CITIZEN
JOURNALIST The tsunami of 2004 has come and gone devastating several costal areas across several nations.
But one good thing about it is that it has brought to fore citizen
reporters and
journalist. When the tsunami struck the coasts there was no professional reporters from any media houses expect tourists who captured the horrifying images of the tsunami using their handycams and video cameras. It's these footages that the media reporters later used to tell their stories to the world. Since nobody had first had information, some tourists later started their own websites, which is better known as blogers sites today.
Just as in democracy it's the people who decide and elect their representatives. In the same manner it's people who decide what they want to read and see in the media today. For the past several decades news reporting and news dissemination was done and controlled by large media houses who decided what people should know and hear. The media houses in turn fed people with views and opinions that toed their business and political interests.
With current advancement in technology and knowledge people themselves have began to collect, report, analyse and disseminate news and information and this is known as citizen journalism.
The power of citizen journalism is proved by Oh Yeon Ho's website Ohmynews.com. Its a news website based in South Korea. This news site was started about five years ago and it currently employs only 40 reporters and editors who write only one fifth of its contents. While the rest is generated by thousands of freelance contributors who have no formal journalistic training. This site has reduced the circulation of regular newspapers in South Korea and the users of this site is close to 7.5 lakh users per day. Which is why the president of South Korea Roh-Moo-Hyun first addressed the people through Ohmynews, post his election as the president. Since it is this site that is widely credited for his election as the president.
The rise of blogs, wiki and citizen journalist has brought to light the limitations of the regular media reporters, journalist and editors. As is proved in the case of the Columbia space shuttle disaster where journalist wrote half baked theories which was demolished later by bloggers with serious aerospace expertises. After the 9/11 incident the discussions surrounding civil liberties, security and Bush's policy towards Iraq in the U.S isn't been done in the regular media but in the weblogs.
The rise of citizen journalism has a long term implication as people no more need to be confined to the dictums of politicians or corporate bosses who call the shots in several media houses by spending huge amounts on ads. Which sometimes is the main stay of the media houses.
Which means to say that people no more need to be passive consumers of news and they no more need a mass communications degree to write or report news they feel is of at most importance. Any person with a passion to write and a keen sense to spot news around him can report his story to an audience not in his home town but across the globe in a matter of seconds.
Manoj G.Varghese Bangalore, India