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The role of journalism
Importance of citizen journalism
Importance of citizen journalism
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Ordinary citizens are presented with many challenges as technology. People have to learn to adapt to these adjusting factors like learning how to detect credibility when it comes to news stories on social media in order to stay educated and be well informed on topics. Many difficulties have formulated within journalism affecting today’s public. Citizens who want to stay informed must learn to overcome the effects in journalism that today’s society presents including the rise of citizen journalists, social media, and the new challenges pressure that journalists are faced with. Nowadays, many believe they can become a journalist and join in on the process of getting stories out to the public. People are now normalizing citizen journalists. The People’s Platform, written by Astra Taylor, explains how professional journalists might become obsolete, just like professional …show more content…
They are attached to their phones which constantly causes them to be on social media. People rely on media for the both local and global news. Social media can affect citizens from being informed in a variety of ways. It allows the reader to choose what topics they want to know more about. Taylor also recognizes that, “. . . for them the news is whatever their friends deem interesting, not what some organization or authoritative source says is significant.” (Taylor 69). Citizens specifically digital natives need to see more than just things they want to view. They need to be educated and aware of topics such as politics, crime, and other world news (Taylor 77). Digital natives have a tendency to read only bytes from the media as opposed to the full article (Taylor 69). The public cannot be educated if they are only reading fragments from articles. People who use social media must recognize its faults in order to be well-informed and distinguish rumors from the
In the past years, social media has grown drastically and is affecting people in many different ways. How is this happening? Those who agree social media is affecting people will convince many because of the spreading of false information, emotional appeal, and the connection social media provides to people and Cass R. Sustein, Nicholas Carr, and Eli Pariser are able to provide this information in their articles or speeches.
It is not uncommon to hear people complaining about what they hear on the news. Everyone knows it and the media themselves knows it as well. Some of the most renowned journalists have even covered the the media’s issues in detail. Biased news outlets have flooded everyday news. We find that journalism’s greatest problems lie in the media’s inability for unbiased reporting, the tendency to use the ignorance of their audience to create a story, and their struggles to maintain relevance.
Technology today is more relied upon than ever before. If one needs to call someone half way around the world, simply take out a cell phone and dial their number. Within thirty seconds, one can be speaking to that person just as if two people were conversing face-to-face. In the same manner, one has access to endless knowledge and resources by the push of a few buttons or the click of a mouse. The use of social media today is becoming more prevalent than ever before because of the convenience it offers.
Over the past few decades, both media and the practice of journalism have changed dramatically. Two major factors that have contributed to this evolution have been digital fragmentation and media consolidation. By giving the general public access to publish their opinions on social media as well as merging businesses together to create large companies with major ownership, we have all been witness to major societal changes in the way we absorb information. Specifically, media consolidation and fragmentation can and have had negative effects on smaller communities as well as the general population in ways revolving around information absorption, transparency, and
Technological advancements created the world in which we live now; where people can efficiently share the latest news and form closer connections with people all over the world through the internet, television, and social apps. Media quickly transformed into an essential and even necessary aspect of human life. Millions around the world utilize and interact with it. The information shared through various media outlets, like Facebook, twitter, news apps etc., shape the way its users view and experience the world. It has become so ingrained into everyday life, that constantly checking and watching the latest news, no matter the media platform, is normal and rarely questioned.
Naturally, journalism would spill over to the Internet and as social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook grew in popularity, so did regular citizens involvement with sharing news. The argument can be made that the explosion of social media journalism was due to frustration from the lack of coverage of news that mattered to society. For example, the lack of subjective coverage of Michael Brown 's death helped with the creation of #BlackLivesMatter and spread of news related to African-American’s and other minorities across the country. After all, journalism is supposed to be a public forum. Millions of people on Twitter share their thoughts and opinions on several topics, furthering the conversation and to some degree challenging society. Things such as “Moments” on Twitter provide us with direct links and summaries to the world’s most important stories and encourage a conversation. According to journalism.org, 63% of users on Twitter and Facebook get their news from these websites. Even more eye opening is that 59% of users on Twitter keep up to date with news stories via Twitter while they are in the process of happening.[3] The rise of social media related journalism has caused some issues however. “Inevitably, as citizen involvement grows, more of our media culture is concerned with talking about news, instead of focusing on original reporting and the vetting of it.”[4] Because the general public has the ability to post as they wish and pass it off as news, it has affected the accuracy of many reports. Many stories lack reputable sources but are shared between millions as an accurate and true story. There are several websites designed to spread inaccurate information. The website www.fakenewswatch.com exists to inform people of these sites in order to avoid mishaps. Recently a Connecticut mom went viral for being involved in an online hoax
To conclude, when public journalism is being practiced, a larger percentage of reports face an innumerable amount of issues that lie in their content, the journalists themselves, and their audience. What is being reported by professionals, traditional journalist, constitutes as “good journalism” because of their ability to maintain and provide accurate, unbiased reports, fulfill being a good neighbor and watchdog, while adjusting to our growing technological advancements with an newer and improved rapid reporting. Thus, traditional journalism holds the persisting dominance over their competitors, public journalism.
Mainstream media such as television, radio, newspapers were the primary source of reliable information before the epoch of the internet. However, the situation has changed. The evolution of modern technology in the world today has led to the continuous increase in the methods of practicing journalism. Social and technological advancements have not only improved the pace and content of this field’s practice, but has extended its genre to online or cybernetic journalism. (Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2007). News websites most of which are owned by major media companies and alternative websites with user generated content such as social networking sites and blogs are gaining grounds in the journalism field of practice. (Nel, n.d). One of the chief forces affecting the practice of journalism nowadays is online citizen journalists. Nel (n.d) defines citizen journalism as “individuals playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and information”. He further adds that “citizen journalism is slowly being looked upon as a form of rightful democratic ways of giving hones news, articles, etc, directly by citizens of the world from anywhere.” One of the major researches conducted in the field of citizen journalism, describes the phenomenon as “individuals who intend to publish information online, meant to benefit a community”, and this information is expected to benefit the audience or the wider population in making decisions for the improvement of their community. (Carpenter, 2010.)
This article focuses on research that reveals the de-professionalization and democratization of traditional journalism. The article explores the consequences of both the relation between traditional journalism and citizen journalism. The author argues that the emergence of citizen journalism is a consequence of the current factors effecting the changes in traditional journalism. The lines between professional journalism content and amateur journalism content have become blurred. The author explains how these factors have shown to affect the field of journalism in areas of employment, media technologies, shifting patterns of media use, and media consumption.
The introduction of the internet to modern society has brought about a new age of information relation. Since there is no longer a need to wait until the next print day, news from all over the world is available at a person’s fingertips within hours or even minutes of the event. With this advent of such easily accessible information, new problems for the news media have also arisen. Aside from potentially losing good economic standing because newspapers are no longer being purchased in the quantities they used to be, the credibility of the information itself is also put into question. No one would argue that credibility of news sources is unimportant, but there is a discrepancy in what takes precedence; economy and speed or getting the information out correctly at the first publishing by taking the time to make sure all facts are checked. The importance of having a system of checks on all information submitted is paramount. People trust what they read and believe it to be so without always questioning. If all information were to not be checked thoroughly, there would be instances where people read an article only for information included to be wrong and they go on believing such information. This can be very dangerous as misinformed people make misinformed decisions. With an increase in errors being made by citizen bloggers and even major publications, many are worried that journalistic ethics and credibility in the news media are being sacrificed in order to maintain swiftness in the news circuit and to retain personal profits. Though getting information to the masses quickly is a major part of the media’s importance, this should not mean that the credibility of that information being presented should be sacrificed for it...
In trying to attract new audiences, news media have begun to transition from reporting to becoming a form of entertainment. With the meteoric rise of social media’s role as a news source, the fight for an increase of diversity in the media, and the ever-growing desire of immediate content, the future of responsible journalism is more important than ever. Ask yourself, why do I think the way I do? Where do my political views originate? How do I prove them? Most likely, it is due to the biased portrayal of issues in the media and the politicization that accompanies what we consume. Now, compare your views to your preferred news reporting entity. More than likely, they are the same.
These sources however do not provide them with information on ‘’real people’’. Professional journalists have difficulty finding and involving regular citizens as sources to recruit information. The positive effect of citizen journalism on professional journalism in this case is that the citizen journalists can function as deliverers of ‘’real people’’ namely the people the citizen journalists use as sources themselves. These people would be trusted local
The impact of the internet on journalism is one area that continues to attract the attention of media scholars. The technology has brought forth a set of opportunities and challenges for conventional media (Garrison, 1996). The last ten years have seen a lot of inventions which have greatly altered the way people access and consume news. Audiences have also “developed more sophisticated and specific demands and tastes for news delivery, thanks in part to the explosion of social media and mobile technology.” (Kolodzy 2013)
Social media can be used in our days as a very helpful tool for many things in changing any person’s life ant attitude. It has a positive impact on the society level. These media will keep the person socially active and open to all what happened in the world. Sharing the latest news, photos, finding new friends and knowing the culture. Also, it allows for millions to keep in touch with each other and update for all the new technology. And, it helps people who have difficulties in communication with others to be more socialized and stronger and develop more confidence to feel more comfortable, protected and relaxed just sitting behind a screen. “It saved me time and money without ever requiring me to leave the house; it salvaged my social life, allowed me to conduct interviews as a reporter and kept a lifeline open to my far-flung extended family” says Leonard(231).
Social media and the internet has become apart of the culture of this generation. Many people turn to social media for various reasons such as news, networking, games, and other time wasting activities. Social media and the internet has affected the development of people of our generation by contributing to less social interactions, strengthening communication skills, and online harassment.