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| Article from Media Magazine 30: "The Rise and Rise of UGC" |
Examples
- The boarder between institutions and audiences are "eroding" as users are becoming both consumers and publishers.
- User Generated Content (UGC) is coming towards its peak as audiences are able to create and publish their own content and this change is primarily due to the rise in new technological developments, such as video phones etc.
- The first main example of 'Citizenship Journalism' was in 1991, where an African American male 'Rodney King' was beaten up by four police officers for speeding, which was caught on film on a camera phone by George Holliday. This home footage made prime time news and became an international media sensation.
- As technology has improved over the years, millions of people have the access to filming capabilities, through their mobiles, tablets etc and thus can rapidly distribute this over the internet. - breaking the news and traditional means of distribution.
- It is not only citizen journalists that have arose in breaking news, it is also User Generated Content, which plays a huge role in conveying news. Consequently, news organisations have included formats for participation - message boards, chat rooms, Q&A polls etc.
- The natural disaster of the Asian Tsunami on December 26th 2004, was an example of UGC where much of the footage was captured by citizen journalists. - social networking sites helped provide witness statements and accounts to help the survivors and family members get in touch with each other.
- The London Bombings on July 5th, 2006 where people were able to account the events on their phones.
- In 2007, mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho (South Korean), was recorded by Jamal Albarghoti, from his mobile phone video camera of the terrible events. Alongside, the murderer himself, who recorded himself in the act, which was then available on YouTube and CNN.
- Twitter and Flikr came to the forefront during the November 2008 Mumbai bombings in India, where people put their own lives at risk and recorded the travesty which was taking place.
- The Hudson River plan crash on January 15th 2009, was reported by citizen journalists, who tweeted (Janis Krun's tweet: "There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy."), which helped alert the national news who then swung into action.
Theory (audience reception etc.) / Audience Benefits
1) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
"News that is generated by ordinary people."
definition: the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet.
2) What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
One of the first examples of citizen journalism was in 1991, where George Holliday captured the attack on Rodney King, who was receiving a beating from a group of police officers, captured on his video camera. This resulted in the 'LA Riots'.
3) List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
Institutions have involved formats for participation - message boards, chat rooms, Q&A polls, blogs and comment feeds.
4) What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
One of the dominant differences between professional footage and first hand is the quality in which consumers will receive their news. This is evident through the images of the 'LA Riots, 1991 or the 'London Bombings', 2005, which contain evidence from the scene in very grainy, blurry, poor quality film. Whereas, news conglomerates use high quality technical equipment which mostly contains shots of the aftermath of the different events.
5) What is a gatekeeper?
A gatekeeper is the attendant who controls the releasing of news, ultimately deciding what is and isn't news.
6) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
The role of the gatekeeper has changed in regards to social media sites, as there isn't an immediate sense of control in what is unleashed within the net. However, major news organisations are still able to 'gate keep' what is and isn't allowed to be illustrated within their sites. For instance, the 'crowd sourcers' who moderate and mediate UGC.
7) What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
One of the underlying concerns that journalists have over the rise of User Generated Content, is the fact that their initial 'main stories' are being taken before they even get a chance to validate them and professionally record accounts of the events.
What impact is new/digital media having on the following:
- Uses and Gratification Theory as audiences are able to build personal relationships with each other on News institution's websites, through the 'comments' and User Generated Content areas that have been implemented.
- Audiences are exposed with a greater amount of information, some in which may have initially been "gate-keeped", to prevent Moral Panic (Cohen).
Benefits to Institutions
- Bigger institutions have consequently been buying up social networking sites over the years, rather than launching their own challenges, for instance, YouTube was bought by Google, Microsoft invested in Facebook, etc, which consequently helped enhance their revenues in the long run.
- Institutions are able to examine social mediums and establish possible stories from Citizen Journalists.
Wider Issues and Debates
- In the future their may be an increase in redundancy, as institutions potentially could cut down on trained staff in which they hire.
- 'Unmoderated Free Content', may individuals may upload/post inappropriate content, which could cause 'Moral Panic (Cohen) and harm to others.
- Their is a greater sense of awareness for audiences to embody through their greater accessibility to news and catastrophic events.
- Citizen Journalists are arguably beating paid journalists to the job, thus taking their main stories away from them and the overall news institutions.
Social, Historical, Econical, Political
- Social - Audiences are able to address issues regarding race through the citizen journalism that they are able to capture on their phones, quickly and clearly, to then virally expose on social media sites - i.e. "the white racist police in America towards black people" - a rising issue expressed across social networking, reiterated with photographic evidence and video.
- Historical - In years to come, potentially there may be no 'outstanding' or 'memorable' journalists who institutions and the public can look back and admire.
- Economical - Audiences no longer rely on purchasing a 'newspaper' to find out news any more, which effects the overall revenues within each news institution.
- Political - Anti-government campaigns can be created through blogs and polls, alongside, footage that can be captured by citizen journalists to enhance negative thoughts and ideas created by individuals.
1) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
"News that is generated by ordinary people."
definition: the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet.
2) What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
One of the first examples of citizen journalism was in 1991, where George Holliday captured the attack on Rodney King, who was receiving a beating from a group of police officers, captured on his video camera. This resulted in the 'LA Riots'.
3) List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
Institutions have involved formats for participation - message boards, chat rooms, Q&A polls, blogs and comment feeds.
4) What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
One of the dominant differences between professional footage and first hand is the quality in which consumers will receive their news. This is evident through the images of the 'LA Riots, 1991 or the 'London Bombings', 2005, which contain evidence from the scene in very grainy, blurry, poor quality film. Whereas, news conglomerates use high quality technical equipment which mostly contains shots of the aftermath of the different events.
5) What is a gatekeeper?
A gatekeeper is the attendant who controls the releasing of news, ultimately deciding what is and isn't news.
6) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
The role of the gatekeeper has changed in regards to social media sites, as there isn't an immediate sense of control in what is unleashed within the net. However, major news organisations are still able to 'gate keep' what is and isn't allowed to be illustrated within their sites. For instance, the 'crowd sourcers' who moderate and mediate UGC.
7) What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
One of the underlying concerns that journalists have over the rise of User Generated Content, is the fact that their initial 'main stories' are being taken before they even get a chance to validate them and professionally record accounts of the events.
What impact is new/digital media having on the following:
- News stories
The impact of 'New/Digital' media within news stories is the fact that institutions are able to publish their articles towards the upcoming generation, such as, 'The Guardian' posting links via 'Twitter' to their most recent news story. Additionally, audiences are now able to 'comment' or on 'Twitter', "retweet", in response to news stories, which consequently adds to the publicising of the overall article.
- The news agenda (the choice of stories that make up the news)
Institutions are slowly forced to write about stories that they once may have neglected, for instance, racial based news in association with the elite ("I can't breathe", Eric Garner). This is as a result to citizen journalists, who have captured events to reinforce the severity of these cases, which thus caused Moral panic (Cohen) across social media sites. Therefore, news institutions must highlight the 'news' that is important and relevant to different societies.
- The role of professionals in news
The role of professionals in the news has been effected slightly by citizen journalism as UGC has proven to highlight and present news (Hudson River Crash, 2009 by Janis Krun: "There's a plan in the Hudson..", Twitter) on social networking sites before the professionals have found the news itself. This is a model example of UGC informing mass audiences of news before journalists and there are several others that have done this too. However, as there is a word limit of sites such as 'Twitter' only allowing audiences 240 caps to convey their points, this means that the journalists can thereby gather extensive evidence from different sources to then publish valid, thorough news, which isn't, in most cases the same on UGC news stories.
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