Eyewitness news is an old phenomenon for local television stations: a citizen’s video recording of a gas station robbery, or some such sensational event, becomes free “news” for the station, relieving them of the burden of journalism.
Today, the increasing popularity of citizen journalism is blurring the line that once separated the gatekeepers of current events knowledge (journalists) from their well-informed, but ultimately passive brethren (readers).
While traditionally exclusive news companies like the Washington Post, whose reporters have privileged access to important sources, are slow to admit citizen journalists into their ranks, social media sites don’t ask for press credentials.
The Oxford Social Media Convention, which took place in the U.K. on Friday, asked how social networking is changing the face of news media.
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter define huge audiences which news media see as their potential readership. John Kelly, a journalist for the Washington Post, says that while the Huffington Post doesn’t compete with the Washington Post in terms of journalism, defined as judgment, analysis and explanation, it does compete in terms of readers.
Thoughts from the Oxford Social Media Convention can be found, naturally, on Twitter at #oxsmc09. Here are some of the more interesting ones:
RossIGrant Politicians fail to understand they can bypass mainstream media #oxsmc09
clk_ to what extent will social media future be defined by what China does with internet? #oxsmc09
scilib RT @lorcanD: RT @britishlibrary: 'The corporate blog is the only scalable way of talking to the people who talk about us'#oxsmc09
kate_day Qu: Will communication improve as we communicate visually rather than with text? Kara Swisher says it's all about video #oxsmc09
adriana872 @DarenBBC hah, just saw [the Oxford Social Media Convention] was today. Nothing on agenda about data & silos, just usual social media pontification. So 2006! :P #Oxsmc09
Jane_Howitt RT @caffeinebomb: @bertil_hatt Facebook groups let people associate with a cause easily - rarely do they return. Gesture politics. #oxsmc09
Discuss
tim hall on September 20, 2009, 10:00 AM
The idea that one can gain usable information from two lines of twit should be studied at length. The reason columnist works, is because they are creative writers. They know how and when to put infuses on parts of a story. The idea is to bring the story to life as much as possible. While short paragraphs and single lines are useful to grab the readers interest and therefore cause research. If a reader goes through life grabbing quips from here or there, they are likely to be less informed. You cannot take statements out of context if you have no context. Therefore the statement has low validity.
I relate two lines or short paragraghs to a telephone voice message. I have to call them back and discuss at length. The problem arrises out of short tention spans. Some Psychologists report from their studies that the electronic games along with lack of physical communication has caused a breed of humans to only be attracted to quips of info. This makes it easy for the reader to validate what he already preceives and not be convenced otherwise. (Republicans suck or Democrats suck), (The earth is flat.)
Armchair reporting is useful in first grabbing a readers attention. But please go on to do your own research on short tension spans and do not validate my short accusations just because they fit your current views. I think this is very important in todays social communication expansion.
I could go on and explain about how the dropping of links to the shortened attention span reader is also dangerous but I am not a communications expert or a creative writer. So I will leave that to my viewers to take the initiative to seek out informed debate. I live and work graphic design. It is my job to get your attention. It is your job to validate my information. Don’t be a fool. Manipulated video is on the rise. The public needs a campaign to force all media into posting warnings “This video has been manipulated” We desearve the right to be able to view video and know if it is valid.
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