Citizen Journalists

From NewAssignment.net

Today journalists are expected to write, grab photos and shoot short video to create a complete package for a story. The art of SoJo (solo journalism) isn’t exactly new – but it has reached a new level with the rise of smaller, cheaper and better digital equipment.


According to Howard Weaver “in Fresno, they’ve had good success using little digital video cameras that sell for less than $200.”

But this raises a question. To what extent do newspapers need to rely on their reporters for video clips?

As CyberJournalist points out: “now, newspapers know that it is far cheaper to ask entry-level videographers to shoot digital video of a news event and post it on a Web site than to pay a TV reporter, video photographer and producer to create a three-minute news report for television.”

“Entry-level videographers” – why not just come out and say citizen journalists?

That’t not to say that there isn’t an advantage in having a seasoned journalist like Carr create his own videoblogs. But as we’ve already seen with photography, citizen journalists can produce compelling and immediate content that the professionals can’t always get.

Nor would citizen produced videos mean a reporter is out of a job – if anything it would add to the pro-am style that rounds coverage out – giving the journalist more time to do ground level reporting.

I completely agree with the growth of the so called "citizen journalist" contributing to some of the stories that professional journalists. Just today, a story came out that discussed three girls brutaly attacking another girl. The story came out of video that was posted on the Internet. and then an ABC journalist continued her own reporting, added a voiceover, and provided more depth to the story. CNN and Fox News are doing special segments on the story, and it will also be the main topic on Larry King Live tonight. This all started from a piece of Internet video.

I also agree with the writer's view that by using someone else's video, it gives the professional reporter more time to focus on gathering information for the story. They are not bogged down with having to film clips and putting them together. The clips are the story. Only one question remains-- should the person who posted the video be compensated? After all, he or she did have a major impact on final product.