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Citizen Reporters in the Spotlight
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Many Web reporters know how to grab the world’s attention, but remain ignorant of the journalistic and ethical standards held by more traditional reporters.
30-Second Summary
“Citizen reporters,” writers without traditional print or broadcast journalism experience who use the Internet to get the news out, are on the rise. To what degree should citizen reporters comply with standards of traditional journalism? And is this new breed of reporters prepared to take the heat for their sometimes inflammatory opinions?
The day after Web reporter Mayhill Fowler cast presidential candidate Barrack Obama, as “elitist” in a Huffington Post piece, she received 200 angry emails from his supporters. The LA Times quoted Fowler’s telephone interview, "It's like the liberal blogosphere has issued a fatwa against me."
Fowler, a donor to the Obama campaign, requested and received an invitation to the fundraiser where Obama made comments about “bitter” blue-collar Pennsylvanians; the event was supposed to be closed to the press. Many believed Fowler was only posing as an Obama supporter.
Fowler is the only the latest Web journalist to gain attention with an on-the-spot scoop. Meanwhile, mainstream media outlets are struggling to create trustworthy relationships with citizen journalists. Jay Rosen of pressthink.org confides, "[N]either the industry, or people like me, know how to do it yet.”
The day after Web reporter Mayhill Fowler cast presidential candidate Barrack Obama, as “elitist” in a Huffington Post piece, she received 200 angry emails from his supporters. The LA Times quoted Fowler’s telephone interview, "It's like the liberal blogosphere has issued a fatwa against me."
Fowler, a donor to the Obama campaign, requested and received an invitation to the fundraiser where Obama made comments about “bitter” blue-collar Pennsylvanians; the event was supposed to be closed to the press. Many believed Fowler was only posing as an Obama supporter.
Fowler is the only the latest Web journalist to gain attention with an on-the-spot scoop. Meanwhile, mainstream media outlets are struggling to create trustworthy relationships with citizen journalists. Jay Rosen of pressthink.org confides, "[N]either the industry, or people like me, know how to do it yet.”
Headline Links: How the “Bitter” debate started
Mayhill Fowler ignited a firestorm both online and in the mainstream media with her controversial response to Obama’s speech in Pacific Heights: “Obama made a problematic judgment …[h]e described blue collar Pennsylvanians with a series of what in the eyes of Californians might be considered pure negatives: guns, clinging to religion, antipathy, xenophobia.”
Source: The Huffington Post
Political pundits immediately responded to Fowler’s piece. James Carville, a Hillary Clinton supporter, commented that Obama is “going to have some more explaining to do about this.” Republican strategist Mike Murphy said, “Now it becomes the defining point that hurts Barack among the very votes he's going to need in the general election to beat John McCain.”
Source: Chicago Tribune
Fowler’s article raised the question of how ethical standards should apply to nontraditional journalists. Larry Pryor, a USC journalism professor says that in today’s news climate, “You have to assume that everything is on-the-record.”
Source: LA Times
Background: The rise and growing influence of citizen reporters
The Vancouver Sun traces the emergence of citizen reporters. From the Paris Concorde flight that blew up en route to New York in 2000 to the recent anti-Chinese protests, ordinary people who just happen to be present at newsworthy events have been using their cell phone cameras and Internet access to provide the world with on-the-spot news footage. Media outlets like CNN and the Associated Press have recognized the value of such footage, and have begun using nontraditional reporters on carefully filtered sister sites such as iReport.
Source: Vancouver Sun
Zola, a farmer who gained recognition for his reporting on property rights in China, explains the difficulties of setting up a Web site in China: “I would be required to register. If, following registration the website carries content related to something political, just a phone call from the 'communication administration' would see my posts deleted.”
Source: Global Voices Online
At a 2006 round table discussion, editors from Ohmynews.com, Globalvoicesonline and a literacy director for Vamos blog (Let’s Blog) discussed online activism and reporting. These editors explore both the influence of and the risk to “citizen journalists” in places like Cambodia, Korea and the Congo. (Transcript, audio and video available.)
Source: Democracy Now
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