Technological Change?

• Where did we get our news from?

• How do we get it now?

What Issues arise?

• Viability of printing instantly out of date news.• Web offers instant multimedia accessibility• Web 2.0 means individuals can pass on news quickly (twitter,

facebook, blogs)• Newspaper readers are older?• Online news is ‘natural’ for younger generation?• Online news tends to result in us only getting news we’re interested

in?

So how can we map previous theories onto the news?

David Gauntlett & Creativity – using social networks

Henry Jenkins & Participatory culture - #tags on twitter

People collaborating & discussing the news on social

network sites – Charles Leadbeater

Citizen Journalism – Dan Gilmor

•What is Citizen Journalism?

•Can you think of any examples?

Citizen Journalism – Dan Gilmor“Grassroots journalism is part of the wider phenomenon of citizen-generated media-of a global conversation that is growing in strength, complexity, and power. When people can express themselves, they will. When they can do so with powerful yet inexpensive tools, they take to the new-media realm quickly. When they can reach a potentially global audience, they literally can change the world” (2006, XV)

9/11 Example

• According to Gilmor the first draft of history was being written, in part, by the audience. • Valuable context that major American media couldn’t wouldn’t

provide was being received.• We were part of the future of the news. • Chat groups, personal web journals (All non-standard news sources)

were providing information and documenting the horrific hours and days that followed the attacks.

Tsunami 2004

• Amateur video footage of the horrific tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people appeared online.

• Conveying the sheer devastation of the events as the occurred.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NfKZAiWRoE

7th Bombing

One photograph captured the event more than any other. The picture was taken from a mobile phone camera by a man as he and others escaped from the smoked filled train. The picture appeared online, in printed newspapers and magazines, and on television around the globe.

Benefit

• Gilmor suggests the following • “ The rise of the citizen-journalist will help us listen. The ability of

anyone to make the news will give new voice to people who’ve felt voiceless –and whose words we need to hear.”

Critics – It is Exploiting the public 

• Thinking about an issue raised by Tapscott and Williams that online collaboration and sharing is promoting a "free economy" where unpaid volunteers are exploited by corporations. Taken from Wikinomics - Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams (2006).

• Clay Shirky points out most of the major conglomerates and institutions we have today will still be around tomorrow. Whilst their hold on society may weaken they will not just wither away (Here comes everybody, 2008)

A Contemporary Case Study

The London riots make an ideal case study in many respects and there is a real archive of material to be had online. YouTube is packed with videos of some of the key moments and several newspaper archives look really useful to go back through. the riots were constructed for us and with our collusion as audience members; of course, the events happened, and pretty awful they were too, but our understanding of them was very much mediated by the web

People blamed social media for a lot of what happened, arguing that gangs orchestrated looting and violence through twitter and Facebook and particularly blackberry messenger. They also argued that twitter played a heroic role in the clean up with volunteers emerging as a result of requests for support there.

Create your own study of the riots

• Create a case study about how the internet was used in the coverage of the London riots both from a citizen journalism point of view and how institutions (professional journalists) engaged in using social networks.

Useful Links

• Paul Lewis, of The Guardian was on the ground reporting throughout the riots and his tweets gave a vivid account of what was happening. • http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/12/uk-riots-paul-lewis-fiv

e-day-journey• http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-08/09/twitter-misinform

ation-riots• http://blogs.reuters.com/anthony-derosa/2011/08/11/a-social-media

-timeline-of-the-london-riots-2/• www.youtube.com• www.facebook.com• http://petesmediablog.blogspot.com

What’s in store in the future?

• Will the web become part of a media package like the Guardian / Times?• Will newspapers die out?• What about emerging technologies?• Will people pay for online media?• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjIB7MO48Zo• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNVTbTMp1DQ&feature=related