Alice Marwick's article on Web 2.0 mentions that the
launching of Web 2.0 gave people grassroots tools for citizen journalism. While
we often discuss how the increase in online media content and the ability for
anybody to become a producer is diluting information and reducing the standard
of quality. Although citizen journalism may raise the question of quality and
accuracy in the western world, in countries that are facing political unrest
and repression of the media, this can be a tool for emancipation and progress.
In a TED talk by Brian Conley, he discusses self made
reporters and journalists in places like Benghazi, Libya where many professional
journalists fled for their own protection after the attacks. People who did not
initially intend to become journalists took it upon themselves to tell their
stories and inform not just their countrymen, but the world what was going on. He
states that citizen journalism fills in the gaps of stories that are told by
mainstream news outlets, and how important this is to the people who are not
just reporting as their profession, but because it is directly impacting their
lives. Conley also says that citizen journalism is the future and platforms
like YouTube are a huge part of this.
Here is the link to Conley's TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY-l9UQpf0Y
Do you think that
YouTube is a sufficient platform for people to report on serious issues, or has
it become too diluted by entertainment?
In terms of news production, I find that Youtube has become a site where it is very liberal and if there are any conservative viewpoints, they are either shunned or are presented away from the public eye (i.e you have to find them). It seems that the legitimacy of Youtube coverage contributes to other outside sources, such as if you look at comments there will be Richard Dawkin`s concept of memetics comes into play. This is important because posting really funny ``meme`` related jokes about the content being showed will not only allow users to get likes or thumbs ups - increasing the confidence of the user, but will ultimately influence what people come to widely accept as true fact because so many people will validate its credibility. Overall, It is wise to consider the legitimacy of the content they post and more considerably how citizens conduct their research in terms of what they believe is true.
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