CitizenSpin

Broadcasters give citizen journalists tools to report

The BBC is expanding the number of reports available for UK viewers to download online. Over 80 online news reports covering iconic events from the past 50 years have been made available this week by the BBC.
It follows a move reported here last year in which ITN and Channel 4 in the UK provided online news editing tools for viewers - see the website at www.channel4.com/breakingthenews. The Channel 4 site will also offer master classes with ITN journalists as well as a course in broadcast news.
The BBC bulletins cover a range of events including the fall of the Berlin Wall, crowds ejecting soldiers from Beijing’s Tianamen Square and behind-the-scenes footage of the England team prior to their victory in the 1966 World Cup.
The reports are being offered as part of the The Open News Archive www.bbc.co.uk/opennewsarchive, a new pilot service being offered by the BBC which allows the UK public to use it to create content of their own.
The clips are being made available under the terms of the Creative Archive Licence, which was launched last year by the BBC, bfi, Channel 4 and the Open University. People will be able to download the content, and edit into their own creations.
Helen Boaden, Director of BBC News, says: “This trial is an important step in allowing us to share with our audiences the extraordinary news archive which the BBC has recorded over the years. We look forward to getting their reaction.“

Matt

Citizen Journalists make your own TV news

Channel 4 and ITN have joined together to offer viewers the chance to develop their own ‘citizen journalism’. Breaking the News – developed by indie producer Illumina Digital - enables viewers to produce their own news stories through an online initiative designed to improve media literacy.
ITN will provide images that users can then edit to compile their own packages. The new website can be found at www.channel4.com/breakingthenews and will also offer master classes with ITN journalists as well as a course in broadcast news.

Matt

Citizen-journalism, watch out happy snapper!

Emily Bell, editor-in-chief of Guardian Unlimited, writes in the Media Guardian today about the dangers of encouraging reader-reporters. It’s an issue which has been causing friction between big-media who are trying to encourage new contributors and some of the press unions here in the UK.
There was a rearguard action against citizen-journalism by some in the industry following the London bombings. The Chartered Instituted of Journalists warned against the dangers of ordinary citizens being sent to take pictures or footage of disasters as they unfold. In a report on the subject I produced for BBC Radio Sally Feldman, Head of the School of Media, Arts and Design at the University of Westminster argued that the media had always used eyewitness reports, just that they're not more immediate, and the equipment is more ubiquitous.
In the column in today’s Media Guardian, Emily Bell, again raises the concerns of the CIoJ – this time about terms and conditions for anyone submitting pictures to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
One clause has the sender of the photograph agree “to indemnify Telegraph Group Ltd, against all legal fees, damages and other expenses that may be incurred … as a result of a breach of the above warranties.”
So it appears the Telegraph is trying to protect itself against breach of privacy, libel, or copyright. She goes on to warn:

“More menacing for both media owners and those with images they wish to share - whether via a newspaper website, a sharing site such as flickr.com or even their own blog - is how taking casual snaps can, even in seemingly innocuous circumstances, land you in trouble. Image rights owners, particularly of large and valuable events, are becoming ever more aggressive in pursuing their value.
Fifa, for instance, has decreed that during the World Cup in 2006 no website can run images of the games until an hour after final whistle - an absurd rule for what amounts to a major news as well as sporting event. … The rules of "no one would bother" seem to have also gone by the board when it comes to hunting down copyright infringements. A colleague visited a gallery in the US and took a photo of a sculpture, posted it to his blog, and was pursued by the estate of the sculptor for euros 30 for image rights infringements.”

Where would that leave the citizen-journalist who submitted contributions? It seems big media is trying to protect itself against any litigation.

Matt

Citizen journalists - writing the first draught of history?

The talk or citizen journalism over the past few weeks, and the piece in yesterday’s Media Guardian have prompted a few responses. My attention was drawn to dictionary definitions at ‘Those bastards’ – “a: the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media b : the public press c : an academic study concerned with the collection and editing of news …” – but I’m not sure where looking at historic dictionary definitions takes us.
Clive Davis refers to the article citing Jay Rosen at PressThink who sees the current situation moving towards the hybridisation of blogging and the traditional media.
‘Dawg’ questions how ordinary citizens will get involved if BBC jobs are only advertised in the Guardian – of course the highly successful Guardian online also carries the job ads, and you can find all BBC vacancies at http://www.bbc.co.uk/jobs/ - quite apart from this it’s the job of the producers who are appointed to the new posts to encourage participation from people and empower them to tell their own stories. It’s something BBC local radio has already had some success in doing – BBC Radio Stoke has won awards for its ‘Inside Lives’ project - go have a listen, there are some fantastic stories, and they're well told . Listeners are encouraged to come into the Radio Stoke learning centre and are given the skills in radio writing and production to enable them to record their own stories. These are then broadcast on the radio station. It’s this kind of initiative that I see being extended – enabling ordinary people to tell their own stories.
There are more details of the BBC's ultra local TV news service in today's Media Guardian.
More specifically with regards to blogging, I was talking to Roy Greenslade - former editor of the Daily Mirror, and now Professor of Journalism at City University in London. He suggested that:

“Journalists still have a role, of course, to edit down the huge amount of material into a form that makes it either readable and watchable. They can also provide context, analysis and comment. All of us journalists have to concede that our former claim – to present the first rough draft of history – is no longer valid. More and more, it’s the public themselves who are providing the raw material of news.“

Citizen-journalism isn’t replacing journalists – but it is providing people with the tools in order to tell their own stories. It’s nothing new – journalists have always sought eyewitness accounts, case studies, human interest stories and the like. It’s just that the channels and the speed by which these stories can be told are changing.

Matt

BBC further embraces citizen-journalists

Plans are moving apace for the BBC’s experiment in local television news – jobs for an Assistant Editor, and a number of journalists have been advertised in today’s Guardian. It’s another example of how the mainstream media is embracing citizen journalism here in the UK. This means purely citizen journalism sites have been slow to catch on in this country – as discussed previously, and in this article in today’s Media Guardian.
The BBC already has a highly successful network of regional news programmes - the most watched news programmes in the country – over six million viewers tune in every day. However, the corporation says: “some of these regions are too large to be supplied with truly relevant local news, and 6.30pm is not always the most convenient time for audiences to tune in to their local programme.”
As many as 60 areas throughout the country receive 10 minute local programmes which will be updated every hour. These programmes will be accessible on broadband and digital satellite TV, on digital cable and possibly on remote devices such a mobile phones.
BBC director general, Mark Thompson said:

"Our aim is to create a new model of local television, centred on news, information and community partnerships and we will work with public, private and voluntary sector partners to build and sustain the pilot service. We will also aim to use our viewers' own contributions in new ways, and one producer in each area will work exclusively on developing networks of local contributors and community correspondents."

It remains to be seen how involved local communities will be – but the advert in today’s newspaper says: “viewers’ own contributions will be the cornerstone of the service, with one producer in each locality dedicated to developing local partnerships.”
The pilots will run in the following areas: Herefordshire and Worcestershire; Stoke and Staffordshire; Shropshire; Coventry and Warwickshire; and the BBC WM editorial area, including Birmingham.
As I said in today’s article in the Guardian – we have a strong tradition of local journalism in this country, and with the BBC making moves like this, it stands to get stronger. It’s an example of the big media working with citizen journalists.

Matt

Citizen Journalism to supplement, supplant or die?

There has been a deluge of responses to the Chartered Institute of Journalists warning about encouraging citizen-journalists in the wake of the London bombings. It's prompted quite a debate about the nature or citizen-journalism and what is being achieved.
Jeff Jarvis called it a 'hissy fit' and seeing the motive as protectionist of existing jobs in journalism.
A good discussion is to be found here about ditching the term altogether - and instead thinking about citizen storytellers.
Jack Schofield of the Guardian refers to citizen journalism as 'being dead' - linking to Vincent Maher, who makes a convincing argument for the established 4th estate based on what he calls "3 E's" - Ethics, Economics and Epistemology (knowledge, its foundation and validity).
All the reactions illustrate the debate, and the varying role of citizen journalists, and varying response of big media.
What's also of interest is the line that the Chartered Institute of Journalists were actually pedalling. Their main concern was that ordinary citizens may be encouraged to rush towards catastrophes, disasters or riots etc. I spoke to them and clarified the issue - in fact as part of my day job I set up a discussion on BBC Radio 4 on the issue - click here to listen again (you'll need Real Player). I think the concerns that the CIoJ raised were valied, though they were a little naive in their approach - and yes they were doing it on behalf of their members - so there was an element of protectionism there.
I also have to apologise to Dan Gillmor - I'd set up an interview with him, but because of the time difference and him flying between states, missed our agreed time. He was very understanding about it!

Matt

Mainstream media and classifieds to be killed-off?

A major investment bank has described the established model of newspaper classified advertising is under threat.

I’ve posted before about why big media in the UK seems to be serving those who may make use of citizen-journalist driven sites. Communities with geographical areas in common, or common interests are relatively well served by long established media groups who serve their interests relatively well.
However John Cass at Backbonemedia dropped me a line to draw my attention to:

“The rise of just sites as craigslist.org in the US has meant the death nell for much local classified advertising. What do you think will happen in the UK when advertising slips away to more online sites?”

Now BBC Online is carrying a profile of Craigslist in which Goldman Sachs describes the website as "a real menace" to newspapers, and warns that "all publishers face a significant threat to their profitability".
Perhaps there will be a pincer movement on the established media – from community driven citizen-journalist style sites, and from the erosion of their classified advertising revenue model.
The Craigslist founders Jim Buckmaster and Craig Newmark seem to lrecognise the threat they pose to the future of local newspapers:
"People trust conventional media less and less," says Craig.
Adds Jim: "Where do you want to throw your sympathies? With huge conglomerates or with millions of people who can use our services to get on with their lives?"
Their website is reported to be one of the top 10 internet companies in the world in terms of page views. It attracts more than 10 million unique visitors per month. Its coverage includes 175 cities across 34 countries.
As yet, its potential seems to have been undeveloped and eBay has bought a stake.

Matt

What are journalists for?

The debate about citizen journalists, professionalism, ethics and safety rumbles on. In today’s Guardian former Daily Mirror editor, and journalism professor Roy Greenslade, asks what are journalists for in the age of the internet? Picking up on the debate about citizen-journalism he suggests that unlike some professions, journalism has few barriers to entry.

“One restriction under persistent attack is "professionalism", the notion that a job (a profession) entails lengthy and sophisticated training that closes it off to "ordinary" mortals. This may well continue to be true of medicine and the law - though both have had to adapt in the face of the modern democratic spirit - but it has never carried much weight in journalism. It has long been the case, especially since the National Union of Journalists lost its 1970s battle for a closed shop, that untrained people have walked into jobs in newspapers and broadcasting.
Now, with the internet, there has been a further step-change in what it means to be a journalist because the old media organisations, especially newspapers, cannot regulate entry. Indeed, they are now desperately playing catch-up, trying to cope with the net's apparently limitless possibilities.”

He argues that while blogs and moblogs provide a welter of material online, it is the journalists job to make sense of it all – to add context and explanation, or edit the material into a form that is easy for readers and viewers to absorb.
He uses the two photographic sites to draw a comparison. flickr.com, representing the new age of information where people upload photographs and allow others to browse and draw their own conclusions. In the aftermath of the London bombings hundreds of people uploaded pictures for people to view. Scoopt represents the other extreme – acting as a middle man between citizen-journalists who’ve taken newsworthy pictures and the established big media – selling on the pictures.
No conclusion is drawn as to which is a more noble cause.
He concludes:

“What all this suggests is that despite the net providing people with a revolutionary way of becoming journalists, it does not answer the central dilemma of journalism itself: what is it for? Democratisation has burgeoned alongside the "free" market economy that encourages people to believe that everything, including information, has a price. Is that really so great an advance?””

Matt

UK Consumer generated media – will it work?

Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before consumer generated media changes the business model for established media in the UK.

There have been a number of interesting points raised by people after my previous post which suggested sites relying on consumer generated content are failing to catch on here because people are relatively well served by established media.
Jozef Imrich from Bayosphere noted my interest in the project – and my wondering if it would work in the UK. Not only are the people involved bound by a common geographical location – but the site serves the technology community of the area. He also flagged-up a good piece from the Washington Post - Voice of the People – with advice for citizen-journalists on writing a good column.
John Cass at Backbone media also raised the response of big media in the US:

“It's interesting; several local newspapers in the US are using blogging tools to create hyper local content about their area. They encourage local people to become unpaid community journalists. Those people who write credible articles, have their articles published in the online version and sometimes in the print version.”

He also suggests that the business model for local content may be changing with sites like craigslist.org signing the death knell for local classified advertising – I imagine eBay will have had an impact in this area too, and much of the recruitment advertising that big media rely on is going online too.
It could be that as advertising revenue slips away to online sites, that citizen media will fill the gap when the business model for local papers etc. starts to crumble? The other area I thought where citizen media may flourish is specialist interest sites – religious, professional groups, ethnic groups, sexuality etc. But I’m still not sure how the business models for self generated sites like these could work – how would they become self funding? Would the small-ad revenue sustain them?

Matt

Media use of citizen-journalists 'irresponsible' and 'dangerous'

The debate about the watershed in ‘citizen-journalism’ in Britain in the aftermath of the London bombings rages on. The online edition of the UK Press Gazette reports that the use of amateur mobile phone images by the media is condemned as "totally unacceptable" and "bordering on the irresponsible".
The Chartered Institute of Journalists has written to the UKPG with two main objections – the fact that citizen-journalists could be injured, and the fact the TV companies don’t pay for the contributions.
The CIoJ rounded on the commercial TV regional news programme - London Tonight -which regularly made appeals to viewers with mobile phone cameras.
The broadcaster is reported to have said: "Register with us, so we can contact you when a news story breaks in your area, because we want you, the viewer, to feel a part of the exciting world of newsgathering".
It also attacked the BBC for using ‘amateur’ footage. As previously reported here, the BBC is looking to expand it’s trial of using consumer generated media.
It also cited CNN for ‘taking the prize’ for ‘sheer effrontery’ with it’s agreement which demanded people signed away all rights to footage, and giving CNN the right to sell it on to affiliates.
The CIoJ said:

"These TV companies deserve condemnation for their outrageous demands and their disregard for the danger they may be subjecting their viewers to in their attempt to obtain picture material. Just in case anyone thinks these dangers are exaggerated, remember that two Press Photographers in recent times have met their death while attending major news stories in London alone. One killed by the IRA Bishopsgate bomb blast in the City of London, the other during rioting in Brixton.”

While the Chartered Institute of Journalists is a professional organisation representing journalists’ interests – it doesn’t represent as many journalists in the UK as the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). The NUJ hasn’t commented so far on the debate.

Matt

BBC likely to extend experiment with consumer generated content

The BBC says it is likely to extend the life on an experimental team which is pioneering the way breaking news is being covered in the wake of the London bombings.
The user generated content hub (UGCH) was launched in May when the existing Have Your Say team, responsible for public submissions to the news website, was joined by producers from News 24, Radio Five Live and newsgathering for a three month trial.
Citizen-journalism was deemed to have ‘come of age’ on the 7th July when bombers struck London – with people sending still pictures and video footage shot on mobile phones to established media outlets. On July 7 the public sent more than 20,000 emails, 1000 images and 3000 text messages to the BBC.
In a statement published on the BBC Intranet today, Pete Clifton, Editor of News Interactive, said:

"Reader contributions have not been a sideshow, they have been at the heart of our coverage. The hub’s key task is to push this material more efficiently around BBC news. It will probably always be impossible to completely marshal the user content we get , but this has been a real step towards us bringing more order to the material we receive."

The Corporation says the new status of user generated content came home on July 8 when the Six O’Clock News ran the first package to be entirely composed of images taken by members of the public, who filmed the aftermath of the bombs.

However, in one of his editorials, Clifton also defended the BBC's appeal for contributions from citizen-journalists:

"A number of you have written to say you are disgusted that we are openly asking for pictures from readers when bombs have gone off. We could be encouraging people to take undue risks to get the pictures, or to invade the privacy of the injured and traumatised."

"We will apply the same editorial guidelines to these images as for any other, and if we feel they are too graphic or intrusive, we won't use them. I certainly don't want people taking risks or behaving insensitively to get the images on our behalf, but I believe the images we used show we can meet those guidelines and make sensible use of material the readers want to share with us. "

It's an example of the cunundrum that citizen-journalism in the big media can pose. Contributions need to be edited, filtered and subjected to the same editorial critera as contributions made by paid journalists.

The debates around this have been raging and some examples include posts by Leonard King who writes:

"During research for an assignment last year I came across this article that proffered an argument that the proliferation of capturing devices such as camera phones would assist us to cross reference, taking away the power of the digital image to be easily manipulated."

The Online Journalism Review also picks through the issues. And The Observer newspaper published this article which has wide range of examples of the practical applications for citizien snappers. They include the peoples' paparazzi, phone-camera footage being broadcast by the BBC’s Crimewatch programme as part of a murder inquiry, and a man who was bitten by an unidentified spider and given the correct antidote when doctors sent of pictures from his phone to experts at Bristol zoo.

Matt

Citizen-journalism already overtaken by big media in UK?

While Ohmynews is changing the way news is produced in Korea, and Dan Gilmour is changing the way news for the San Francisco Bay Area of the US with Bayoshpere – here in the UK citizen journalism isn’t really taking hold.
The thought was prompted by a conversation with a journalist from the Media Guardian. He was wondering why citizen journalism was catching-on elsewhere in the world but not here.

Yes, I’ve previously posted about the amazing response from the public when it comes to reporting the London bombing. Although, since the initial coverage there have been a number of articles questioning the role of citizen-journalism. Mark Glaser at the Online Journalism Review covers a number of angles – including the account of a victim who says:

"The victims were being triaged at the station entrance by Tube staff and as I could see little more I could do so I got out of the way and left," he wrote. "As I stepped out people with camera phones vied to try and take pictures of the worst victims. In crisis some people are cruel."

And this people’s paparazzi concerned John Naughton at the Guardian who wrote of ‘ghoulish voyeurism’. Although, when recent arrests were made, ITN and the Daily Mail bought-up material shot by bystanders for an exclusive on the arrest of two men in West London. ITN's enthusiasm can be seen by the wide range of contributions and contribution methods they invite.

The enthusiasm of the big-media in Britain for citizen driven content could be one reason as to why dedicated citizen journalism sites have failed to materialise. And the public are turning to the mainstream media for their coverage. After the 7th July the BBC Web site saw a surge in traffic, and it was inundated with eyewitness accounts - 20,000 e-mails, 1,000 photos and 20 videos. With the mainstream adopting citizen-journalism on this scale, is there any need?
The success of Ohmynews reflects concerns about press freedom in Asia – citizen-journalism provides a viewpoint which may be considered more impartial and challenging. So in this case citizen-journalism provides a new perspective.
Dan Gilmour’s Bayoshpere, offers the chance for people in the area to contribute but it has a focus: “It is a site of, by and for the people of the San Francisco Bay Area, with special attention to the region’s primary economic engine, technology.” In this instance, citizen-journalism is providing coverage for a common interest group with a shared geographical location – silicon valley.

The BBC is even in on the act when it comes to bringing together groups with a a common interest – it’s campaigning site iCan was recently relanched as the BBC Action Network – as covered on BBC News Online.
If you look for examples of people in a defined geographical area in the UK there are many examples of parish council sites - type "Village News" into Google and you get - http://www.pembury.org.uk/, And some of these sites have been brought together with UK villages online.

So, you could argue that people are pretty well served in the UK, with media which is perceived to be independent, and gives a good geographical spread. What citizen-journalims needs to thrive is: dissatisfaction with big media; shared community - geographical or interest based. Perhaps the opening for citizen-journalism is in the area of groups who perceive they’re not well served already – would Muslims think they were well served by the mainstream media in the country at the moment?

Matt

Blogs, podcasts and camera phones shift power from broadcaster to consumer

"What's going on … is a gradual transfer of power from broadcaster, distributor and supplier, to viewer, listener and consumer."

- Ed Richards, from the media regulator Ofcom, talking at the Westminster Media Forum.

The Guardian reported his views that media consumers are being liberated by new technology. Richards is the regulator's senior partner in competition and strategy and believes a phenomenon is emerging as consumers created their own television schedules, music compilations or news footage.

As reported here before, he sees the recent coverage of the London bombings as a watershed. 24-hour news channels, bulletins, camera phones and text messages combined to give a snapshot of convergence in the media industry. Consumers contributed content like never before, and it provided new insights and perspective to the events as they unfolded.

"Much of what we saw in how people communicated with each other, how they shared information, how they found information and followed events offered an acute illustration of many of the trends we see more generally in the UK."

He also told the meeting that he viewed podcasting and blogging as ‘liberating’ media consumers – user-generated content is breaking the domination of ‘big media’, but it’s a phenomenon which has only just started.

"The self-creation of content and the self-distribution of that content . . . is a really important and significant long-term development which we have hardly scratched the surface of."

As such it is difficult to see where it is heading. It’s already clear that big media is jumping on the bandwagon of podcasting, in order not to miss the boat as it did with blogging. And were after that? I was on a DV shooting and editing course recently, and video production is coming down to an accessible price – will videocasting (or whatever the video equivalent of podacsting is) be next?

Matt

London bomb: Citizen Journalism Comes of Age

The explosions in London last Thursday (7/7/05) have seen citizen journalism in the UK come of age. The London blast saw over 50 people lose their lives, and hundreds were injured and trapped on tube trains.
Today’s Guardian newspaper claims ‘Public provides new dimension to media coverage’ – in which it acknowledges the contribution made to mainstream media coverage by ordinary citizens with mobile phones – taking both still pictures and video.
The article quotes the BBC’s director of news, Helen Boaden, who says:

“Within minutes of the first blast we had received images from the public and we had 50 images within an hour. Now there are thousands. We had a gallery of still photographs from the public online, and they were incredibly powerful.”

In fact the BBC experienced unprecedented traffic to it’s web site as a result of the incident.
The BBC, Sky and ITV news made extensive use of video provided from mobile phones, which was able to capture the scene in the tube trains immediately after the bomb blasts.
The BBC received many still images and a number of videos – some of which were used and can still be accessed online. Boaden added:

“It shows there is a terrific level of trust between the audience and us, creating a more intimate relationship than in the past. It shows a new closeness forming between BBC news and the public. We are into a new world now and each big story that happens confirms that.”

Some of the images were deemed too graphic to show, and so it is evident an editorial process takes place before material is shown – however the public are becoming the eyes and ears of newsgathering organisations.

See also:
BBC London: Mobile Phone Videos Submitted by the Public
BBC London (Jon Gaunt Show): Audio of Eyewitness Accounts

Matt

Internet activist sought by BBC social action network

Online activism has been given a boost as the BBC re-launches its groundbreaking iCan site this week. The website aims to help people to get involved in their local community. BBC news online covered its re-launch on Tuesday and the site, renamed Action Network can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/actionnetwork.
The original BBC iCan site was flagged up as an example of citizen power in action by Dan Gillmor in his book ‘We the media’ - which I've previously mentioned in connection with activism. It provides a good example of how publics can come together to become active, and how the Internet can facilitate this.
BBC News Online quotes Martin Vogel, Action Network project leader: "The new look and feel for Action Network makes the site easier to use and the name change will give a clearer indication to the users what the site offers.
"What hasn't changed is BBC's impartial role, providing a neutral platform to help anyone in the UK become more involved in local civic and democratic activities."
What’s also interesting about the site is the way that successful campaigns can feed the BBC’s traditional media outlets – be they local radio, or national TV. So the new media and citizen media is driving the traditional media agenda.

Matt

Brand marketing is dead, long live reputation management

I recently read an interesting article by Ian McKee on the future of band marketing versus reputation management.
He argues that consumers are becoming increasingly immune to advertising on traditional channels, the one-to-many channels: TV, radio, newspapers etc.

He also suggests that many more people now have the ability to communicate with the mass-market via the use of many-to-many media like PCs – he says:

“… today’s entry cost to a media to reach 800 million people (approx internet population, 295m in English and 110m in Chinese being the top 2 languages) is the cost of a PC and an internet connection. And 800 million people have that.”

These new channels lend themselves to consumer-to-consumer communication – where consumers trust each other’s word more than that of a corporation or journalist – see the Intelliseek Trust MEdia report.

Who is best placed to manage the relationship with these new ‘citizen journalists’? The article is well argued – and leaves the world open for PR departments to take over where sales and marketing leave off!

Matt

Political activism encouraged online

I wrote yesterday about Dan Gillmors book 'We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People' ( and mentioned the issue of the Internet and blogs providing a forum for citizens to become active Gillmor quotes the example of iCan, the BBCs attempt a promoting political activism.
So I was interested to come across more examples of similar sites being launched on BBC News today. In 'I will if you will' Tom Steinberg writes about his new project PledgeBank where people can pledge to do something if others do the same. For example:
"I'll set up a residents association for my street, but only if four other people will come to my house to talk about it."
Its the latest in a number of projects from Steinberg which include: FaxyourMP - a site which encourages people to write to their member of parliament, NotApathetic - where people can say why they didnt vote, and DowningStreetSays - where you can read unofficial versions of Downing Street briefings.
All these are great examples of how people are being re-engaged with the political process (with a large and small 'p') by the internet. Online communities are providing a good illustration of Grunigs situational theory of how publics move from being latent publics into becoming aware and active publics. (1)
Matt

(1) Grunig, J.E. & Hunt, T. (1984) Managing Public Relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston.

Will 'Citizen Journalists' win out over big business?

Dan Gilmor introduces the idea of 'Citizen Journalists' in his book - 'We the Media. Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People'. It introduces the concept that the Internet is democratising the producion of the media and he quotes examples of newspapers and web sites produced by the people who consume the media.
Dan Gilmour uses his book to explore the growing power of the 'citizen journalist' - However, he suggests that this poses both a risk and an opportunity for the corporate communications profession, and questions the validity of what can be found online:
"The growth of grassroots journalism has been accompanied by serious ethical issues, including veracity and outright deception. Are traditional values compatible with this new medium?"
In the UK though, a paper produced for the media regulator, Ofcom, goes on to pose the conundrum that the Internet is both democratic, and may yet prove undemocratic. The writers suggest that interactivity enables citizens to be senders as well as receivers of messages - thus undermining the power of the traditional gatekeeper of the media. (1)
So it seems the new wave of 'citizen journalism' may yet give way to dominant commercial players - who may win out in the end . This raises the concern that the Internet may prove undemocratic, and ultimately reduce the diversity of voices.
Matt

(1) Livingstone, S., Van Couvering, E., & Thumim, N., (2004) Adult Media Literacy. A report compiled by the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics, for Ofcom