Citizen journalism passes a test

I’m blogging this from the Internet2 conference in Philadelphia. Shortly after the event, there was much discussion about the role that citizen journalists played in the coverage of the terrorist attacks in London recently. Now, an article validating the practice – yet more evidence that newsgathering is undergoing a significant shift. Washingtonpost.com: Witnesses to History.

Sounding the alarm: is anyone listening?

I know that often I sound like a broken record, warning that the "business as usual" model championed by most of the mainstream media just won’t cut it anymore.  Well allow, if you will, the record to "skip" once more.

Rare is the opportunity to observe firsthand a significant cultural shift.  Indeed, many of us miss the subtle – and not so subtle – changes signaling that a conventional practice is slowly slipping away, in favor of a new, more powerful and liberating force.  Sadly, most people do not understand or even recognize an unfolding paradigm shift.

This is exactly where we find ourselves today with regard to how we consume news and information.  A powerful force is at work – not the Government, or Big Business, or even Mother Nature – but the Internet and its undeniable impact on the dissemination of news.

Our children are the "W3 generation" – consumers of a World Wide Web of information resources all delivered in broadband time via the Internet.   the morning newspaper?  No thanks.  The six o’clock news?  I don’t think so. 

Instead, theirs is a thirst for instantaneous access to anything, no matter how mundane or significant.  The "click" that W3s first think of is not the one that turns on the TV, but that of a computer mouse navigating them through a seemingly endless supply of virtual data.

Still, my observation is that most of the "news" we hear on the radio, see on television and read in the newspaper is the by-product of a stubborn commitment to the onerous practice of "that’s how we’ve always done it."  However, the W3s are breaking the mold – both in the way news is generated and how it is accessed.

The following essay is, in my judgment, the seminal word on how the news business (and it is a business) is changing globally.  Read carefully the words of Merrill Brown.  Traditional news executives would do well to make it their mission to understand what Brown is talking about, and then put his words into action.  To ignore them is to be short-sighted, and could well be dangerous in the pursuit of long-term job security. 

I Webbed the News Today – Oh Boy!
By Merrill Brown
seattletimes.com

There’s a dramatic revolution taking place in the news business today and it isn’t about TV-anchor changes, scandals at storied newspapers or even the fierce tensions between government and the press.

The future course of news, the basic assumptions about how we consume news and information and make decisions in a democratic society, are being altered, perhaps irrevocably, by technologically savvy young people no longer wedded to traditional news outlets or even accessing news in traditional ways.

While the news business is in the news more than industry leaders might prefer, the most important issue they face revolves around the news habits of today’s news consumers, and, in particular, those of young people.

Citizen journalism: a Music City experiment

The following is a terrific article from Business Week about the unfolding phenomenon of “citizen journalism” — in this case, how it is being applied in a traditional television newsroom. It is an important experiment worthy of close examination by traditional TV news executives.

I have harped on this issue for some time now, and certainly am not alone in warning that a business-as-usual approach is short-sighted and likely to be usurped by new media upstarts. Well guess what? In Nashville, Tennessee, the usurping has begun.

Mr. or Ms. news director, you might want to ring up those expensive news consultants and ask them if they even know what citizen journalism is. Color me skeptical that any have moved beyond the walking stand-up, blow-dried approach.

The revolution is underway, and digital is the primary weapon. Good luck WKRN, we’ll be watching. Excerpt:

Imagine a world in which local TV news doesn’t suck. I know, I know.  It’s not easy. But try. Imagine an end to pointless news-chopper
one-upmanship, to “breaking” reports on trumped-up consumer scams, to the same-show-different-anchors feeling that viewers get nightly from West Palm Beach to Walla Walla.