Today I read a good writeup in the Manila Times about the the growing relevance of Citizen Journalism specially in the strife torn areas as evident by the continuous stream of news and information flowing out of Burma from amateurs armed with digital cameras and mobile phones. What is also underlined is the significance of the internet which is 'undergirding' this movement. As the article Digital technology is reinventing journalism by Ike Suarez very well describes, the great enabler for any form of Mass Journalism is Digital Technology. I would love to see a day when the digital footprint on the African Continent becomes more pronounced leading to some uncesored news coverage from there.
The writer has given some very good pointers which I repeat here for the benefit of all.
Quote
1) Digital-enabled and interactive media may be demassified; but when the circumstances are there, they possess a massiveness of reach traditional print and broadcast can never equal;
2) Anyone with an Internet-enabled device is both a recipient and disseminator of news and information;
3) Traditional and Internet-enabled media are never mutually exclusive, but are instead, mutually supporting;
4) Methods tyrants traditionally employ to suppress news and information are no longer potent;
5) Professional journalists still have a value proposition in this new media environment, at least for now.
The value proposition lies in professional journalists integrating into their work and aggregating the content produced by citizen journalists.
It also calls for professionals in the newsrooms of newspapers, magazines, radio and television to embrace citizen journalists as truly their brethren. Not doing so would be an act of psychological denial.
Unquote.
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