Internet and Journalism

Here's a video I found on Youtube. Do take a look at it. It's about what is citizen journalism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58iZpMRclwI

I personally feel that citizenship journalism is an important alternative to traditional journalism. Although it might not be as objective as traditional journalism is, in fact it might be extremely biased, when reporters or journalists are unable to be at a particular place at a particular time to see what happened, citizens themselves are important secondary tools to provide information on what actually happened. By sharing with journalists or reporters about what happened, it is already a form of journalism.

It is interesting how major news agencies in the world such as BBC and CNN are turning to the Internet to spread breaking news. They have their online news websites, facebook accounts and even twitter accounts.

With every breaking news comes a post or a tweet on twitter. It shows how journalism is merging with technology. We see victims of earthquakes and tsunamis using whatever technology they can find or access to spread the news about what exactly is happening at wherever they are.

According to some friends in disaster stricken countries, there have been cases of victims getting help by posting their location online. I was really surprised upon hearing this. I've always felt that it is probably a useful tool in spreading news. However, never has it struck me that it can be used as a emergency tool to ask for help!

In addition, with citizens themselves posting online in the event of a natural disaster, we can get a clearer picture of what is happening on scene before reporters, journalists, cameramen and soundmen actually gain access to these places. Furthermore, it is known that governments do request the media to cover some of the truths in order to prevent panic in their own people. Hence, it is difficult for people from other countries to gain a true picture of what has happened and to decide how much help or aid to send to that country if the need arises.

With that said, however, I feel that many citizens who post their take on occurrences online do not verify their facts before writing about something. This results in inaccurate reporting. Also, many do not take responsibility for what they post online, thinking that once they remove a post, there won't be any trace of it left online. Therefore, I think that we still need time to educate the general public on taking responsibility for whatever he or she writes on the Internet.