Interesting take

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Listening Post - Citizen journalism - 01 August 08 Part 1

This week, we have put together a special broadcast focusing on what's possibly one of the most debated news trends and one of the most well-known, citizen journalism. Critics call it journalism on the cheap, unskilled hacks putting out stories that are heavy on opinion and light on fact. According to those championing amateur reporters, it is a way to keep mainstream media honest and in some cases, it's just about the only way to get a story out.


Listening Post- Military and media special-10 Aug 08 -Part 2

I believe that the programme has missed a key part of citizen journalism, the fact that they provide analysis of media stories, and tease out the bias that mainstream media in the USA for instance, have shown. The traditional media in the USA, I find, often distorts events rather widely and tries very hard to fit events into a narrative. Check for instance the Hillary Clinton video, which was distorted in order to make her sound as if she was hell-bent on disrupting the convention, when she...wasn't. I also find that there are certain news stories that I know about sometimes two days before they hit national television. That Hillary Clinton and Bosnia thing? I knew about it in the morning. Hell I helped spread the word on the youtube that was assembled drawing attention to the gaffe. Even though traditional media footage was where the info was from, the news media picked up the story in the afternoon. Via concerted DIGGing. The US Attorney Scandals BROKE on www.TalkingPointsMemo.com . After it was amplified by the Netroots? THAT was when the mainstream media deigned to pay attention. Also, well-done blogs can flash out a story more by providing many links to amplify the knowledge that they are imparting. And I can get way better analysis from my fave bloggers than is available on 98% of US news talkshows. Hell, the fact that we actually have to have Media Matters which basically exist to correct misinfo in the media, is proof that traditional journalism has got issues. Otherwise, this si a pretty cool documentary.

Comments

[fengi.livejournal.com]

To continue this analogy further, it's like the miners are clamoring for the quarry to be shut down before they've found an alternate source, while complaining about the decline in nugget quality.

Change is inevitable, but it seems like it will necessitate shifting the structure of reliability, credibility and major resources to different groups, rather than discarding it. And until capitalism withers away, this seems tied to businesses with monetary and legal accountability. I admit I prefer a new version of the old model, because other ways of making blogs reliable - revised libel laws or some ad hoc vetting process - seem unwise.

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, no-one is saying that the trad. media should be shut down. What most people that I read wish is that the media would be better.

[zarq.livejournal.com]

It will likely be impossible to force blogs to adhere to a standard of reporting anyway.