Online Journalism 1 - Weblogs and Journalism

Citizen Journalism - what is it, exactly, and how new is it really?

It's a tricky question, much trickier than some people make out. If there's time today, we'll try to explore it. If not, have a look at some of the links in this post over the holidays.

People began to talk in earnest about citizen journalism in the immediate aftermath of the Tsunami. Eyewitness accounts of the disaster were more readily available online than in the mainstream news media. Ordinary people caught up in the Tsunami used blogs and photo sharing services like Flickr to circulate accounts and documentation of their own experiences.

The same thing happened with the 7/7 terrorist bombings in London. Pictures shot by ordinary people using mobile phones found their way very quickly onto TV news shows and into mainstream newspapers. Since then, such citizen reportage has become common.

But is it journalism? And is it that new? Some people make big claims about all this - for example, in the Independent, shortly after the mobile phone footage of Saddam's execution found its way online, Tim Luckhurst suggested that it showed how 'we can all set the news agenda now'. Other people are less positive - writing shortly after 7/7, John Naughton was less positive about this kind of citizen reporting.

On my own blog, I rambled a bit about whether mobile phone pics qualify as photojournalism - if you follow the link, there are links in the posts to some of the well known images of 7/7 - you can see how they found their way into the public domain.

Blogs and the news media agenda

When blogs first became popular, it was clear that there were tensions between bloggers and mainstream journalists. Many bloggers were explicity critical of what they call the MSM - the mainstream media - and its biases and hidden agendas. Similarly, journalists were very suspicious of bloggers - and ofen very dismissive of what they wrote.

Over the last three- four years, there have been a number of celebrated cases in which bloggers have directly affected the news agenda, have, via their blogs, forced professional journalists to cover stories in a particular way. We're going to look at some of these cases in class

We're also going to look at the debate this has sparked. Some people are very positive about the effects blogs and other personal media technologies will have on journalism - for example the technology journalist Dan Gillmor, whose book 'We The Media' develops the argument that the net is making journalism less like a lecture and more like a conversation and that can only be a good thing.

In the last two years or so, blogs have become an established part of the media, both here and in the States. Some bloggers now wield real political influence. Last year, The Guardian ran an interesting piece about some of the more popular UK blogs that cover politics. Bloggers over here haven't developed the same high profile (or quite had the same effects yet) as their US counterparts. But this piece is a way into some of the interesting discussions taking place online.

Some well know political pundits now host blogs for themselves and their Hollywood/media chums - the best known example is Arianna Huffington, whose Huffington Post blog is becoming more and more popular. It was the model for The Guardian's popular Comment is Free blog. Last year, the paper drafted Huffington in on the launch day to write a piece about why the 'blogosphere is now the most vital news source in America'. Have a look at that piece and think about what all this says about the current status of blogging and bloggers. Is blogging still a tool for the little guy to talk back to the media? Or has it now become part of the media business as usual?

Pitching

I'm going to get you to pitch your idea for your blog to the group. It's good practice - you'll have to pitch ideas a lot when you go to work as a journalist, wherever you end up. Also, feedback from the group can be really useful and help you develop the idea.

We've talked about pitching a bit before, during the group blogging phase of the unit. Here's some things to remember

• Don’t waste time - generally, you're pitching to important/busy people who have lots to do. So prepare - get a clear idea in your head of what you want to say and why
• Right at the beginning of your pitch, summarise the essence of the idea and why it's a good journalistic use of the weblog platform
• Anticipate objections – it’s been done before/it’s too obscure/whatever. Counter these by suggesting a new approach – new material, a new angle, a controversial take etc
• Indicate why you’re qualified to write it – detail your experience
• Say why this idea will work better on a blog than in another medium
• Try to give a flavour of what you might put on the blog and how it might develop.Give a sense of your style – the way you use words.

When it comes to giving feedback on other people's pitches - be constructive, be thoughtful and don't be personal. If you don't think an idea will work, it can be really helpful to say that in a constructive way. It may help someone clarify their idea, even if they disagree with you. You aren't helping them if you say you like something when you think the idea might have real problems.

Remember - what we say in the class is only between us - it's not going to go on this blog. So feel free to say what you like.

By the way, this will be very different to the atmosphere in a standard features meeting - they can be very competitive - everyone there wants to stand out, to get their ideas on screen or in print. That's not what this session will be about.

Blog etiquette and ethics

One of the things you should have all been doing this week is commenting on other blogs. This can be a good way of raising your profile online, building connections and bringing people back to your blog.

You can approach commenting in different ways. You could just do it because you want to - because you're engaged by something you read online and want to have your say. But you can also approach it in a more pragmatic way - you can see it as something that will benefit you, as a kind of marketing.

However, you have to comment in the right way. You need to be positive and constructive. You need to say something interesting - not just offer simple praise or condemnation. The aim online is always to start a discussion, make a connection, get people involved.

You need to approach commenting in different ways, depending on the site you're adding feedback to - personal blogs are very different from the big commercial blogzines. But each can help you build the profile of your blog if you approach it in the right way.

I'm going to talk a little bit about blog ethics and etiquette today - I'm going to use some of the initial guidelines suggested by Rebecca Blood. I've recommended her book, 'The Weblog Handbook', before. You can read an excerpt about blog ethics on her blog.

Today's session

OK - so it's the last session before the Easter break, so you've probably got trains to catch and places to go, but there are various things we need to get through today.

First, we'll go over the comments you left on other blogs over the last week and talk a bit about weblog etiquette and ethics. Next, we'll go over the ideas you've developed for your blogs or for a blog-based diary-style feature. I'm going to get you to pitch those to the group so you can get some feedback. Next, we're going to look in a bit more detail at how blogs affect the mainstream news agenda. Time permitting, we'll look at some of the debates about citizen journalism and what it means for traditional news media organisations.

Sounds like a lot to get through, I know. But I think there should be time.