What is citizen journalism?
So, what is citizen journalism? Citizen journalism is
when people with no professional experience or training collect, compose,
analyze, edit, and disseminate news, information, and other content through
platforms to include websites and blogs. Citizen journalists often utilize
various media such as laptops, tablets, cell phones, digital cameras, and other
mobile and wireless devices. With the distribution of the Internet and the
convergence of media and technology, people are able to produce content and
information on a much greater scale than in times past.
Writing a product review or videotaping and posting the review to YouTube. Analyzing and discussing a town meeting on a website or blog.
Videotaping and uploading the scene of devastating natural disasters. These are
all acts of journalism, though not always in a professionally trained capacity.
We do these things all the time. I sure am guilty of participating in citizen journalism, and it’s not necessarily a bad
thing. For instance, I visit blog sites ALL THE TIME when in search for product
reviews; almost every day, I would have to admit. I have even written or videotaped and posted a few
myself. I have found them to come in handy when trying to decide which purchases to make.
After this week’s lesson, I now consider myself a citizen
journalist, yet aspiring, studying, and pursuing to become a trained professional
in the field of strategic communication or journalism very soon. As a strategic
communicator, how will I make myself (my information, my news, my content) stand
out in a seemingly endless online universe? How will readers, viewers, and all
other audiences filter through an enormous amount of data in search for what
they are looking for?
Filtering through
the online information
Since the Internet and emerging media have blown up, so
has citizen journalism. Now, not only the professionals are producing news for
the world to seek after and indulge in, the average citizens are, too. The Internet
allows us to search for almost any and everything. However, there is so much information on the
web that it has become difficult to distinguish what is fact and what is fiction at
times. Information in the online universe is added at high-speed rates. “Every
minute there are 72 more hours of video on YouTube. 58 photos are uploaded to Instagram
every second. More than three and a half thousand photos go up onto Facebook”
(Nolan, 2012, video). Unfortunately, sources of information are exponential in
number, but every source is not credible the same. How we gather news and
information, as well as the news and information we gather is important.
Personally, I believe that the sources or mediums that we turn to many times depend on the severity of information being sought
after (whether critical or casual information). For instance, when the devastating attacks
on our nation occurred on September 11, 2001, I first saw it on the news. That was the medium I turned to. During
that time of my life, the only sources that were readily accessible to me were
the television and the radio. I do not recall if we owned a computer, and I
definitely did not own a high-tech smartphone like those we have today. More recently, when the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 went missing, my first response
was not to visit a blog site; although, I love blog sites and there are many
professional, credible ones out there. I wanted information that had come directly from the Airlines, the
Malaysian government, the United States government, or another well-known, credible and reliable source, such as local news channels.
In Blogs We Trust?
Fortunately, many credible organizations have jumped on the band-wagon with starting blogs on their websites. As we know, we can trust some of the information posted
on blogs, yet still much of the content has to be carefully filtered through.
When
filtering through online information, try using the “SMELL” test. The “SMELL”
test is a technique I picked up from one of John McManus (2013) posts. McManus
is a former journalist, professor, and now author. He has written for
organizations such as PBS.org, which is where I found this tool.
When
filtering through online information, try using the “SMELL” test. The “SMELL”
test is a technique I picked up from one of John McManus (2013) posts. McManus
is a former journalist, professor, and now author. He has written for
organizations such as PBS.org, which is where I found this tool.“SMELL” stands for:
Source. Who is providing the information?
Motivation. Why are they telling me this?
Evidence. What evidence is provided for generalizations?
Logic. Do the facts logically compel the conclusions?
Left out. What’s missing that might change our
interpretation of the information?
Source. It is always beneficial to search for credible
sources who provide reliable information. As a strategic communicator, it is
also important to attribute sources that you pull information from.
Also, using a variety of sources adds to the quality and strength of
content and can help eliminate inaccuracies.
Motivation. When you are simply looking for accurate
and relevant information, how do you determine if someone is just trying to
inform you or if they are trying to persuade you? Again, this is where attributed sources comes
into play. Informers disseminate information with fairness and usually are not trying
to persuade you based on their viewpoints.
Evidence. Along with the communicator's attributions, you will find
the evidence to support their claim(s). The web can be used
to check any facts and evidence that looks suspect.
Logic. If you are one who keeps up with events and news,
this part may come easy to you. Based on the evidence provided, use your logic to determine if it makes sense. You can rule out or further research any
information that goes beyond the evidence provided.
Left out. Sometimes when communicators omit information, it
can subtly reveal something. Utilizing diversity in sources can help with
comparing facts and evidence to discover what information and details have been
left out.
What an easy way to remember to filter through
information found online!
This has definitely been a knowledge-filled week of
learning for me, and I hope you enjoyed this week’s blog. Visit back next week
at www.myworldofcomm.blogspot.com. Feel free to subscribe to receive my blog posts via email.
See you next week!
References
McManus, J. (2013). Don’t be fooled: use the SMELL test
to separate fact from fiction online. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/02/dont-be-fooled-use-the-smell-test-to-separate-fact-from-fiction-online038/
Nolan, M. (2012). How to separate fact and fiction
online. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/markham_nolan_how_to_separate_fact_and_fiction_online/transcript
Janice,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog about citizen journalism. After we studied and read about citizen journalism, I consider myself to be a citizen journalist too after the lesson and training to be a professional. How I want to stand out is with music. I want to be strategic communicator or public relations specialist for musical artists. I said the same thing about the instant information online and not being able to distinguish fact from fiction. That is why citizen journalist are not taken as seriously as professional strategic communicators. That is true about the source medium. I find myself tuning into the news on television whenever I want the local news or weather report and turn to the internet for things like dates for E3, music album releases, etc. During the missing airline flight that went missing, I stayed on CNN as they were talking about it often. I find myself on the internet for the most part though. Before we started this class I did not really pay attention to blogs but since we started this class I have taken them alot more seriously and have read a few besides the ones in our class. They are very interesting. It is your way to express how you feel about issues in the world. I really like the SMELL test with source, motivation, evidence, logic, and left out. This is a good way to search for your sources that are credible. Motivation, trying to look for accurate and relevant information and making sure informers disseminate information with fairness, I like that. You should always make sure that wherever your information is coming from the people giving it to you are not trying to take persuade you based on their viewpoints. Again I really enjoyed your blog and look forward to the rest of the semester for yours and the rest of our classes blogs.