The mythology of Citizen Journalism
For years now, Len and I have been trying to correct some of the misperceptions around ‘citizen journalism’. This was the basis for a talk I recently did in Copenhagen and the subject of an interview we both did with Brian Chin of the Seattle PI.
First, about the “citizen journalism” label: They don’t care much for it and NowPublic avoids it, preferring alternatives like “participatory journalism.” Brody, in fact, is famously quoted in Jeff Howe’s book “Crowdsourcing” as saying that “Citizen journalism makes about as much sense as citizen dentistry.”
“I think that the term ‘citizen journalism’ sounds like you’re a nut or something,” Brody explained. “It’s not particularly engaging. It sounds like work.” It’s also a barrier to participation, he said, “because it doesn’t mean anything. This is about people’s experiences and sharing those.”
“If you see something amazing, your first impulse is going to be to tell people,” Tippett added. “Before the Internet and the interconnected world, you ran home and told your family or your friends. Now you post it to Flickr or post it to Twitter.”
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