Blogs and other social media tools have growing influence over the way we get our news. Citizen journalism, where members of the public use these and other tools to participate in the collection and reporting of the news, is shaping the news industry in the process. The shift was clear with the flurry of post-election Twitter activity in Iran.
"I think the Iran coverage will be a historic event — not just in Iran but for social media," predicts Dana Nybo, academic director of Web Design & Interactive Media at The Art Institutes International Minnesota.
But while the Twitter reporting out of Iran put a global focus on citizen journalism, it was certainly not the start of the trend. Web 2.0 is bringing change to the news industry and the public continues to react and adapt to that change, says Nybo.
"Web 2.0 introduced a whole new set of standards to create that custom user experience, and it's taken a couple of years to really respond to the opportunities it's opened," he adds. "We're still growing to understand the power of the web and how [people] uniquely respond to it."
Blogs - a staple on the web and part of many computer users' daily lives - were dismissed as a passing trend early on in their inception, Nybo points out. Now, they've become ubiquitous and more personal.
"It seemed like a few crazy people out there blogging - how they were communicating about their business or their ideas in a whole new way," he says. "[Today] the blogging experience has a more tangible person behind it. They share their life and their experiences. ... It's an incredible opportunity to see the power of the web, and what it can do for you."
Can citizen journalism co-exist peacefully with traditional news outlets? Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab: The Institute of Interactive Journalism, believes it can.
"I think when community news sites published by ordinary citizens do a good job of reporting, they have demonstrated that other people besides those who belong to the tribe called ‘journalists' can do responsible [reporting]," Schaffer explains. "They have allowed communities with little or no media coverage to have a way to find out what's going on. I think the larger effect of citizen journalism has been on communities rather than on the news industry."
Schaffer points to VoiceofSanDiego.org, an independent and nonprofit online newspaper, as a good example of citizen journalism, with its investigative reporting and ability to maintain a staff for four to five years.
But while citizen journalism and those who are part of the movement claim their spot in the news industry and history, Nybo and Schaffer agree that there will continue to be an audience for the traditional news outlets.
"Amateur journalists don't have the skills to do what Big-J journalists do," says Schaffer. "There's room for both."
That's because, in Nybo's opinion, traditional and citizen journalism serve two different groups, at least in part.
"There's still that group out there that needs to be provided with concise and specific info and they don't necessarily want all of the daily details. Another group wants to be part of that experience even if they aren't there and citizen journalism allows them that."
That desire to be part of an experience and share the moment is part of the draw of applications like Twitter.
"Twitter is a great example of how people can share the moment [with a few] words - just a brief two-word emotion," Nybo continues. "Traditional journalism has to tell a story and people are looking for that full story from the industry. They can't print just two words of what's happening in the moment."
As citizen journalism continues to change the industry, Schaffer still thinks that the job market will remain open for aspiring journalists and photojournalists.
But to keep up should schools incorporate citizen journalism into curriculum?
"It's a tool out there. We can't turn our back to the tools available to us," Nybo opines.
Schaffer adds: "I think schools should teach ‘newswork,' which consists of reporting, verifying, producing a story in multiple platforms, entrepreneurship, and filling the gaps. If you do that, you cover all bases."
Regardless of the path future journalists and photojournalists take to get into the industry, Nybo believes there definitely will be a place for them despite the influx of citizen journalism.
"Someone's got to bring this information together to tell a cohesive story," he says. "The audience isn't all techno geeks."
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