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Citizen Journalists Take Up the Professionals’ Beat
May 24, 2008 12:24 PM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Newspapers are finding it hard to fund investigative reporting. Is the decline of journalism now inevitable or can new media revive an ailing industry?
30-Second Summary
The Columbia Journalism Review says investigative journalism in America is endangered, with print newspapers struggling financially and some reporters forced to seek outside grants to finance hard-hitting stories.
“Investigative journalism … is the most expensive kind of journalism,” said TV journalist and author Marvin Kalb. “It takes a lot of time, and it requires a special kind of journalist who is willing to dig, be tough and offend people.”
Some reporters are even applying for grants to finance investigative projects that their papers can’t — or won’t — pay for. Former Wall Street Journal Editor Paul Steiger has launched a non-profit project called ProPublica to finance such “public interest” reporting.
But some media critics see hope for investigative reporting in Web-based media outlets and the rise of do-it-yourself “citizen journalism.”
Ordinary people armed with cameras and cell phones played a significant role in covering recent major stories such as anti-Chinese protests in Tibet and Southeast Asian tsunami, says The Vancouver Sun.
Jim Brady of The Washington Post agrees that ordinary people can help collect “the sheer amount of information” necessary for investigative journalism.
“Once we figure out the sticky question of revenue models for the Web, hopefully there’ll be a building back up of newsrooms … and investigative staff, that have suffered in the past five years,” Brady added.
“Investigative journalism … is the most expensive kind of journalism,” said TV journalist and author Marvin Kalb. “It takes a lot of time, and it requires a special kind of journalist who is willing to dig, be tough and offend people.”
Some reporters are even applying for grants to finance investigative projects that their papers can’t — or won’t — pay for. Former Wall Street Journal Editor Paul Steiger has launched a non-profit project called ProPublica to finance such “public interest” reporting.
But some media critics see hope for investigative reporting in Web-based media outlets and the rise of do-it-yourself “citizen journalism.”
Ordinary people armed with cameras and cell phones played a significant role in covering recent major stories such as anti-Chinese protests in Tibet and Southeast Asian tsunami, says The Vancouver Sun.
Jim Brady of The Washington Post agrees that ordinary people can help collect “the sheer amount of information” necessary for investigative journalism.
“Once we figure out the sticky question of revenue models for the Web, hopefully there’ll be a building back up of newsrooms … and investigative staff, that have suffered in the past five years,” Brady added.
Headline Link: ‘Survival of Investigative Journalism’
Serious investigative journalism has become too expensive and time-consuming for many newspapers and magazines, reports the Columbia Journalism Review, which warns that institutions and public policy will suffer if the trend continues. Veteran journalist Loretta Tofani had to finance a piece on working conditions in Chinese factories with travel grants from two journalism initiatives. In response to these concerns, former Wall Street Journal Editor Paul Steiger has started a non-profit, investigative journalism project called ProPublica to finance reporting projects that are in the public interest.
Source: The Columbia Journalism Review
Analysis: ‘The Life and Death of the American Newspaper’
The New Yorker’s March 31, 2008, issue chronicles the history of the 300-year-old newspaper industry and its current dismal state, with the rise of the Internet, waning circulation, the online service Craigslist cutting into classified advertising revenue, and a perceived loss in the public’s trust in newspapers. Philip Meyer, author of “The Vanishing Newspaper,” predicts that the last copy of a printed newspaper will appear on somebody’s doorstep in 2043.
Source: The New Yorker
Opinion: The ‘Future of Journalism’ and the citizen reporter
Jim Brady of the Washington Post responds to questions about the changing nature of the newspaper business, the rise of digital journalism, the increasing role of the public in contributing to the news, and whether the Golden Age of Investigative journalism is already past at the Editors Weblog’s “Future of Journalism” series. “The ability of readers to participate in collecting the sheer amount of information can help investigative journalism,” he says, and argues that better business models can be found for newspapers.
Source: The Editors Weblog
A citizen journalism effort called iReport released by CNN in 2006 is one of the many Internet-based news outlets that have cropped up that feature unedited, unfiltered media content posted by regular users.
Source: iReport
Citizen journalists are on the rise, reports The Vancouver Sun, which points out that the story of the anti-Chinese riots in Tibet was told partially through cell phone photographs that were not state-approved, and were able to convey to the world the true brutality of the clashes. Citizen journalists were also a huge part of the tsunami story in Southeast Asia, when tourists armed with video cameras, digital cameras and cell phones were the first to capture images of the natural disaster.
Source: The Vancouver Sun
Reference: Media industry, sources of funding and a guide to citizen journalism
Financial woes in the newspaper industry overshadowed all other concerns among journalists, according to a fall 2007 survey of 500 journalists conducted by The Project for Excellence in Journalism in conjunction with the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
Source: The Project for Excellence in Journalism
Investigative journalism in the public interest is the primary focus of a new independent, non-profit newsroom that provides reporting resources and funding, led by Paul Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.
Source: ProPublica
The Fund for Investigative Journalism gives grants to reporters working independently of major news organizations, on topics such as corruption, societal ills and investigative media criticism.
Source: The Fund for Investigative Journalism
People without professional training can use modern technology and the global Internet to create, contribute to or fact-check traditional media, according to Mark Glaser at PBS’ Mediashift in a “Guide to Citizen Journalism.” “Because of the wide dispersion of so many excellent tools for capturing live events—from tiny digital cameras to videophones—the average citizen can now make news and distribute it globally, an act that was once the province of established journalists and media companies,” he writes.
Source: PBS
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