The rise of hybrid
and
citizen journalism
Not so breaking news! The news industry is getting turned on it’s head. Not so secret tip: No one really knows what to do about it! But it is there and it has announced itself in a big way.
Just about a month ago Neda Agha Soltan was killed in an anti-government protest on the streets of Tehran, there was no professional journalist who was there to capture and report the incident but it was recorded and uploaded on youtube by an amateur bystander. The clip became a big hit overnight and was aired by all the major news organizations of the world, the incident has become an epic tale of reformist opposition. It is not the only example of this new breed of journalism but it’s undoubtedly the most powerful.
Tweets on twitter, videos on videosharing sites, socialnetworking sites like facebook and blogs have now become a vital source of uncensored news for media organizations around the world, specially in countries like Iran where media persons are not allowed to report controversial issues or even dabarred of entering the conflict zone, news organizations are forced to rely on the feed given by citizen journalists. The impact of citizen journalism is so forceful that Chinese government had to ban youtube as clips of military atrocities on Tibetans were uploaded on this video sharing site by netizens.
Inevitably, with valuable information comes deceptive mis-information and this is one of the demerits of citizen journalism, which has been the major concern for the programme makers who have to strictly verify and cross check the content. Stake holders also complain that citizen journalism is only represented by the youth, the web-savvy community. But this perception is not true as much of the older generation is also using web 2.0.
Another revolutionary form in the field of media which has taken the world by storm is hybrid journalism; here professionals and amateurs cooperate to produce work that neither could manage alone. Over the last couple of years, as longtime newspaper folk have been shown the door en masse, and everyone’s Tweeted and Friended themselves into a public frenzy, a lot of new questions, new challenges and new opportunities have risen from the ashes of all those burned newspapers. Today no news organization meeting is over without discussing which news item is a hit on the web.
But what does this multimedia real time approach to life mean for the way we report and consume the news?
It's no longer just the professionals observing reality from their separate vantage point; it's not pure "user-generated content" and "collective intelligence". The first model is outdated; the second over hyped. The real thing is a mix of the two, using the tools of the Internet: everyone contributes with some slight editing. Hybridization is the sea change in media and knowledge creation and dissemination, and it's popping up everywhere in many journalism-related fields.
and
citizen journalism
Not so breaking news! The news industry is getting turned on it’s head. Not so secret tip: No one really knows what to do about it! But it is there and it has announced itself in a big way.
Just about a month ago Neda Agha Soltan was killed in an anti-government protest on the streets of Tehran, there was no professional journalist who was there to capture and report the incident but it was recorded and uploaded on youtube by an amateur bystander. The clip became a big hit overnight and was aired by all the major news organizations of the world, the incident has become an epic tale of reformist opposition. It is not the only example of this new breed of journalism but it’s undoubtedly the most powerful.
Tweets on twitter, videos on videosharing sites, socialnetworking sites like facebook and blogs have now become a vital source of uncensored news for media organizations around the world, specially in countries like Iran where media persons are not allowed to report controversial issues or even dabarred of entering the conflict zone, news organizations are forced to rely on the feed given by citizen journalists. The impact of citizen journalism is so forceful that Chinese government had to ban youtube as clips of military atrocities on Tibetans were uploaded on this video sharing site by netizens.
Inevitably, with valuable information comes deceptive mis-information and this is one of the demerits of citizen journalism, which has been the major concern for the programme makers who have to strictly verify and cross check the content. Stake holders also complain that citizen journalism is only represented by the youth, the web-savvy community. But this perception is not true as much of the older generation is also using web 2.0.
Another revolutionary form in the field of media which has taken the world by storm is hybrid journalism; here professionals and amateurs cooperate to produce work that neither could manage alone. Over the last couple of years, as longtime newspaper folk have been shown the door en masse, and everyone’s Tweeted and Friended themselves into a public frenzy, a lot of new questions, new challenges and new opportunities have risen from the ashes of all those burned newspapers. Today no news organization meeting is over without discussing which news item is a hit on the web.
But what does this multimedia real time approach to life mean for the way we report and consume the news?
It's no longer just the professionals observing reality from their separate vantage point; it's not pure "user-generated content" and "collective intelligence". The first model is outdated; the second over hyped. The real thing is a mix of the two, using the tools of the Internet: everyone contributes with some slight editing. Hybridization is the sea change in media and knowledge creation and dissemination, and it's popping up everywhere in many journalism-related fields.
No comments:
Post a Comment