Participatory Journalism.pptx

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1. Participatory Journalism Akshay Razdan IIMC Aizawl

2. Case 1 : BSF CJ Jawaan Tej Bahadur Yadav Subsequently, dismissed from services for misconduct. Disgruntled soldier complains about bad quality food served to soldiers Posts videos, and narrates sufferings over social media that goes viral This gives rise to a nation-wide controversy

3. Observations Jeopardized his career Brave, courageous Jeopardized career Exposed shortcomings Eventually, a positive outcome Tarnished army reputation Anonymous, no formal training Treated for misconduct Faced outburst from various news media

4. Role of technology The Power of Technology has empowered every citizen to create his own content for news stories and disseminate to mass audience. Mobile, Internet users > TV viewers Growth and pervasive nature of social media Increased awareness among consumers

5. Features User generated content Original reporting of local, obscure events and disasters Eye-witness accounts Commentary on news stories that appear in mainstream media

6. Definition “Contributing journalistic content to news process” - Thomas Lieb, ‘ Writing for a convergent media’

7. Definition “Individuals are playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information” “Citizen journalism is slowly being looked upon as a form of rightful democratic ways of giving honest news, articles etc. directly by citizens of the world from anywhere.” - Source Watch : a project of the Centre for Media and Democracy

8. Definition “Citizen journalists are ‘the people formerly known as the audience’, are those who were on the receiving end of a media system that ran one way, in a broadcasting pattern, with high entry fees and a few firms competing to speak very loudly while the rest of the population listened in isolation from one another— and who today are not in a situation like that at all” “Think of passengers on your ship who got a boat of their own. The writing readers. The viewers who picked up a camera. The formerly atomized listeners who with modest effort can connect with each other and gain the means to speak— to the world, as it were” - Jay Rosen, Professor at New York University

9. Benefits “ Captures the moment, and not the aftermath.” “The importance of the news stories is intact, but differ in a manner that mainstream media is predisposed to agenda, while citizen journalism has a predilection to educate viewers/readers about an issue that needs their immediate attention.”

10. Is it a threat to mainstream media?? It is a highly contested debate

11. Akash Soni, Journalist, TeDxRamjasCollege Death of singer Amy Winehouse [July 2011] News first broke out on Twitter # amydead; 20 million tweets 6-7 hours until confirmed reports emerged

12. Akash Soni, Journalist, TeDxRamjasCollege Death of Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa [Dec 2016] Confirmed report of death was revealed sequentially, carefully. News finally let out after a period of 14-16 hours. Fear of mass suicides committed by her bereaved followers. Journalists (who knew) refrained from tweeting, as a matter of journalistic responsibilities and understanding of the sensitivity of the critical situation. It became important to let the followers assimilate the possibility of such an event than to receive an abrupt shock of it.

13. Is it a threat to journalism?? Waqar Zaka Pakistani TV show host Living on the edge, XPOSED, King of Street Magic, Desi Kudiyan

14. Is it a threat to journalism?? Waqar Zaka travels to Arakan region of Myanmar to record a video document of Rohingya muslims and extend financial aid to them.

15. Is it a threat to journalism?? Zaka mocking UN General Secretary Ban-ki-moon

16. Is it a threat to journalism?? Zaka depressed, crying

17. Criticism Professional inadequacy Blatantly violated objectivity Fact/Source reliability Endangered journalistic responsibility and ethos

18. Conclusions Citizen Journalism is still a developing phenomenon, existing since the inception of the Internet. It may be too early to dismiss CJ as preposterous, or pronounce it as a threat to traditional journalism. It’s evident that media has evolved drastically in tandem with technology, and, subsequently CJ has influenced and enriched the traditional media.

19. References • “Citizen Journalism Phenomenon” – opennewsroom.org • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HNxWNcYJbU – Akash Soni TEDxRamjasCollege • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TWEE442xig&t=120s – Waqar Zaka in Burma • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeAA8zcmkK4&t=540s – Waqar Zaka in Burma