Sharing with the world

'Bloggers of the world unite' by Anthony Loewenstein, SMH, January 20, 2007.

After reading this article I definitely agree that new technologies have given voice to regular citizen’s opinions and news reportings. Ten years ago newspapers were all we could rely on for the objective portrayals of the latest news and events with no way to actively communicate our opinions on what was happening around the world concerning regular citizens. But these days with blogs, we see transperant biases and a more interactive means of communicating about the latest news stories. As Loewenstein preposes, blogs don’t need to compete with broadsheet titles as they have far more roles being critics, commentators, researchers and a “shit-stirrers”.

Another very good point Loewenstein makes is that blogs have grown due to public distrust in mainstream media. As a communication student, I have learnt the power thats words hold and how good writers and talkers can say things in a way to subtly disguise their biased points of view. Where as with bloggers they’re a lot more directly biased without any disguise or influence allowing anyone to agree or disagree with what their saying using the commenting feature.

I concur with Richard Stengel’s (managing editor of Time magazine) quote “user-generated content is transforming art, politics and commerce”. However i dont think it means an end to newpapers. He says it is just a matter of time before newspapers become a distant memory of “sermon-on-the-mount pronouncements” and something of the past. People will still buy a newspaper to get a general drift of whats happeneing around the world in current affairs, on the stock market, in politics, in sport and weather. When someone is interested in a particular subject they then can (with the help of new technologies) access blogs and view other peoples opinions and experiences with the subject.

Blogging has signified an age of a more democratic way of reporting information.
Who knows what and how the generations to come will contribute to citizen journalism and whether mainstream media will still be around.

what is citizen journalism?

Citizen Journalism is a term that refers to any attempt by people who are not qualified journalists, publishing and reporting the news using modern technology to a wide audience. This usually happens as a regular citizen happens to be among breaking news and captures it or a regular citizen wanting a different angle on a story covered so take it upon themselves to do so. This may include public on line discussions such as blogs, forums and posting photos and self taken videos.

 The advantage is that regular citizens can distribute news and opinions globally to a wider audience. Many qualified journalists believe that citizen journalists don’t understand the ethics involved in reporting the news. However, having one reporter is not as effective in presenting the opinions of a whole society collectively. 

Big news outlet companies have started attaching the knowledge and views of their audiences, using commenting spaces at the end of stories. The internet s certainly the primary reason citizen journalism is successful. Before the internet there were only newsletters and independent newspapers, but now anyone anywhere with internet, is able to share an opinion, a story or an angle about the news.

Rupert Murdoch encourages Gen Y to take advantage of the opportunities on offer as technological change revolutionises the world. Learning with the times.