Comments on: citizen journalism is not journalism

By: Citizen Journalism: Friend or Foe of Traditional Media » MDIA1001 – Media Literacies

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:16:29 +0000

[...] Nguyen, J. (2009, January 18). Citizen Journalism is not Journalism. Retrieved August 8, 2010, from http://www.jonathannguyen.net/pr/citizen-journalism-is-not-journalism/ [...]

By: citizen journalism is not: melbourne airport example | jonathan nguyen

citizen journalism is not: melbourne airport example | jonathan nguyen — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:19:46 +0000

[...] timing could not have been more opportune, there was some debate after my posting on citizen journalism. [...]

By: Jonathan Nguyen

Jonathan Nguyen — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:20:04 +0000

Hi Paul, it's good to see people are passionate about this topic.

If I may paraphrase, the crux of your argument is that:

Premise 1: TV news lies, and they all tell the lie in ten or two different ways.
Premise 2: If it's on YouTube it must be true
Conclusion: Actually I'm unclear of your conclusion.

Although I believe both your premises are somewhat generalised, it heartens me to know that although our viewpoints differ there are still people who are passionate about news and current affairs. Thanks for taking the time to write your thoughts.

By: jnau

jnau — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:20:04 +0000

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:49:12 +0000

You have not idea, get a live and learn about current media and web practices...

If you watch any TV news, they all tell you the same story in ten or two different ways, they make up stories, they tell lies and they don't tell you all the real facts either.. is that what journalism is about then?

At least if I watched a video in youtube I know it is from the real source and not an edited bullsh*t journalist version of it.

You are so wrong and old fashion, you are about 10yrs behind everyone else.. you will be one of these people blogging cause you won't be able to get a job soon, so except the technology and citizen journalism - suck it up

By: Scorates

Scorates — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:37:40 +0000

I suggest you have a look at the response to Baby Creative's Monster Dan ads for Action For Children.

Citizen Journalism is alive and well and giving the pros a run for their money.

By: Alanna

Alanna — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:13:36 +0000

Yes, yes, yes. I cannot agree with you more.

This is also why the death of the newspaper scares me so much.

By: th2tran

th2tran — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:57:32 +0000

I'm indifferent to the term “citizen journalism”.
Here in Toronto, Canada, we've recently had a power outage (#darkTO) and I found myself jumping onto Twitter–rather than the radio–for updates. Mind you, I didn't constantly stare at the screen waiting for it to refresh; I just subscribed to their RSS feed.
Incidentally, I learned that the room temperature in Toronto without heating in the midst of a Winter freeze is -1C, something I was wondering just a few days just after a snow storm hit us. That's probably something I wouldn't have found out from the mainstream media.

To your last point–will it replace the millions of talented individuals who pore over the information and tell us a story–I think those millions of talented individuals are going to have to pore over twitter channels as well, in the very near future.

By: jnau

jnau — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:40:40 +0000

the same thanks to you! i had an extremely productive writing day yesterday sitting in the sunshine and mulling over these things.

i'll give citizen marketers a read, more food for thought.

By: servantofchaos

servantofchaos — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 10:02:07 +0000

Wow … that's some response, Johnathan!

I like the idea of “citizen journalists”. And even some of the large publishers like MSNBC are using it. Everyone always has an agenda … a publisher/editor/journalist etc may claim objectivity, but it's an impossibility.

Have you read Citizen Marketers (http://www.creatingcustomerevangelists.com/cm/)? It is essentially saying many of the same things … that the means of production have been democratised, giving rise to a whole new form of creativity. This also means that the role of reader comes with new responsibilities — that of critical reading. As you point out, not enough of that is done (in the case of traditional and/or social media).

I think that the issues that you raise are also issues shared with journalism. Quality is an issue in every field of human endeavour. But as with most things, we are attracted to the writings, movies and even music, that most closely aligns with our values. What I like best about it all, is that this is all ushering in an era of widespread systemic change — which brings out the best (and perhaps the worst) in us all.

Thanks for keeping me thinking!