becoming more a tool for
journalism, in the same way the DVC became more popular than the VCR.
Traditional journalism is finding itself moving toward the zeitgeist, where now
as a society we use social media to communicate anything from news to our daily
going on and own experiences. However, it could be possible that these social
media and citizen journalism are in fact the future and a positive factor in
journalism”.
Events such
as Syria uprising and 9/11 have seen a tremendous rise in the amour of citizen
journalism. Mobil phone footage and blogging have all been used by citizen to
communicate these events live across the word. Traditional journalists are even
now using the citizen generated content to add depth to their stories.
Traditional journalism is most certainly still a very respected profession and used every day to report and broadcast
about events happening world-wide, although citizen reporting is becoming more
and more popular as it delivers a truthful and more up-to-the minute aspect.
HOW TRADITIONAL MEDIA IS
STRATEGIZING TO MEET THE CHANGING TREND
Now, ordinary
people with their smart phones are catching the “scoop” than mainstream media.
The traditional media – newspapers, magazines, radio and television – have
therefore become strategic to meet this changing trend.
Cable
giant CNN launched a website called iReport.com which allows viewers to
directly upload videos to the site without the intervention of human editors.
Newspapers in the UK have websites that encourage contribution from the public.
In Ghana, TV3, Joy News Channel and several others encourage ordinary citizens
(not professional journalists) to participate in content generation by
accepting amateur videos on significant events and issues in their communities,
as well as viewer comments and contribution on Facebook and Twitter.
CONCLUSION
The
fine line between citizen journalism and traditional journalism will always be
obvious to the public. They are both two very different types of journalism and
would always be. However the two are merging to gather even now to create a
deeper meaning and truth to news stories. This merging of the two will continue
and they will both adopt aspects such as news and pictures from each other in
order to give stories more depth and value.
REFERENCE:
Educause
Learning Initiative, ‘7 Things You Should
Know About Citizen Journalism’. November 2007. www.educause.edu/eli
Reuters
Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ), Working Paper – ‘The Rise of Social Media and Its Impact on Mainstream
Journalism’. September 2009
Michael
Skoler 2010, ‘Why The News Media Became
Irrelevant – And How Social Media Can Help’. Viewed 19, October, 2013. www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=101897
Annabel 2012, ‘Citizen
Journalism vs. Traditional Journalism’ viewed 19 October, 2013. annabelsworld.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/citizen-journalism-vs-traditional-journalism/
Hanna Nikkanen 2012, ‘They
shoot citizen journalists, don't they? Curating or outsourcing? Opportunities
and threats in post-gatekeeper journalism’ viewed 16 October, 2013. http://www.ifla.org/publications/they-shoot-citizen-journalists-dont-they-curating-or-outsourcing-opportunities-and-thre
DANIEL JAGRI NYAJABROUM –
www.focusonpolitics.blogspot.com
JULIUS HORLA KINIH –
www.mdgsinfocus.blogspot.com
PRINCE CODJOE – www.intentrereneurship.blogspot.com
NICHOLAS CUDJOE –
www.nicholascudjoe.blogspot.com
BRIGHT SENA TSE – www.disabilityinfocus.blogspot.com
SENYO GLADSTONE –
www.studenteductech.blogspot.com
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