Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hanna McLean on November 30, 2011 at 16:33

This is really interesting Eugenio. I like that it addresses the important question of citizen journalism versus professional journalism as well as the future of news. It is an interesting phenomenon to see the culture of citizen journalism taking off the way that it has and I think that it is a positive thing as it gives us new perspectives that we never saw on the news before. I do agree however that it goes a bit too far when professional journalists start getting fired and we begin to rely solely on the amateurs. This is not to say that what they produce is no good, but it does raise the question of what direction is the news going in?! 

I would be interested to hear from some of the other group members about what they think. Has the news and the way we tell stories taken a complete turn? What does the future hold for professional journalism?

Permalink Reply by Onchita Shadman on November 30, 2011 at 18:51

Journalists have always relied on tip-offs and iReport looks like a smart way to do so. CNN is incorporating citizen journos to bridge between alternative media and mainstream. But laying off professionals to replace them with amaeturs will make CNN news lose its credibility.

How different will it be than your average facebook or youtube contents? How objective can citizen journalists be, and how would they address ethical dilemmas which reporters face everyday? To answer Hanna's question, I think news in future will broadcast a lot of trivia (with minimum news value) and audience will lose interest in mainstream media. There's already enough trivial junk and melodramas on social media. If broadcasters follow the same path, we won't enjoy much needed diversity in terms stories and storytelling.

Permalink Reply by Npong Balikawu Francis on November 30, 2011 at 20:59

This is interesting. The answer is simple CNN does not want to doll out thousands of dollars in salary to pay the professional journos that is why it turns to rely on citizen and strike/demo stained reporters they called ireporters.

what ireporters send to CNN and which often being broadcast is nothing to compare to journalism. there are no sources, no personality, no angle of stories, just raw material. most of the ireporters turn out to be organisers of such events or participants-i see here conflict of interest but CNN of all media houses decided to help them push their agenda forward.

if CNN turns to use ireporters than as Hanna said earlier i am wondering where our news is heading to. The definition of news becomes useless somehow.

Being a leader of world news, CNN will/is reducing itself to nothing. The credibility of CNN will soon be questioned by the same people they are using as ireporters. the use of amateurs should not and can not replace professional journalists and the claim by CNN that Ireporters were doing better indicates that they are looking for cheap labour, cheap news and everything cheap though it was fighting cheap labour, (human trafficking). i still do not agree with the use of amateurs in place of professional journalists, this will of course render journalism a useless academic course, cause massive unemployment and the implication in society will be greater. CNN management should rethink about this.

Permalink Reply by Sumera B. Reshi on December 1, 2011 at 8:55

Hi, 

 Yea I agree with you. Cheap work will jeopardize facts. True, amateurs can never replace professionals. I second your views. 

 

Regards, 

Sumera

 

Permalink Reply by Hanna McLean on December 1, 2011 at 14:37

That's an interesting thought Onchita. You are right, if reporters are totally taken out of the picture, it won't be much different from a Facebook page or YouTube videos. While citizen journalists can provide an interesting point of view, they are not able to be as objective about a topic as perhaps a journalist would be simply due to a lack of experience/education in the field. You are right that if things keep going the way that they do that news will eventually be nothing but a bunch of trivia with minimum news value and that the audience will lose interest. I can only hope that this doesn't happen but sadly I have been noticing that things are starting to change. Many people in my generation are more interested in reality TV shows and what the latest fashion trends are than in actual news stories.

On the other hand I find it hard to imagine a world where we are the reporters and there are no longer any real journalists out there. It seems that the pendulum always seems to swing the other way. At the moment we are heading toward an era where news relies solely on citizen journalism but sooner or later people will tire of this reality and start making changes that will cause things to sway back in the direction that everything came from. I don't think the news will ever stop evolving and changing. 

 

Npong, you raise a good point when you say that CNN may not want to dole out that much money on professional journalists. I hadn't thought of that. On the other hand going to the extreme and getting rid of so many is also not beneficial as, like I said above, citizen journalists do not have the experience/skills that professional journos have. I think the best thing that can be done is to find a happy medium. I don't think citizen journalism is completely useless, in fact it can be very useful for the most part but the two sides need each other. One side cannot function as well without the other. The citizen journalists provide the lead/angle for the story and the professional journalists take that information and polish it into a proper, unbiased story. Hopefully the two sides will realize this and we won't be stuck with one extreme or another.

Permalink Reply by Npong Balikawu Francis on December 1, 2011 at 14:50

Interesting observation Hanna, news-junk news is all that we see, read and listen to in the name of ICT posted by junk reporters while junk readers, listeners and viewers applause it and encouraging it the more.