Day 1: Can I and should I be a citizen journalist?
Issues
- What do opinion journalists hope to accomplish?
- How are opinion journalists different from reporters?
- If their opinions don't make a difference, why keep doing it?
- Are there concerns that journalists need to share with others?
Background
Source
Issue
Text
Who get to call themselves journalists?
Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information.
Being that citizen journalism is yet to develop a conceptual framework and guiding principles, it can be heavily opinionated and subjective, making it more supplemental than primary in terms of forming public opinion. Critics of the phenomenon, including professional journalists and news organizations, claim that citizen journalism is unregulated, amateur, and haphazard in quality and coverage. Furthermore, citizen journalists, due to their lack of professional affiliation, are thought to lack resources as well as focus on how best to serve the public.
Attributed to Bernard Berelson around 1948
What journalism accomplishes
Journalism is about “some kinds of communications on some kinds of issues, brought to the attention of some kinds of people under some kinds of conditions and having some kinds of effects.”
James Paul Gee, Social Linguistics and Literacy
(JB: I paraphrased his words, substituting “journalist/journalism” for “linguist/linguistics”)
How do you become a citizen journalist?
You can overtly teach someone the content knowledge of a discipline like journalism, which is a body of facts and theories; however, while knowledge of some significant part of these facts and theories is absolutely necessary to being a journalist, you cannot overtly teach someone to do the work of actually being a journalist.
George Lakoff, Thinking Points
(JB: I switched his reference from “political campaigns/candidates” to “argumentation/writers”)
How do you treat issues to argue a point?
Issues are real, as are the facts of the matter. But effective argumentation must communicate the writer’s values and use issues symbolically–as indicative of their moral values and their trustworthiness.
Kathleen Parker cited in The Art of Opinion Writing by Suzette Matinez Standring
Getting it off your chest.
Writing is a great way to avoid the loony bin. It’s like a pressure valve. Release those thoughts into the atmosphere and you’re relieved of the burden.
Discussion Questions
- What issues tick you off?
- Are these issues newsworthy and worth telling others?
- What stops you from sharing your opinions and what motivates you to share?
- How do you prefer to share your opinions?
Application
What are some topics you’ve encountered recently in newspapers, online, or in forums that generated discussion among friends or family? Assume that every topic you delved into was important to you. Did you get anything out of the back-and-forth that you found informative or convincing?