Tatjana Pavlenko - Master thesis proposal

CITIZEN JOURNALISM:

HOW USER-GENERATED CONTENT CHANGES

THE SYSTEM OF NEWS MEDIA

Master Thesis Proposal

Interactive Media and Knowledge Environment

IFI7117 Master Seminar I

Tatjana Pavlenko

WHAT IS CITIZEN JOURNALISM?

• How does it differ from the other types of journalism (e.g.

traditional, public)?traditional, public)?

• When was it launched?

• What are the reasons of its appearing?

WHAT IS

USER-GENERATED

CONTENT?

• How are users generating the content (which tools, media forms do they use)?

• What are the main values of user-generated content?

CONTENT?

• What are the main values of user-generated content?

• What’s the difference between information provided by professionals (journalists, editors) and amateurs (users, experts, pundits)?

WHAT ARE NEWS MEDIA?

• What is news?

• Which traditional news media exist?

Is Internet a news medium? Why?• Is Internet a news medium? Why?

serve

takes part in produces

are based on

produce

affect

NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIESNEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES

JOURNALISTSJOURNALISTS

are usingis created inlead to

TRADITIONALTRADITIONAL

JOURNALISMJOURNALISM

OLDOLD MEDIAMEDIA FORMSFORMS

USERUSER--GENERATEDGENERATED CONTENTCONTENT

CITIZEN CITIZEN

JOURNALISMJOURNALISM NEWNEW MEDIAMEDIA FORMSFORMSOldOld

PUBLICPUBLIC

JOURNALISMJOURNALISM

such as

are based on

needs

such as

is using

are published in

OLDOLD MEDIAMEDIA FORMSFORMS

NewspapersNewspapers

MagazinesMagazines

TV programsTV programs

Radio programs…Radio programs…

JOURNALISMJOURNALISM NEWNEW MEDIAMEDIA FORMSFORMS

BlogsBlogs

VideoblogsVideoblogs

SocialSocial networksnetworks

Wikis…Wikis…

OldOldMediaMedia

TechnologiesTechnologies

NEWSNEWS

PUBLIC JOURNALISM

Public movement against the failures of professional journalismjournalism

• An effort to treat elections during US presidential campaign in 1988 caused a movement called Public journalism

• The core concept is that

Public journalism • The core concept is that

journalists and their audiences are not spectators in political and social processes. They are participants

Public journalism

involves audience into

making news…

CITIZEN JOURNALISMHas three prerequisites:� Public movement against the

failures of professional journalism (Public journalism)(Public journalism)

� Media technology development (Internet, Web 2.0, different multimedia frameworks)

� Lots of world events � lots of news to be told

Citizen journalism is not a planned movement as Public journalism. It appeared occasionally

…so does It appeared occasionally

Citizen journalists feel compelled to practice journalism because they believe that professional journalists are not doing their jobs

…so does

CITIZEN JOURNALISM

USER-GENERATED

CONTENT

• Users are both producers and readers of their content

• Web 2.0 users don’t merely • Web 2.0 users don’t merely read, they interact

• Using Web 2.0 as an individual news medium

• While journalist is just a reporter or an interpretive reporter, blogger is an expert (journalists have “My readers know more than I do” expert (journalists have been taught the covering, not the topic)

• Online media are not static

“My readers know more than I do”

(Dan Gillmor, “We Media”)

“People Formerly Known as the

Audience” (Jay Rosen)

CORE IDEAS

• Modern technologies have changed the system of news media because, in addition to Print, Radio and TV, a new medium has appeared –the Internet

• The Internet is a news medium in the sense that all web sites need to post • The Internet is a news medium in the sense that all web sites need to post new information to keep visitors coming back

• Citizen journalism is allowed by technology but is not caused by it

• Is citizen journalism – blogging, open-source newsgathering, wikis, informational “mash-ups” and citizen journalism sites –transforming the nature of news?

• Revolution of newsgathering.

• Traditional journalism competes with citizen journalism but is much more • Traditional journalism competes with citizen journalism but is much more stable and organized

• Traditional journalism starts using the same media tools

• Traditional journalism can finally win its audience back

• On the other hand, user-generated content is so wide-ranging, that it can become the only necessary news medium

A RESEARCH STRATEGY

• Provide theoretical background• Provide theoretical background

• Form the empirical base

• Find out how successful citizen journalism is

(questionnaires, interviews, experiments)

• Try to make some predictions