Worse still, such new competitors with the products of the journalism industry frequently take professional journalists themselves to task where their standards have appeared to have slipped, and are beginning to match the news industry’s incumbents in terms of insight and informational value...
- Axel Bruns, News Blogs and Citizen Journalism: New Directions for e-Journalism, 2009.
There has been a lot of talk this week of journalism "in crisis" due to the over-saturation of citizen journalism on the internet (Bruns 2009). Now, while Bruns' article doesn't continue to be as alarmist (compared to other sources I've found.) as the above quote suggests, industrial media and it's journalists do not seem to like being called out on their short-comings. So what happens when industrial media embraces citizen journalism and turns on its own kind? Well then, you get the glory that is ABC's Media Watch.
Presented by that dashing 'silver fox' Jonathon Holmes.
With a tag line like "everyone loves it until they're on it", you know it's going to make waves. This program is an example of industrial journalism embracing a citizen journalism attitude and calling out the press on its faults (Bruns 2009). If you go to their website they have a 'confidential tip offs' section where anyone can submit an issue they think needs to be addressed or an example of bad journalism (mostly the ridiculous excuse for journalism that is A Current Affair and Today Tonight). They also have a section called 'The Dog House', a collection of the 'best/worst/funniest' content submitted by users.
It makes me feel like a spy just looking at it.
They further the embrace a 'participatory culture' by providing audiences with a message board/forum platform on which to discuss issues relevant to the program (Mitew, 2011). By providing this platform, what was already an open discussion becomes an inception-like network of opinion and criticism, allowing audiences to criticise not just Media Watch but other 'produsers' content (Mitew, 2011). As discussed in both the lecture and Steven Johnson's article How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live, Twitter's 'hashtags' allows the many voices of us as nodes to intertwine into a coherent narrative (Mitew, 2011). Media Watch both allows and encourages this through its Twitter account.You can also continue the discussion and post you're own links by joining their Facebook page. Now you'd be forgiven for thinking that a show of this nature wouldn't bite that hand that feeds it but Media Watch, for the sake of journalist integrity, shames everyone, including the ABC and even the program itself. They also provide a link on their website to a list of corrections for mistakes made on their program. Don't believe me? Here's a recent tweet from their Twitter page:
We loved Media Watch, until we were on it abc.net.au/mediawatch/tra… #mediawatch
Media Watch airs on the ABC, Monday nights at 9:20pm. Will you be watching tonight?
Further Reading:
Available online (ebook) through the UOW database:
Public Journalism 2.0 : The Promise and Reality of a Citizen Engaged Press by Rosenberry, Jack; John, Burton St.
PDF file:
Open Society Foundations: Mapping Digital Media: Citizen Journalism and the Internet by Nadine Jurrat
Blog Post Sources:
Bruns, A, 2009, 'News Blogs and Citizen Journalism: New Directions for e-Journalism', http://produsage.org/files/News%20Blogs%20and%20Citizen%20Journalism.pdf
Mitew, T, 2011, Citizen Journalism and New Media Audiences, DIGC202 Global Networks, University of Wollongong, delivered 12th September.
It's funny to see these journalism professionals freaking out about amateur journalists taking their attention. If you think about it logically, professionalism should always come out on top, but alas we have examples of last ditch attempts to side with the rising power like ABC's Media Watch as you mentioned. Personally I think its all a bit lame for this to happen, but what choice did they have?
ReplyDeleteGood thing they have site options to submit bad journalism. God damn Today Tonight and A Current Affair. I think I quit watching TV just because of those two horrid examples of 'journalism'.
Being a citizen journalist and a professional journalist reminds me of rugby league fans against each other. When you look at it they all belong in the same boat, but they are the ones that don't see it that way (can you tell I'm not a fan)!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy Media watch when I do get the chance to view it. Industrial media and journalists shouldn't see it as being called out but they should see it as a critique for improvement (along the lines of the glass is half full not half empty)and for Today Tonight and A current Affair...can you really call it journalism! Shouldn't they be the ones in question and not citizen journalism?? In my opinion they should!
I've always been a fan of media watch. And simultaneously always hated current affair programs. I actually believe citizen journalism is much less bias and opinionated than current affairs programs. I trust what I'm seeing when I watch media watch because of the open, honest nature of the program.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned it in my blog, but the problem citizen journalism is whether or not it is believed, not necessarily it's existence. So the "crisis" of citizen journalism, is in the discourse of citizen journalism.
You really can't blame people for being sceptical about journalism both traditional and citizen. Both have their positives and negatives, but in the end it is us, the audience, to decide what we would like to take away from the news and what we would like to discard. I think we need to be sceptical of content posted online as well as what traditional media broadcasts.
ReplyDeleteTraditional journalism is usually blamed for framing the news and this is at times true. I particularly like this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rvBgaxUXrc), it shows the process journalists used to go through to print their findings. However, now days it is so simple to take out your phone and record every single thing. In the video it mentions that the journalist has to have an "accurate reasoning and write in an interesting manner". I don't think this is possible, how can a journalist maintain an accurate manner and make the story interesting? Surely they all add a little spice to their story to make it sell. The same goes for a citizen journalist, who is to say they are all for the people. They may be all for the money involved in selling their content which in some cases may be made up or altered.