QOtW9: Hey! I'm a Journalist too!

The birth of a new era of citizen journalism was clear after the September 11 attack. Vast amounts of emails were circulated at that time regarding the situation telling others of their observations. Some others found it an opportune moment to blog about the incident. It would be a breath of fresh air, being able to attain information from a source other than news channels. Radically different perspectives from the minds of many as compared to a team of reporters in a particular news TV station could sometimes mean a clearer depiction of an actual incident.

Citizen journalism is commonly known as “participatory journalism.” It involves the act of ordinary citizens with no journalistic credentials, to participate in the role of a journalist, collecting, reporting, analyzing, writing and disseminating information. (Wiki, 2006) It is a unique form of media for citizens which allow heavy user generated content.

With the freedom and reduced amount of restrictions in cyberspace, people are liberated to write about current affairs, societal issues, and almost everything under the sun that was once constricted due to the traditional forms of media. Not everyone has the means to having their ideas, opinions, observations and information, broadcasted over a TV network or published in a newspaper. News is what people make of it, especially in more ways than one. For people who want to be informed, the Internet is the answer. Where else can you find information from so many sources? And, there are those who wish so passionately to be part of the whole process, where then, do these aspiring citizen journalists turn to? (Gilmore, 2004)

The Web is merely a start……………………

STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print), is an online platform that encourages Singaporeans to connect with the world and embrace citizen journalism. It allows for “uncertified” journalists to contribute. STOMP has a chat room, forum, announcement page for people to navigate around. It has a tabloid style layout equipped with headlines and sub sections to cater to the different taste of the population. E.g “Foodie section”, “IT section” and “Campus Happenings”. (STOMP, 2006)

STOMP has a high level of interactivity. It’s easy to navigate interface and strong participatory level from its audience are the key factors to its popularity. With a strong contribution from citizens whom are non-journalists, it would seem rather strange to find a proper, journalistic format. Instead, audiences can take comfort in the fact that articles or discussions in the forum are written by ordinary citizens who do not have to bear the editor’s last words in mind, and not have deadlines to meet, and also not have to consider the risking the interest of a conglomerate. Somehow, it almost always seems credible if someone were to write something without having external factors that affect the input. Everything, becomes magically, more believable.

That much said, STOMP is a good platform for budding citizen journalists. But, since it’s almost impossible to create something perfect, STOMP may not be the most ideal. The fact that we live in a non utopian world shows that the world is flawed and for almost every instance, there is room for improvement. Like STOMP, there is still a need for moderation. People get to go on rambling on some really insignificant issues. As for some really important issues, it is really difficult to deem it credible if written in a slip shod manner. It also seems almost apparent that the contributions were only made by locals. It would be fascinating if there were global contributions with a more insightful perspective.



References:

“Citizen Journalism” (March 29, 2006) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved March 30, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

Gillmor, D. “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People” (July, 2004). Retrieved March 30, 2007 from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tip

STOMP (2006) From Singapore Press HoldingsRetrieved March 30, 2007 from http://www.stomp.com.sg/