Citizen Journalism is the wrong term

Hey bloggers, listen up! Writing article responses, blogging, publishing opinion on the web, printing a paper, collaborating with journalists is not journalism.

What these bloggers or smart citizens are doing is great and jornalists can learn and complement their craft with the valuable information that these folks publish. Journalist Steve Outing suggests that some bloggers act as journalists, some do not. Some bloggers see themselves as journalists; some do not. And let me tell you, I don’t know who coined the term “Citizen Journalist”. I don’t know if it was one of those who saw himself as a journalist or not. But, I want to make it clear that blogging is not the same as “doing Journalism”. Unless you apply the principles of journalism, fact-check, know the Journalism code of Ethics, are commited, fair, accurate, balanced, unbiased, etc, etc. Unless you have that and use it, you are not a journalist(I’m talking about the bloggers of course). It is true that journalist blog.

Of course, bloggers and reader’s responses play a vital role in reflecting the views of the people. The journalist can act  better and do a better job in finding out what the people need. The job of the journalist is to watchdogg for the people, the journalist look out for the citizens and the citizens have to let the journalist know what they need and how they feel. Jeff Jarvis’ thoughts on that are very smart, he tells us that “news is a conversation, not just a lecture. The story doesn’t end when it’s published, but rather just gets started as the public begins to do its part – discussing the story, adding to it, and correcting it”. Very wise. And he adds that the end of the story is not when the it gets printed, he says. “That’s when the public can add questions, corrections, perspective. That will improve news. And it also will change our relationship with the public.” Involvement providing feedback to the journalist is very important.

Of course, people can get dirty, sweaty, dig out the dirt and find out the truth and of course apply the principles mentioned above. That’s when they can really be called “citizen journalists”.

What’s called citizen journalism, I would call CITIZEN PUBLISHING or COLLABORATORS.

Trying to get really accurate with the ratings?

A New device to monitor audience numbers of New York Radio stations gets controversial.  It’s called the portable people meter, created by the research firm Arbitron and you have to have one and tune to your favorite radio station so that advertisers and the radio stations can later on track the listenership. In fact, a NY1 report on how the device is affecting minority radio stations, showed radio managers and personalities rallying against Arbitron’s new device. The issue at stake is that black or latino listeners don’t have the device or it might also suggest that they don’t participate in the survey. This would make those station as low in audience. Okay, that’s understandable. Arbitron states in its website that devices would be”Carried throughout the day by randomly selected survey participants”. -Selected survey participants- Maybe those selected survey participants are not Hispanic nor Black. And that’s what the Radio managers are protesting about. It is an excluding way of taking rating surveys.

 However, the use of the device has been restricted because it’s not reliable enough and the company Arbitron understands and will work something out. If they do, they have to include Blacks and Latinos in the survey.

 

I got a big chance

The CUNY Media Conference and Career Fair wasn’t a waist of time especially when there is luck. The event took place at the CUNY Graduate center in Fifth Avenue and it features a conference of course, panels in which different topics on journalism and Media are discussed by professionals. It is all very informative and inspiring. However, the main dish(for the students) was the career fair in which some of them are supposed to get internships or jobs. Recruiters from many organizations are invited.

Luck is also a factor in getting a job. If you are at the right place at the right time, then you are lucky. Of course one has to have the required skills. I do have the required skills and I did get lucky at the career fair. I was standing in line, waiting to be interviewd by the first recruiter which was NY1. When my turn came, I greeted the interviwers and handed off my resume and started advertising myself. Of course, they saw I have Newsroom experience and that I’m bilingual. When they saw that, they asked me if I was interested in writing for the NY1 noticias newsroom which of course is the Spanish version of the newscast. This means I have to write in Spanish which I haven’t done seriously since I left College back in my country Peru. This happened like 4 years ago. So, all I need to do is pass the written test and I’m there. My preparation is key. So i’m watching the spanish newscasts and reading in spanish. Of course, I’m reviewing my Newswriting book.

My writing will tell. However, I know my writing will make it.

Networks are money machines

      When Media generates the content it is going to distribute, they only have one thing in mind: money.

News wise, the decision-making is influenced by the amount of viewership. If the story is newsworthy but won’t be viewed by as many people as other story, the newsworthy one won’t be even considered. This is a real shame because when we talk about news, we don’t necessarily get what’s more newsworthy. We get the news that producers or Network CEOs think will sell more. We won’t get the latest on the Iraq war, but we’ll get the latest on Anna Nicole Smith’s death. Media Analyst Steve Adubato thinks the coverage of her death was over the top. What about having attractive and seductive anchors who in fact are not anchors but Lord knows what. Even those who present those fake news are fake. Some of them. This is a tactic that some networks use in order to bring the ratings up. A clear example of this is found in the book “How to watch TV News” by Neil Postman and Steve Powers. They mention one case in which the actress, model and former WWF wrester Lauren Jones landed in the Anchor chair of CBS19 in east texas in June 2007.This, of course, was a thirty-day contract. We are not playing any game here, we are very serious about the news we want and DESERVE. Sorry to remind you of the sad true, but let’s face it and do something.

We need newspapers and networks that don’t take away the real news, the real events that shape the world, the real stories of people who laugh and cry, who win and loose. they take away the stories of people like us. News stories that inform us, educate us, orient us and inspire us or make us sad.

My own concept of news is: any event that has an impact on the community. It is as simple as that. Of course, we can’t cover every event that affects our community but covering the most newsworthy or bigger ones does certainly help our community. It definitely helps when there is news of a traffic accident on the highway I use to go to school. I could avoid using that same highway.

        Sometimes, not only the real news are hidden from us but also distorted in a awful way. Not surprisingly, the government is involved. Postman and Powers give us word on that matter, where there was a significant distortion in how the soldier Jessica Lynch was rescued from an Iraqi hospital. This story was extensively covered by the US media and the military account was used, not the other side of the story, not the version of the doctors who cared for her.(remember how journalists should be balanced:this means getting the 2 sides of the story)

        Networks need money. They get it from different sources: soap operas, advertising, reality shows, etc. Networks CEOs shouldn’t interfere with the news department. The news these great newspeople cover should remain independent and fair.