In an attempt to address this issue and to contribute to Sooz’s effort, First, what the budding CJ should NOT try to do:<\/p>\n But of course, this is nothing new and in no way different that the \n So, given these limitations, what exactly can Citizen Journalism contribute \n <\/li>\n \n <\/li>\n \n <\/li>\n \n <\/li>\n \n <\/li>\n \n <\/li>\n \n Of course, in the end, it is the marketplace which will decide wherever One of the myriad projects gestating under the wing of the inexhaustible Sooz, of recent front-page fame, is a workgroup to describe, explore and promote the concept of "Citizen Journalism". What exactly is a Citizen Journalist? Other than the starting … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/jimmy1.jpg\")
One of the myriad projects gestating under the wing of
\n the inexhaustible Sooz<\/a>, of recent front-page
\n fame<\/a>, is a workgroup to
\n describe, explore and promote the concept of "Citizen
\n Journalism<\/a>". What
\n exactly is a Citizen Journalist? Other than the starting point that they
\n are most decidedly NOT Professional Journalists, not much is know about
\n this elusive species.<\/p>\n
\n we have been thinking about these questions, about what makes a Citizen
\n Journalist different from the other strange creatures constituting
\n the food chain of the news stream, and what a potential Citizen Journalist
\n should and shouldn’t aspire to. Here’s what we’ve come up with so far:\n <\/p>\n\n
\n for history’s raw material. Instead they must augment and ameliorate
\n conventional journalism, offering roe perspective, depth and humanity
\n to the tone and commentary.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n the hallmarks of their origin in the Blogosphere, CJs are bold and
\n biased, but wear their biases up front and center for all the world
\n to see.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n and paid team of editors, fact-checkers and lawyers ready to back
\n them
\n up in a
\n crisis
\n or confrontation. Conversely, they cannot hide behind the anonymity
\n of an organization.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n studios, cameras, equipment and in-house experts. Their entire
\n operation is home-made, seat-of-the-pants, spare-time and intensely
\n personal.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n get invited to press conferences, speak personally and privately
\n with high-profile
\n news makers or get embedded with US military forces in Iraq.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n or threatened with loss of employment or access, or with promises
\n of money
\n and power. Of
\n course, given the trickledown dynamic of the blogosphere, it is inevitable
\n that players will try to influence or "buy" power bloggers. The recent
\n controversy involving the Dean campaign’s relationship with certain
\n bloggers is an early example of this. There are bound to be more.\n <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n way players, corporate or governmental, have been in bed with (i.e. screwing)
\n conventional journalists for decades. We need look no further than the
\n Bush administrations’ payments to Armstong Williams and other columists<\/a> for examples of how this game
\n works.<\/p>\n
\n to our evolving media infrastructure? Is there enough of a need that
\n CJ can carve out a niche in the information ecosystem? Here are some
\n possibilities:\n <\/p>\n\n
\n often be the first on the scene and provide eye-witness 1st person
\n accounts of
\n news events around the globe.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n from the mainstream media. As anyone who has lived abroad in a
\n country with a truly free press knows, a normal range of journalistic
\n opinion
\n makes the differences between CNN and FOX look like the differences
\n between Greyhound and Peter Pan.<\/p>\n
\n being whose life has been directly impacted by an event can give. Diametrically
\n opposite to the "unaffected-unbiased" sham of the mainstream media
\n this perspective holds that we cannot really understand any event
\n outside
\n of our personal experience without seeing how that event affects
\n and is
\n perceived
\n by someone like us.<\/p>\n
\n reading widely and collating and cross-referencing, the CJ
\n can often generate insights by relating diverse sources and streams
\n that would otherwise go unappreciated.<\/p>\n
\n and dialogs, via comments and cross-postings, which the mainstream
\n press has neither the time nor the format nor the inclination to include.<\/p>\n
\n a potential data bank of millions of working experts in every imaginable
\n field of human endeavor, the CJ can often confirm or reject news from
\n the mainstream media faster than they can check on each other. The
\n work of the font experts on the Dan Rather Texas Air National Guard
\n letters is a case in point.<\/p>\n
\n more powerful than one or a few loud voices are hundreds or thousands
\n of quieter voices raised in unison, especially if they are not clones
\n of each other but individually distinct. The on-line Dean for President
\n story is a good example of this.<\/p>\n
\n via the 24 hour news cycle. The strange case of Trent Lott eulogizing
\n Strom Thurmon is the most quoted example.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n mainstream media writers and stories, function as a much-needed oversight
\n on these self-appointed guardians of public opinion and awareness. Logically,
\n the mainstream media hate the idea of anyone checking up on them,
\n pointing out their inconsistencies and biases, which is why they
\n are so upset
\n and parochial about the whole concept of Citizen Journalism. Although
\n they don’t like to admit it or write about it, professional journalists
\n in America today are a privileged class and
\n increasingly feel removed from and superior to the average man in the
\n street, the consumer of their product. The position and importance
\n of the Fifth
\n Estate in our society is incontrovertible, and enshrined in the very
\n documents which give our democracy life. However, the role of the
\n media as a check on governmental power has grown so complex and important
\n that we must ask the question: Who will watch the watchers?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n there is a desire and demand for the Citizen Journalist in Brave New
\n World of total information access. People will vote with their modems
\n and their eyeballs, and, in the opinion of the Dowbrigade, it is those
\n who most successfully meld insight and entertainment who will have
\n the biggest impact and success in the future.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"