In today's tutorial, Daniel and I presented on this week's topic and it turned out to be a fruitful discussion on the importance of citizen journalism and the role citizens play in shaping Journalism over the past years. The three main aims of journalism are as follows:
- To serve the publics' rights to know
- To represent the public
- To be independent from any form of control (Meadows, 2011)
- To represent the public
- To be independent from any form of control (Meadows, 2011)
From the class discussion and Q&A, we can observe that most people think that citizen journalism is an inevitable aspect of news reporting in today's context. Especially in Singapore where is media is primarily state-controlled, we are desperate for unbiased news coverage and for our voices to be heard. Citizen journalism has witnessed benefits beyond what mainstream journalism can provide. For example, up to date information and hundreds of footages/pictures are provided from the lenses of citizens' cameras and hand-phones (Think Orchard flooding and Asian Tsunami).
However, as much as citizen journalism is on a phenomenal rise, traditional media should never die off. There are people who still prefer reading hardcopy version of the newspapers, and readers who want credibility provided by established news organisations. Journalism as a profession helps to edit the written pieces provided by citizens and reporters are well-trained to spot any discrepancy or hoax stories cooked up. In my opinion, the direction journalism should uptake is to infuse both traditional and citizen journalism. For example, media organisations could open up to reporting stories provided by citizens which are edited and screened by their reporters. This would meet the main aim of citizen journalism, enabling 'our voices to be heard'.
Reference List
Meadows, Michael 2001, 'A return to practice: reclaiming journalism as public conversation' S.Tapsell and C. Varley (eds), Journalism Theory in Practice, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
-Andy Wang
Hi Andy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your presentation very much. I think you guys had a very clear and easy-to-digest presentation.
I think the three main aims of journalism are not true anymore in today's context, especially the third one. Journalism nowadays are not really free from being controlled. In some countries, like in the US where advertising is the main source of their revenue, journalism is more or less driven by money. In some countries like China, Vietnam, and even Singapore, there's a hand of the government into the way journalism organization is run or conducted. Because of this, the first aim of journalism that it is supposed to do (to serve the publics' rights to know) is also affected. Since journalists don't have complete freedom in reporting and expressing themselves, there are facts and truths that are not reported which they are supposed to. I think the three aims of journalism is not really applicable anymore in today's context.
I totally agree with your notions - that citizen journalism is on the rise and should be embraced while not forgetting about traditional media.
ReplyDeleteIn an ideal world, both aspects of journalism will be able to live happily - traditional media giving prominence to issues brought up by citizen journalism.
However, we do not live in an ideal world and it has come to the point where it's one or the other.
Being able to embrace both these aspects of journalism will allow consumers, the general public, to gain a clearer picture to any story or situation. Journalism came out as a public informant initially so it is only right that journalism look to inform and educate the public as much as possible
Hi Khanh,
ReplyDeleteWhat you have mentioned can certainly be observed in today's media industry, more so in the countries you have mentioned. However, now that citizen journalism is on the rise, I do hope fellow citizens receive accurate information and news that the media tries to hide or portray in a manner advantageous to them.
Hi Terence,
ReplyDeleteIt's true that we have not witnessed a perfect example where both citizen journalism and traditional media embrace each other. I suppose it's they have conflict of interests; traditional media may focus on profit-making while citizen journalism can occur without incurring any costs.