Collaboration Celebration!

There is no denying the importance that online communities have served. IReport.com is apart of CNN which encourages citizen journalists to contribute stories. The site uses the phrase “Unedited. Unfiltered. News” –the stories posted by ordinary citizens are raw. They are not edited or checked by CNN before they are posted. CNN uses many of these posts on air for the rest of the public. I think this is a great testament to the power of citizen media. Whether or not you see citizen journalists as real journalists or not, the truth of the matter is mainstream media is taking note of the great power citizen journalists/media has and its effects on not only getting people’s attention but making real change in society. Take Jena 6 for example. This was a story that had been going on for a couple months before it was presented to the mass public. This story which took place in a remote small town in Louisiana was able to be brought to the forefront of news media because of citizen media. It makes me think, if it were not for online communities would we have even known about the Jena 6 situation? One of the things I find most appealing about citizen journalists is that it puts the power in citizens’ hands. Instead of being dictated by mainstream media what news is most important, citizens can choose what they believe needs coverage. I came across a website called spot.us. The purpose of the site is to have “community funded reporting”. How it works is citizen journalists can hirer professional journalists to investigate stories that are important but are overlooked in mainstream media. I find this grassroots website especially significant because it represents a shift in how we find and report news to a collaboration of independent reporters, community members and news organizations.

Tony Blair on Citizen Media

The students of CS400H are not the only ones talking about the significance of citizen media. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair knows better than anyone how powerful citizen media is when it comes to politics. For Blair, this was especially evident during the war in Iraq. He looks back at the Gulf War, a time when media had restricted access to live footage of the war. However, today we see things have changed. He refers to citizens as having a “transformative role” in reporting world issues.
With citizen media giving an unmediated reality of war political agendas can be interfered. Surely, there were many images and video footage that several governmental officials did not appreciate being put out for public viewing.
LiveLeak.com is a website that citizens and politicians alike have become acquainted with. It’s a site where citizens upload their own personal footage of an event or situation relevant to world issues.

This raises question to how powerful ordinary citizens have on the ideologies of the world. I think the War in Iraq is a prime example of this. President Bush and his allies did everything in their power to convince the world that this war was justified still many were able to prove otherwise. So the question stands, does technology today give citizens the potential to be more powerful than politicians? Do citizen media pose as a threat to politicians? I would think so.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/podsandblogs/2007/01/blair_talks_about_citizen_medi.shtml