NDM News: Citizen journalism and UGC (user-generated content)
1) Read the article from Media Magazine: The Rise and Rise of UGC (Dec 2009). Use our Media Magazine archive, click on MM30 and go to page 55.
2) Create a blogpost where you make notes from the article under the following headings:
examples
theory (audience reception etc.)
benefits to institutions
benefits to audience
wider issues and debates
SHEP (social, historical, economical, political)
3) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
News being generated by ordinary people also known as 'grassroots journalists' or'accidental journalists'
4) What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
(a).....Officers surrounded, tasered and beat him with their clubs. This made it onto prime time news and became an international media sensation highlighting the racism towards African Amerindians. The four officers where later charged with assault bit in 1992 the charges were passed as not guilty. This was verdict was in complete contrast to what the video showed sparking riots of 6 days, where 53 died and around 4000 injured - the costs where of a billion dollars. - non of this would have happened it the on looker at his window dint record what he saw; would have been another hidden incident with no consequence.
5) List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
messageboards
chat rooms
Q&A, polls
have your says
blogs with comments
6) What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
raw and uncompromising footage against the external, behind police line footage professionals have to get. Thus providing a more hard hitting and emotive impact on the audience with a unmediated reality of the situation.
7) What is a gatekeeper?
individuals/ organisations deciding what is and isn’t news,and what will and won’t be broadcast
8) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
9) What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
10) Offer your own opinion (critical autonomy) on the following:
What impact is new/digital media having on:
news stories:
They will start to involve more UGC than their own journalists filming and editing the content. This shift towards UGC may result in temporary journalists stationed at various places amongst current happens, in an even more dangerous environment than they are already willing to emerssee themselves in, resulting in more harsh, raw material being eventually being shown on tv news to the desensitised audience (much like ofcom becoming more and more leanent with ratings compared to the past). This might also lead to either very graphic hard hitting news emerging or much more trival low brow news being created.
the news agenda (the choice of stories that make up the news):
Again, the may become much more brutal, hard hitting and graphic or completely low brow and soft. THe likelihood, concerning the current techniology, this would result in news channels/ episodes/ platforms being one or the other - very few will try to mediate between the two.
the role of professionals in news
Like i said before, it may become more dangerous and risky compared to now because they want to be able to compete with the current way UGC is being placed in live events they care more about getting good footage than their own safety, processional will soon have to follow in order to be able to compete. It may make many people redundant or decrease the amount of people in the profession because it isnt seen as professional anyone because people start thinking 'anyone can do it' resulting in extremely low pays below the true value of the profession or because the news organisations can easily get their hand on better UGC for free. However i am aware if the trend of UGC increases more people will be aware of the ways to make it even more beneficial to them, they may retain themselves from posting content on internet sites where they loss copyrights and instead try to make money out of the footage which no is instead just being flung around social media, they'll understand its value and the sheer reach it can have.
2) Create a blogpost where you make notes from the article under the following headings:
examples
- Change due to development of new technologies such as video phones and the growth of the internet and user-dominated websites.
- 1991- VIDEO CAMERAS became more common; Rodney kind, American american, caught on a high speed chase.....(a)
- Asian Tsunami - DECEMBER 26TH 2004; Accidental journalism - where filming holiday moments and managed to record one of 'the worst natural disasters in recent times. Leading to social networking sites providing eyewitness accounts to a world-wide audience. Forums sharing experiences
- London bombings - 5TH JULY 2005; influenced mainstream news agendas. Raw and uncompromising footage
- Seung-Hui Cho, undergrad 23 year old who mailed writing, photos and videos to NBC News. His first shooting 2 local people (sent the package from local post office) then killing a further 30 people in his 'manifesto' it highlighted his obsession and paranio linking himself to jesus. Reporting also included terrible incident in Virgina tech with footage JAMAL ALBARGHOUTI ahor on his phone, rather than saving his own life he recorded the event lying on the ground near the firing available on youtube and CNN
- Mumbai bombings - twitter and flickr - NOV 2008 - broadcasting tweets covering events live (putting their lives at risk)
- Hudson River plane crash - JAN 15 2009 - plane sinking into the river passangers waiting to be rescued as Janis Krun tweeted; "There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy." - national news organisations quickly sprung into action
theory (audience reception etc.)
- crowd sourcing - eventually leaving media unmediated
benefits to institutions
- online/ internet potential
- fairly free access to footage
benefits to audience
- They are no longer passive receivers of news
- Break news faster than traditional news institutions
- Can access news from various websites and social media sites - Wikipedia news, google news and youtube. - more places to go to access news
- a chance to share their experiences
- Instinct to record over protecting ones own life
- fewer permanent trained staff at new organisations
SHEP (social, historical, economical, political)
- Historically: big institutions created the news and broadcasted them to various passive and receptive audiences.
- social sharability on the internet through ; Bebo, MySpace,YouTube and Facebook.
- Political - unmediated raw content without political restrians (or less so)
- social - individuals willingness to share their own stories the reason for the popularity of the likes of facebook etc.
- social - footage more important than saving ones own life
- political - makes normal genuine news footage seem fake, old fashioned and staged against raw UGC
- P/E - no mediators in the near future?
- those loudest vs those with the valid facts and opinions
- e- less profit for big organisations
3) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
News being generated by ordinary people also known as 'grassroots journalists' or'accidental journalists'
4) What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
(a).....Officers surrounded, tasered and beat him with their clubs. This made it onto prime time news and became an international media sensation highlighting the racism towards African Amerindians. The four officers where later charged with assault bit in 1992 the charges were passed as not guilty. This was verdict was in complete contrast to what the video showed sparking riots of 6 days, where 53 died and around 4000 injured - the costs where of a billion dollars. - non of this would have happened it the on looker at his window dint record what he saw; would have been another hidden incident with no consequence.
5) List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
6) What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
raw and uncompromising footage against the external, behind police line footage professionals have to get. Thus providing a more hard hitting and emotive impact on the audience with a unmediated reality of the situation.
7) What is a gatekeeper?
individuals/ organisations deciding what is and isn’t news,and what will and won’t be broadcast
8) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
- UGC can be sent into news organisations who can choose to air it or not.
- independent media can get around it by posting things on the internet
9) What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
- might show what individuals are interested in, eg. the bbc gets sent in lots of pictures of kittens, but it doesn't mean that is what is important and linked to the 'news'
- changed the landscape of the news as they were the source of the otherwise little acess to self representation but now micro areas on the internet allow for everyone of that group eg. young teenagers, to come together there and represent themselves, they find through CJ that they too have a voice.
- valid opinions and voices vs the loudest with the unimportant/ wrong views
10) Offer your own opinion (critical autonomy) on the following:
What impact is new/digital media having on:
news stories:
They will start to involve more UGC than their own journalists filming and editing the content. This shift towards UGC may result in temporary journalists stationed at various places amongst current happens, in an even more dangerous environment than they are already willing to emerssee themselves in, resulting in more harsh, raw material being eventually being shown on tv news to the desensitised audience (much like ofcom becoming more and more leanent with ratings compared to the past). This might also lead to either very graphic hard hitting news emerging or much more trival low brow news being created.
the news agenda (the choice of stories that make up the news):
Again, the may become much more brutal, hard hitting and graphic or completely low brow and soft. THe likelihood, concerning the current techniology, this would result in news channels/ episodes/ platforms being one or the other - very few will try to mediate between the two.
the role of professionals in news
Like i said before, it may become more dangerous and risky compared to now because they want to be able to compete with the current way UGC is being placed in live events they care more about getting good footage than their own safety, processional will soon have to follow in order to be able to compete. It may make many people redundant or decrease the amount of people in the profession because it isnt seen as professional anyone because people start thinking 'anyone can do it' resulting in extremely low pays below the true value of the profession or because the news organisations can easily get their hand on better UGC for free. However i am aware if the trend of UGC increases more people will be aware of the ways to make it even more beneficial to them, they may retain themselves from posting content on internet sites where they loss copyrights and instead try to make money out of the footage which no is instead just being flung around social media, they'll understand its value and the sheer reach it can have.
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