The Amateur
Computerist
Winter 2007 Citizen and Netizen Journalism Volume 15 No. 1
Table of Contents
Editorial: ‘“Will This Kill That?”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 1
Welcome to Korea and OhmyNews .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 3
Media War in Denmark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 5
Citizen Journalists and the New ‘News’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 9
Cit-J and Its Place in Journalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 12
Reporting From Nepal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 17
Citizen Journalism Brought to Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 20
Citizen Reporting in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 23
Netizens in Japan Take Step Forward .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 25
Exporting Citizen Journalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 27
Netizens Critical to Citizen Journalism .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 30
Cit J Not About ‘Amateurs’ or ‘Pros’ .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 32
Where Do You Head, Citizen Journalism?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 39
OMN Changed My Perspective.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 42
Researching the ‘My’ in OhmyNews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 46
Cit J: Holding Power to Account .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 47
Time to Think. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 50
Great Expectations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 53
On Being a Citizen Journalist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 55
Citizen Journalism in Indonesia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 56
Editorial:
“Will This Kill That?”
“The archdeacon contemplated the gigantic cathedral for a time in ‘silence, then
he sighed and stretched out his right hand toward the ‘printed book lying open on his
table and his left hand toward Notre-Dame, and he looked sadly from the book to the
church: ‘Alas,’ he said, ‘this will kill that’...the book of stone, so solid and durable,
would give way to the book of ‘paper, which was more solid and durable still.”
The French novelist, Victor Hugo, in his Notre Dame de Paris was commenting
on the emergence over 500 years ago of the printed book and its challenge to the
Webpage: http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/
Page 1
cathedral and the church as the conveyor of authoritative ideas.
Today a similar scenario is being envisioned, debated and tested in practice.
“Will,” as Michael Hauben put it, “the new online forms of discourse dethrone the
professional news media?”
(
http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/ch106.x13 )
We offer this issue of the Amateur Computerist to share some of this emerging
debate and story with our readers. Throughout the main-stream news media industry,
the impact of the internet is being taken seriously. Every major and most minor
newspapers, and every major radio and TV news program has a website and many are
considering or experimenting with how to introduce increased reader input and citizen
reporting. These efforts are commercially driven. The readership of main-stream media
is declining and the web is increasingly becoming the main source of advertising
revenue for newspaper companies.
But also there is a challenge to the authority and centrality of main-stream media.
That challenge is coming from efforts at non-commercial or at least non-profit ‘and
other forms of citizen journalism where staff and citizen reporters contribute as part of
their roles as citizens of their societies or citizens of the net, netizens, ‘Here lies the
controversy.’
Samuel Freedman, a New York Times journalist and professor at the Columbia
University School of Journalism sees citizen journalism as “one of the trendiest terms
of the moment…part of a larger attempt to degrade, even disenfranchise journalism as
practiced by trained professionals.” Who would he asks “treat an amateur as equally
credible as a professional?.”
(
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/03/30/publiceye/entry1458655.shtml. See also
“Citizen Journalists and the New ‘News,’” p. 6 in this issue)
His fellow Columbia Journalism School professor Nicholas Lemann voices his
agreement in the New Yorker (“Amateur Hour: Journalism without Journalists,” Aug
8, 2006). Lemann argues that, “the content of most citizen journalism will be familiar
to anyone who has ever read a church or community newsletter.”
(
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060807fa_fact1 . ‘See also “Cit-J and
Its Place in Journalism,” p. 8 in this issue)
Defenders of participatory or citizen journalism do not agree that citizen reporters
or journalists are amateurs, only reporting community or personal news. They point out
that online newspapers like OhmyNews in South Korea attract serious citizen reporting
and try to serve as society’s democratic watchdog, a role which main stream media has
more and more abandoned.
Oh Yeon-ho founded OhmyNews in Feb 2000 to encourage “every citizen to be
a reporter” and to make available in Korea a spectrum of news and views not contained
in the conservative main-stream media. From the very beginning OhmyNews Korean
language edition mixed staff journalist and citizen reports and gave all articles
professional editing. According to Oh, “only those citizen reporters who are
passionately committed to social change and reporting make our project possible.”
(See, “Welcome to Korea and OhmyNews,” the bottom of the next column.)
Page 2
Similarly, Erik Larson who started the citizen website flix.dk in Denmark in 2003
sees journalism fulfilling a higher purpose needed by society than main stream media
is currently serving. He writes that, “without critical high quality commercially
independent journalism, society loses its headlights and moves into the future like
passengers on a bus riding at night at high speed with its lights turned off.” (See,
“Media War in Denmark,” p. 3 in this issue)
Larson writes he has deep respect for journalism as a profession, but he agrees
with John McManus who wrote the book, Market-Driven Journalism: Let the Citizen
Beware. Larson writes, “‘market driven’ journalism slowly but steadily undermines the
work conditions for journalists who seriously want to pursue the task of being
‘democracy’s watchdogs.’” Larson has adopted Oh’s combination of professional
editing and citizen reporting giving every citizen a chance to get her or his voice heard
and a chance to influence the daily news agenda.
There is a sense that a new journalism is needed because the main stream media
has failed. Ronda Hauben, a featured writer in OhmyNews and researcher of the social
impact of the internet, sees OhmyNews as part of a vision of a 21
st
century press that
broadens what is considered news and who is encouraged to produce it.
“Interesting times we live in,” writes Larson, “a media revolution is unfolding
right before our eyes.” Twenty-first century media will be different. but who is going
to hold the power in the end? Which will be dominant, market driven journalism or
citizen journalism?
[Editor’s Note: Mr. Oh Yeon-ho founded the online Korean-language newspaper
OhmyNews in February 2000. Today, OhmyNews is a major player in the South Korean
news media industry, ranking among the top 10 most influential newspapers there.
OhmyNews pioneered centering a newspaper on articles submitted by what it calls
citizen reporters mixed with some articles by staff journalists. In 2004, OhmyNews
launched an English-language edition called OhmyNews International (OMNI)
(http://english. OhmyNews.com/) which has attracted more than 1200 registered citizen
journalist from at least 91 countries. Articles in OMNI often show up in online searches
made with engines like Google news. From July 14 to 17, 2006 OMNI held its second
annual Citizen Reporters Forum. The following are Mr. Oh’s remarks opening that
Forum.]
Welcome to Korea and OhmyNews
OhmyNews founder and CEO
Oh Yeon-ho welcomes participants of the 2
nd
Int’l
Citizen Reporters’ Forum
by Oh Yeon-ho
Two of the most prominent buzzwords in recent years have been Web 2.0 and
Page 3
UCC (user-created content). Underlying both concepts is the belief that collective
participation will lead to an optimum solution or conclusion. In other words, decisions
will best be made when there is truly mass participation through the Internet.
While giant corporations rush to find a way of commercializing these concepts,
citizen journalism, I believe, represents the most developed model for Web 2.0 and
UCC. It depends not only on the participation of the masses but on the participation of
those who think critically and creatively.
Writing a news story requires a good deal of time and consideration. It is much
more difficult, for example, than leaving a comment or posting a blog entry. Though
we are an open platform accessible to everyone, not everyone can write a news story.
Only those citizen reporters who are passionately committed to social change and
reporting make our project possible. The main reason that citizen journalism has not
grown and spread more rapidly is the difficult task of finding and organizing these
passionate citizen reporters in waiting.
Once citizen journalism takes root in society, however, it cannot be easily
uprooted. For it exists at that point not only on a physical plane but as a definitive
concept in the minds of the people. I hope OhmyNews stands as living proof and
example of how solid citizen journalism can be.
The speakers for our second International Citizen Reporters’ Forum are admired
around the globe for working to make citizens the primary content-creators,
agenda-builders and, ultimately, decision-makers in the world. We are honored and
privileged to invite them.
Citizen reporters from over 20 countries are attending this forum. Some of them
will spend 35 hours in flight just to come here. They represent those who are realizing
the possibility of global citizen journalism. Their presentations will provide a rare
chance to understand the state of journalism in general and of the budding citizen
journalism in their respective countries in particular.
Since the first forum held last year OhmyNews International has more than
doubled the number of registered citizen reporters. The number of countries that our
citizen reporters represent has increased from 50 to 91, an indication that the global
spread of citizen journalism is not in some remote future but is taking place right now.
Throughout this forum, we will focus humbly on the limits and problems of
citizen journalism as well as best practices. Our agenda and sessions are designed to
introduce and provoke substantive discussion. I know of no other international forum
that is dedicated entirely to the unique topic of citizen journalism. I hope this forum
will be evaluated in the future as a springboard for citizen journalism to advance to the
next stage.
I’d like to remind our readers that you will be able to join the forum by accessing
our site, english.ohmynews.com. We are planning to web-cast the forum live for the
full length of the event.
Information and values still flow today from top to bottom, from West to East,
from North to South. It is time now to push back and re-channel the great flow back
and forth, to and fro, from citizen to global citizen.
Page 4
Thank you.
© 2006 OhmyNews
[Editor’s Note: In 2003, Erik Larsen and two fellow Danish journalists started a citizen
journalism website. For no special reason they called it Flix (www.flix.dk). Three years
later Flix has gained a reputation in Denmark as a substantial alternative source of news
and opinion. Larsen is its main editor. The following is his description of a contest in
Denmark today over the future of Danish media and journalism.]
Media War in Denmark:
Which Way Forward?
by Erik Larsen
erik@flix.dk
In late August 2006, I was a speaker at a one day conference called ‘The Day of
Journalism’ at the Danish School of Journalism in Copenhagen. This year’s focuses
were on the invasion of free newspapers into the Danish media market, the increased
amount of political ‘spin’ planted in news stories and finally User Generated Content
(UGC) and Citizen Journalism (CR).
Citizen Journalism is set to move into the main media-sphere in Denmark this
autumn as two printed newspapers (the big daily ‘Politiken’ and the new yet-to-debut
free national paper ‘Nyhedsavisen’ – which translated into English literally means ‘The
Newspaper’) have announced that they will introduce Citizen Journalism on their web-
editions. Both corporations – the Danish behind Politiken and the Icelandic behind
Nyhedsavisen – have hired highly qualified and talented people to run the Citizen
Journalism sections on their respective websites. And they are allocating huge sums
and more and more staff to their web-editions since the naked fact is that the web is
increasingly becoming the main source of advertising revenue for newspapers.
My speech was divided into three parts: First I tried to give some definitions of
what Citizen Reporting (as opposed to Public Journalism and User Generated Content)
is and how we have been trying to implant the OhmyNews concepts into Danish culture
with the online news web site Flix (
http://www.flix.dk).
Secondly I gave some concrete examples of fields where I believe Citizen
Journalism is superior to traditional journalism, and finally I drew my conclusion about
whether or not the explosion of citizen journalism we are apparently about to see in
Denmark will benefit society at large or generally improve the standards of objective,
critical journalism. The latter is what I was asked to elaborate on before the conference.
In Denmark all the big media corporations are preparing for what is generally
called ‘the Newspaper war.’ All the three major Danish papers have launched free give-
Page 5
away papers within the last weeks, they have spent enormous amounts of money on this
and the purpose has been to eat up the market for free newspapers before the Icelandic
media venture ‘Nyhedsavisen’ enters the market. ‘Nyhedsavisen’ has bought up most
of the journalistic muscle in Denmark, they have simply bought out all the best
journalists from the ‘old’ papers, they have employed one of the most talented and
visionary editors in Denmark to head the battle and they aim to become the biggest and
most important newspaper – and web-based news outlet – in Denmark within one year.
The Icelandic company has managed to completely overtake the newspaper
market in Iceland in a very short time with its free paper. No wonder the old papers are
scared.
This ‘media war’ is about one thing and ONLY one thing: Engulfing as much of
the advertising market as possible. In short it is a splendid example of what John
McManus wrote about in his book Market Driven Journalism.
McManus uses a simple but precise metaphor for the importance of journalism
in a democracy or indeed any society where journalism is the ‘headlight of society.’
Without critical, high quality, commercially independent journalism, society loses
its headlights and moves into the future like passengers on a bus riding on a highway
at night at high speed with the lights turned off. We will be blind to all dangers to the
democratic institutions, which are after all very fragile and – historically seen – sparse
phenomena.
We will be oblivious to potential environmental disasters, government corruption,
all sorts of illegal transactions made by multinational companies and a whole range of
other issues of vital importance to our common good.
I have a deep respect for journalism as a profession – with regards though only
to the journalists who understand that they are serving democracy and/or the public in
general (and those are rare) and I believe it takes hard work and special skills and talent
to uncover, e.g., government scandals. Although I am of course all for Citizen
Reporting, I do NOT want to see the tradition of quality journalism disappear in
Denmark. After all, with our long tradition of having a free and critical press in
Denmark, there are numerous examples of journalists who uncovered scandals or
illegal activities in Danish governments and in many cases even forced officials to
resign.
What John McManus documents so brilliantly in his book is how ‘market driven
journalism’ slowly but steadily undermines the work conditions for journalists who
seriously want to pursue the task of being ‘democracy’s watchdogs.’ He uses the term
‘Cognitive dissonance’ for the psychological phenomenon of journalists gradually
twisting or adjusting their moral codex. The pressure from editors above them forces
them into dropping important stories or adapting their writing so it fits the demands of
the those who in effect take over the editorial control of any commercial media: The
advertisers.
When I hear newspaper people in Denmark discuss the coming ‘Media war’ on,
e.g., public service radio (Denmark’s Radio) they talk about newspapers and media as
a business like any other and the only purpose of running a newspaper today is to make
Page 6
revenue for the stockholders or owners by focusing on engulfing as much as possible
of the billion kroner (DKK, Danish Crowns, our local currency unit) advertising
market. This way of thinking, ‘media as purely business,’ has become accepted in
Denmark though fortunately there are many critical voices in the public debate from
media researchers, teachers in the School of Journalism, etc. All of these though are
people who typically are not working inside the media.
Now, the editor-in-chief of the much awaited new free paper in Denmark,
Nyhedsavisen, has proclaimed that he will assure that the highest quality of journalism
will be safeguarded and featured in his paper. It will be delivered to every single house-
hold in Denmark for free and is expected/feared to be the biggest newspaper in
Denmark very soon. He has said that huge resources have been set aside for investiga-
tive journalism and I believe he seriously believes in and strives for setting a new and
high standard for free newspapers. He has also proclaimed that the new paper’s web-
edition will be the best and most read web-media in Denmark, and it is to this end he
intends to implement Citizen Reporting plus totally uncensored blogging by the
newspapers reporters on the website.
If he can really pull that off I say Hallelujah. If he manages to implement Citizen
Reporting and take it to a level that Flix.dk never managed to due primarily due to lack
of funding I will gladly shut down the Flix server and spend my time on something
else, like writing more articles myself or go back to literature.
But – and this was the final conclusion in my speech at the School of Journalism
– we have yet to see what Politiken and Nyhedsavisen mean and end up with when they
give Citizen Reporting the green light. I believe there is a real danger that the standards
of Citizen Reporting might be ruled by the lowest denominator due to the pull of the
market forces; editors might be inclined to sieve out all the intellectual stuff or any
really important informative articles and instead highlight a kind of smalltalkish
‘Reality News.’ We have already seen this happening with another free Danish
newspaper, Urban, which offers blogging space to all its readers. It occasionally
features blog entries from its readers in the printed edition, but always and only dumb
although entertaining lifestyle oriented examples of ‘Citizen Reporting,’ articles with
themes like ‘Why I hate smokers?’ or ‘How do I find Mr. Right?’ and such stuff.
Will Politiken and Nyhedsavisen with all their pretty ideals and promises be able
to stand up against the demands of their respective owners who see media as a money
making machine and nothing else? Will they be able to make Citizen Reporting a
respected and powerful factor in the overall media picture? Time will tell, and I can’t
wait to see how they implement it on their websites. If they are smart they will make
something like ‘Readers Edition’ on Netzeiting.de which I’ve studied more and which
seems to be a brilliant way of introducing Citizen Reporting to western users/citizens.
What I liked about Mr. Oh Yeon Ho’s concept behind OhmyNews when I first
read about it back in 2003 was that he acknowledges the potential virtues and skills of
professional journalists while at the same time stating that ‘every citizen is a reporter’
and should have at least a chance to get her or his voice heard or influence the daily
news agenda – which of course in South Korea in 2000 must have been an especially
Page 7
strongly felt need in parts of the population due to the rigid and conservative main
stream media at the time.
Although it has never actually been unfolded in practice, my vision for Flix.dk has
been and still is to combine the best traditions from ‘old’ media with the immense
possibilities of knowledge sharing, personal storytelling and of course ‘Citizen
Reporting’ in order to help cultivate the internet – well the Danish section of it anyway
– into the supreme and unprecedented media for democracy and free speech which it
holds the potential to be. But the OhmyNews model cannot be directly transferred to
Danish citizens’ needs and culture. Some heavy experimentation was/is needed with
the purpose of setting some basic rules, ethics and formats for what could make Citizen
Reporting a truly powerful democracy tool in Denmark.
So – to answer the question I’ve asked myself a few times after I learned about
the coming boom in Citizen Reporting in Denmark – will Flix.dk be obsolete after the
‘big players’ take over the management of Citizen Reporting in Denmark? No, I don’t
think so. Flix may lose some of our best writers to the big media-sites but many others
will discover Flix for the first time. My job as the Flix-editor will be to run any
important stories which the others won’t touch and make a special effort with regards
to writing or running stories which enhances the general awareness of the effects and
dangers to democracy which will spin off of the huge churn and turn in Danish media
habits that we are about to experience.
Besides, you could imagine that Citizen Reporters and their readers in a fully
‘Citizen Reporter driven’ media arena would not stick to or be loyal to a single website
but rather do their work and information-gathering across a broad range of sites, blogs
and what have you. This is already the case. No internet-user sticks to a single media
but jumps via hyperlinks from site to site. There are certainly going to be plenty of
challenges to both journalists and Citizen Reporters in the future in regards to
distributing the important news and information out to the right people amidst the
bombardment of useless information, spam and advertising-driven clutter which we try
our best to ignore when we sit in front of our screens but which is still there and
perpetually gets more and more noisy and distracting.
The Danish newspapers have finally accepted that the internet is NOT going to
disappear overnight as they must have been secretly wishing. Every single Danish
paper is moving staff from the written edition to the web edition.
Interesting times we live in – a Media Revolution is unfolding right before our
eyes and I guess maybe one could ask the same question as was asked before the
French Revolution in 1789: Who is going to hold the power at the end: The people or
the King? (The king in our current scenario meaning the more or less corrupted and
purely market driven main stream media).
Page 8
Citizen Journalists and the New ‘News’
A response to Samuel Freedman’s
column on CBS TV’s ‘Public Eye’
by Ronda Hauben
“Each week we invite someone from outside...to weigh in with their thoughts
about CBS News and the media at large,” explains the introduction on the CBS TV
Web site feature “Public Eye.” The March 29, 2006 article featured on “Public Eye”
was on the subject of citizen journalism. It was written by Samuel Freedman, a
professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism and a New York Times
columnist.
1
In his article, Freedman presents not only a superficial view of citizen
journalism, but also a rosy colored view of the main-stream professional press in the
U.S.
The thrust of Freedman’s argument is that citizen journalism is “part of a larger
attempt to degrade, even to disenfranchise journalism as practiced by trained
professionals.” Citizen journalism, according to Freedman, is in essence the presenta-
tion of “raw material generated by amateurs,” unlike the journalism of the “trained,
skilled journalist (who) should know how to weigh, analyze, describe and explain.”
Considering that Freedman is a professional journalist and also a professor who
is responsible for the training of professional journalists, one might expect that he
would do some investigation about the origins and thrust of the phenomena of citizen
journalism before writing an article which not only mischaracterizes the phenomena,
but similarly mischaracterizes the practice of most of the professional journalists in the
U.S.
Citizen journalism is a growing phenomenon. For many who care about producing
or reading the news, it is a welcome phenomenon. The South Korean newspaper
OhmyNews has done much to introduce and pioneer this form of journalism.
2
The
impetus for broadening not only the nature of what is considered as news, but also who
is encouraged to produce the news, is part of the vision for a 21
st
century press that
guided the creation and development of OhmyNews.
Oh Yeon-ho, the founder and CEO of OhmyNews started the young newspaper
officially in February, 2000. Oh was reacting to the “closed and elitist journalistic
culture” which marginalized those journalists in South Korea who dared to challenge
the imbalance of power in the media environment in South Korea at that time.
3
Oh’s goal was to contribute to a media culture in South Korea in which the
“quality” determined what news would merit public attention, not the “power and
prestige of the media organization that printed the article.”
OhmyNews has worked hard to pioneer the concept that “every citizen in a
reporter.” Explaining this concept, Oh describes how citizen reporters for OhmyNews
“raise high the flag of guerrilla warfare” against “the massive media power” that he saw
functioning in South Korea as “the final gutter of Korean capitalist society.”
Page 9
Oh believed that citizen reporters would function to provide a more accurate and
all sided journalism as an alternative to the conservative South Korean press that was
dominating South Korean media. “Citizen reporters can be called guerrillas,” he writes,
“because they are not professional and regulars and they post news from perspectives
uniquely their own, not those of the conservative establishment.”
4
In the U.S., there is a similar problem with media power which is used to increase
the wealth and power of a small sector of the society, while ignoring the needs and
desires of the broader strata of the population. Take for example, the mainstream U.S.
media coverage of the current conflict between General Motors and its parts operations
offshoot Delphi, and the union workforce. The CBS TV program “60 Minutes” carried
a segment about the dire economic condition of GM and Delphi on Sunday evening,
April 4.
5
Similar to much of the other main-stream corporate media coverage of the current
controversy, the producers of “60 Minutes” presented one side as the whole story. From
their presentation a viewer would have no idea that there are workers who are
challenging the story that GM/Delphi and the corporate main-stream U.S. media are
presenting to the world of GM/Delphi’s dire financial condition. The main-stream
media is reporting that the source of the problem is the wages and benefits of the union
workforce.
6
There is no coverage in the U.S. press of the corporate transfer of funds out
of North America or corporate mismanagement or deceptive bookkeeping.
On March 31, the Delphi Corporation asked Judge Robert D. Drain, of the
Southern District of New York for permission to void the UAW contracts as part of its
bankruptcy process and to sell or close 21 plants in the U.S., including those that have
been profitable like the Cooperstown Delphi facility.
7
Auto workers who are challenging what is happening, refer to Delphi’s actions
as “union busting and corporate restructuring” not as bankruptcy. The role of the media
in helping to promote the corporate claims of economic impoverishment without any
independent media investigation or consideration of alternative models of what is
happening, shows how there is a serious void in the role played by the mainstream U.S.
media in such a situation.
There is an important alternative perspective that auto workers have been
presenting as a way to view the GM/Delphi restructuring attack on their right to union
membership and activity. Their articles and discussion are available on web sites and
mailing list maintained by union workers who advocate the need to fight the cutbacks
in wages and benefits and union rights that the GM and Delphi actions represent.
8
These workers warn that as GM and Delphi act to void the UAW union contracts, other
major employers are watching and considering what they can learn from the process.
A similar one sided media presentation dominated the public discussion during
the New York City Transit Workers Strike in December 2005.
9
There is a need for citizen journalists who will fill the gap by telling the otherwise
untold part of the GM/Delphi saga. The main-stream press in the U.S. will in general
tell the “news” from the press releases or interviews with advocates for corporations
like GM or Delphi. Whether there are economic or political reasons for this bias, be it
Page 10
the need to maintain advertising contracts, or the need to stay on good terms with the
corporate spokespersons, or some other reason, is secondary.
The main issue is that there is a need to present the union workers’ side in the
public debate over the GM/Delphi restructuring, in order for the public to have a chance
to understand what is at stake. Some of the workers advocating waging a struggle
against the GM/Delphi restructuring plan, say that they spend considerable time
speaking with reporters, only to see little or nothing of what they have said in the article
when it appears.
The Korean edition of OhmyNews, with the articles by thousands of citizen
journalists has been part of a force to effectively counter the dominance of the
conservative press in South Korea. OhmyNews has recently announced that it has
entered into an agreement with Softbank and which will make it possible to create a
Japanese version of OhmyNews, will provide the funds for efforts to improve the
Korean OhmyNews, and will make it possible to support the further development of the
International edition of OhmyNews.
10
Journalism educators like Xiguang Li, the executive dean of the School of
Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, have expressed interest in the
OhmyNews model and in finding a way to work toward having a version in their
countries.
In the U.S., there is a need for a diversity of viewpoints and an alternative to the
pro-corporate journalism that dominates the media landscape. OhmyNews presents a
working model based on citizen journalists as a form of newspaper that can help open
up the U.S. media beyond its current one-sidedness. It would be encouraging to see the
Columbia Journalism School and its professors welcome such efforts and perhaps even
provide support to create a U.S. form of OhmyNews and help train U.S. journalists
about the innovations in 21
st
century journalism that online newspapers like the Korean
edition of OhmyNews have pioneered.
The current crisis in the mainstream media in the U.S. demonstrates that there is
a need for a serious examination of the deficiencies of the corporate dominated media.
By studying models like the Korean OhmyNews and trying to learn from its ability to
welcome netizens to be part of a more participatory process for gathering and
presenting the “news,” a means may be found to create the needed alternative forms of
“news” for a 21
st
century press in the U.S.
11
Notes:
1. “Outside Voices: Samuel Freedman on the Difference between the Amateur and the Pro,”
Public Eye, March 31, 2006.
(
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/03/30/publiceye/entry1458655.shtml)
2. I am writing this article in the international edition of OhmyNews which appears in English
at
http://english.ohmynews.com/ The Korean edition, however, pioneered the concept of citizen
reporter or citizen journalist).
3. “ OhmyNews and 21
st
Century Journalism”
(
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=246787&rel
Page 11
_no=1)
4. The term “guerrillas” refers to “small non-regular armed forces who disrupt the rear positions
of the enemy.”
5. CBS TV “60 Minutes” (
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml )
6. “Automakers and the Voice of the UAW”
(
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=277878&rel
_no=1)
7. “Coopersville Delphi Workers Surprised by Plant Closing”
(
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=52324 )
8. See for example, “The Psychology And Brainwash” by John Goschka, “Miller’s Deadline The
Same Day As FBI/SEC Deadline” by Gregg Shotwell, “Good Day Honorable Robert D. Drain”
by David Huff, and “A Buy-Off That Looks Like Rosemary’s Baby” by Gregg Shotwell.
‘(
http://futureoftheunion.com/?cat=15)
9. “First NYC Transit Strike in 25 Years”
(
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=264876&rel
_no=1)
10. “ OhmyNews Bags Softbank Millions”
(
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=8&no=282147&rel
_no=1)
11. “The Emergence of the Netizens”
(
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=234337&rel
_no=1)
© 2006 OhmyNews
Cit-J and Its Place in Journalism
A reply to Nicholas Lemann’s New Yorker article
by Ronda Hauben
In his recent article, “Amateur Hour: Journalism Without Journal-
ists,” published in The New Yorker on Aug 7, Nicholas Lemann
challenges the promise and practice of citizen journalism.
1
Lemann is on the staff of The New Yorker, a magazine that
publishes important investigative journalism. He is also the Dean of the
Columbia University Journalism School, one of the most prominent
schools of journalism in the United States. Given these credentials one
might expect that an article by Lemann in the The New Yorker would
offer a serious examination of the new phenomenon of citizen journal-
Page 12
ism, and a consideration of the role it can play in the media.
Unfortunately Lemann does not set out to do either of these two
pieces of much needed work. Instead he offers an argument against
citizen journalism very similar to the one advanced by Samuel Freed-
man, also at the Columbia University Journalism School, in an article
published on CBS’s “Public Eye” in March.
2
At the root of Lemann’s article is the argument that citizen
journalism makes grandiose promises but only delivers trivial fare.
“Professional journalists,” (or those who earn their income doing
journalism) according to Lemann, are intimidated by the supporters of
citizen journalism and so do not adequately defend the achievements of
their profession.
It is these “professionals,” however, he writes, who carry out the
duties required of journalists.
Hence according to Lemann’s portrayal of the world, all that is
needed is an adequate defense of the deeds of journalists who are paid
for their work, rather than trying to substitute “amateurs” who earn their
living elsewhere.
What Lemann writes is a defense of salaried journalists. His case
against citizen journalists is that the articles they write are of the variety
that belong in a “church or a community newsletter,” and therefore not
an innovation.
The problem with Lemann’s presentation of journalism in 21
st
century America, is that he is substituting the protection of the profes-
sion of journalism, for the social purpose that is at the roots of why
journalism is so important for a society.
This point was sharply enunciated in a program held in April 2006
at Columbia University.
3
One of the panelists, the journalist Charles
Glass, described the difficulties he has faced trying to do journalism in
the U.S. His complaint was that American journalism has become
hostage to a “business culture.” He argued that for journalists in the
U.S., “Our moral obligation to tell the truth is too often over-ridden by
the commercial concerns to do what the employer wants.”
Describing the destruction of journalism in the U.S. by the business
culture it is embedded in, Glass said his experience had taught him that
the business culture couldn’t be adapted to promote the truth. The
Page 13
business model is the wrong model for journalism, he explained. This is
because the goal of journalism isn’t to reach consumers or customers.
The goal of the journalist is to speak to citizens.
Other panelists in the program at Columbia were Seymour Hersh,
John Pilger and Robert Fisk. This set of prominent journalists explained
that the problem they observed in the U.S. political environment was
that there has been a breakdown of many institutions and of the
journalistic oversight of these institutions.
Instead of the U.S. press providing oversight and questions to the
powerful in the U.S., too often the press acts as official spokesperson or
as the disseminator of the government’s positions on issues.
Lemann’s defense of journalism is actually the defense of what
Glass referred to as the “business culture” which is destroying the ability
of journalism to serve a public purpose. The polity in the U.S. is sick.
The mechanism for rooting out the sickness is to dig out and expose the
problems of the society that are hidden from public view. But such
exposures are rarely made, and when they are submitted to editors, they
may not be published. Glass cited a number of stories he wrote that were
never printed or aired on television.
Similarly, Fisk described how the words used by U.S. journalists
mask the abuse of power. He also demonstrated how very often news
articles in the U.S. press rely on government information as their sources
and hence end up presenting as news the official version of the events,
instead of uncovering what is going on beneath the surface, what is
actually at stake, and for whom.
In the article I wrote in response to Freedman’s article about citizen
journalism, I described how auto workers who are interviewed by the
press about the cutbacks and layoffs by the auto parts company Delphi,
do not see any reference to what they told the reporters when the articles
appear.
4
This is only one of a number of examples where the point of the
view of the powerful is presented to the public as the only point of view
in mainstream journalism in the United States.
In the current media environment, there is little investigative
journalism being carried out by mainstream media organizations, and
few resources are available for those journalists who work for the
mainstream press to delve beneath the surface of current events to dig
Page 14
out the truth.
For example, there are various government investigations ongoing
into the bookkeeping practices of Delphi and its former parent company
General Motors. Yet instead of investigating what is actually going on
with these corporate entities and their management practices, many of
the reporters covering stories related to GM or Delphi just echo
corporate claims that the problem the companies are facing is that their
workforce is too highly paid, or that its pensions and health care
insurance are too heavy a burden for the U.S. auto industry.
There are any number of other events in the U.S. that cry out for
journalists to delve beneath the surface. The outing of Valerie Plame’s
identity as an undercover CIA agent in July, 2003, in retaliation for her
husband’s activities in exposing false claims made by the Bush
administration, is but another glaring example of a story that has not
received the attention it deserves from the U.S. press.
The crimes of the Nixon White House were unmasked because there
were investigative journalists who were able to devote time and
resources to digging out what was being hidden.
5
No such newspaper
investigation has been conducted in the cases involving the Bush White
House.
Lemann recognizes that OhmyNews is “perhaps the biggest
citizen-journalism site” and that it is based in Seoul, Korea. He gives no
indication, however, of familiarity with the important achievements of
OhmyNews. “What has citizen journalism actually brought us?,” he asks
disparagingly, ignoring the fact that OhmyNews and citizen reporters
publishing in OhmyNews helped to elect an unknown politician to the
presidency of South Korea.
Nor does he seem to know that a citizen reporter posting on
OhmyNews to honor two middle school girls killed by an armored tank
driven by two U.S. soldiers, helped to ignite large candlelight demon-
strations against the problem of the unequal U.S.-Korean relationship.
There are other significant examples of achievements by citizen
reporters which Lemann could learn about if he were interested. Then he
would be in a position to make an informed assessment of the potential
and achievements of citizen journalism.
Instead, his case against citizen journalism rests on three arbitrary
Page 15
examples of articles taken from three different sites on a particular day
in June. The selection mechanism used to choose the sample articles
appears to be his effort to claim that citizen journalism is equivalent to
what would in other times have appeared in a “church or community
newsletter.”
Lemann doesn’t provide the reader of his article in The New Yorker
with any means to understand the origins of citizen journalism, as in the
context of the creation of the Korean edition of OhmyNews, or the media
reform movement called the Anti-Chosun [Daily] Movement that it was
part of.
He does offer the reader a foray into the vibrant publishing
environment in Great Britain in the late 17
th
century. The actual book he
refers to, Representation and Misrepresentation in Later Stuart Britain
by Mark Knights, provides a lively discussion of how representative
politics was built on extensive public participation.
While the book offers an interesting exploration of the interconnec-
tion between political participation and political representation,
Lemann’s interest in it seems more connected to the description it
provides of a period when partisan politics became dominant. This
seems related to Lemann’s prediction that such an outcome is likely to
be the result among those writing on the Internet as well.
While Lemann’s article provides little perspective or insight into the
citizen journalism phenomena, it does provide an example of why
citizen journalism is needed. The Internet has brought changes in our
society, and institutions. Whether the new forms and content available
for journalism, some of which are being explored under the rubric of
“citizen journalism,” will bring improvements to journalism is yet to be
determined. It is, at the least, premature, for Lemann to pronounce the
failure of “citizen journalism,” especially when he has made so little
effort to learn about its nature and origin. But more profoundly, his
article, published in the The New Yorker, and by someone of the stature
of Dean Lemann, demonstrates that there are serious deficiencies in how
change is considered and investigated.
Fortunately, the Internet and the advent of citizen journalism means
that other viewpoints and examinations of the phenomena of citizen
journalism will be produced and discussed.
6
Page 16
Notes:
1. Nicholas Lemann, “Journalism without journalists,” The New Yorker, Aug 7, 2006
(
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060807fa_fact1 )
2. “Outside Voices: Samuel Freedman On The Difference Between The Amateur And
The Pro,” CBS Public Eye, March 31, 2006
(
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/03/30/publiceye/entry1458655.shtml)
3. Ronda Hauben, “Business Wrong Model for Journalism, Goal of journalism should
be to speak to citizens,” OhmyNews, April 17, 2006:
(
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=286
231&rel_no=1)
4. Ronda Hauben, “Citizen Journalists and the New ‘News’, A response to Samuel
Freedman’s column on CBS TV’s ‘Public Eye’,” OhmyNews, April 4, 2006
(
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=283
357&rel_no=1)
5. Ronda Hauben, “Citizen Journalism and Lessons from Watergate: The role of
investigative reporting in unraveling scandal,” Ohmynews, June 20, 2006
(
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=299
884&rel_no=1)
6. “Newspapers And Reporters And Citizen Journalists? Oh My!” – “Public Eye”
(
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/06/01/publiceye/entry1675510.shtml)
© 2006 OhmyNews
Reporting From Nepal
[Citizen reporters in their own words] Rupesh Silwal
discusses the importance of citizen journalism
by Rupesh Silwal
Dear colleagues, OhmyNews team, international citizen reporters,
ladies and gentlemen, Greetings from South Asia – Nepal. Together we
experienced some wonderful moments at last year’s OhmyNews forum.
This year, too, participatory journalism has brought us together. I’d like
to express my thanks to OhmyNews for all the splendid work, but today
I would like to speak about its influence in Nepal.
The Internet is playing a larger role in the daily lives of many and
racing toward being an integral part of households the world over. Its
Page 17
impact is rising in developing nations like Nepal. Accordingly,
traditional journalism here is adapting to take changing landscapes into
account.
Citizen journalism has been practiced in Nepal since mid 2005 –
three months after the King sacked the government and seized complete
power. Some 3,000 politicians, student leaders, journalists and rights
activists were arrested and press freedoms were suspended to prevent
any political mobilization against the monarchy. Activists remained in
detention and were prohibited from traveling either domestically or
internationally, and the King ruled directly without an elected govern-
ment or parliament.
In this context when the government curbed all forms of media,
OhmyNews became an excellent platform for freedom of expression in
Nepal.
After attending the First International Citizen Reporters’ Forum in
Seoul last year, I felt that I understood more about emerging forms of
21
st
century media and citizen journalism. I shared my experiences with
a few enthusiastic friends and they are now active citizen reporters for
OhmyNews.
After the royal coup, OhmyNews brought realistic versions of
Nepalese society to an international arena. At the time this was
extremely important because most traditional media outlets seemed to
be biased. The citizen reporters writing for OhmyNews helped the world
understand why there was a movement against monarchism.
Stories on OhmyNews have a heart because they prioritize human
feelings. This is simply the way that citizens write the news.
I wrote, my friends wrote and the whole world knew what citizens
were thinking about when other media were just passing on rumor.
In this way, OhmyNews played a role in the establishment of
democracy in Nepal. Now, there are more than a dozen citizen reporters
from Nepal. Their participation has changed their behavior and made
them think about the world in different ways.
Rosha, a citizen reporter from Nepal, now takes a camera with her
wherever she goes because she doesn’t want to miss the chance to grab
some news for OhmyNews.
Pawan Acharya is a key person in Nepalese news broadcasting and
Page 18
he has introduced some of his friends to citizen journalism.
Some enthusiastic citizen reporters have even started Nepal’s first
citizen journalism site and the government is working to regulate online
journalism as an important aspect of the internationalization of cultural
and social issues.
I appreciate OhmyNews because it carried a series of articles on the
caste-based discrimination that prevails in this region. We have to face
it everyday and the whole world should know that. It’s a subject that is
hardly ever covered in traditional or international media.
Thanks to OhmyNews I have regained contact with old school
friends and I now have more options in life. Reporting for international
media might have once been a mere dream for emerging journalists but
with OhmyNews it is just few minutes’ registration process away, and
accessible to anyone. This has broadened the horizon of journalism.
However, there are still some issues to be faced.
In the case of Nepal, most interesting news stories are based on
country areas where access to the Internet is almost impossible. Who
writes about them? An urban reporter. I wish things could be different,
and one day I’m sure they will be.
There is also the question of literacy and knowledge of citizen
journalism among people in Nepal’s remotest regions. However, once
everyone in every region learns about participatory journalism, I
promise that websites like OhmyNews will be seen as the best source for
news. Readers will trust news stories written by the people they know!
During visits in the different regions of Nepal, I have found brilliant
citizens who are keen on writing the news and are also seeking jobs.
At present the traditional media excludes them in favor of hired or
paid reporters who may or may not write about the issues that most
concern citizens.
The South Asian economy is emerging as a global force. Histori-
cally, culturally and geographically diverse, it is a region with thousands
of untold realities.
Politically and socially, the region is unique. You can see commu-
nism declining throughout the world but it is emerging here.
All the countries in South Asia are developing nations, which means
that the region is in a transitional situation. This might be the reason why
Page 19
corruption has major impact on day to day life here.
The fact that the region is in the process of development means that
there are also a lot of opportunities here. I am sure citizen journalism
will be flourishing in South Asia within the next few years. Everyone
expects that OhmyNews will come up with a regional site for South Asia.
I will conclude by saying that people power is citizen power, and
that obviously, citizen power is guided by citizen journalism.
Here’s to the success of the Second OhmyNews International
Citizen Reporters’ Forum!
© 2006 OhmyNews
Citizen Journalism Brought to
Germany
Reader’s Edition: New web site
modeled on OhmyNews
by Ronda Hauben
Reader’s Edition, created in the spring of 2006, is an example of a
developing citizen journalism platform that is currently part of the
German language online newspaper Netzeitung. The content of
Netzeitung and Reader’s Edition, are different though they have links
readers can follow from one to the other. While a regular staff creates
Netzeitung, the readers of Reader’s Edition as volunteers determine the
subject matter and content by the articles they submit. Thus the content
of Reader’s Edition reflects the readers’ interests and the issues they
deem important to cover.
Peter Schink, who was the Netzeitung project manager in charge of
the creation of Reader’s Edition, started the project in March 2006. He
explains that he built the model for his project following the idea of
OhmyNews. Since the German media landscape is different from that in
South Korea, however, Schink adapted the model so it would be “a little
bit different.” Also, since there was little money for the project, he had
Page 20
to rely on modifications of the free software program “WordPress” to do
the technical development.
Schink explains that, working along with one programmer and one
designer, he created the German language citizen journalism site after
only 2-1/2 months of work. His goal was “to design a platform which
looks a bit like a printed newspaper.” It was important, he emphasizes,
that “every participant get the idea that it is not a forum or weblog but
‘a newspaper’.”
While Reader’s Edition was in development, Schink traveled
around Germany giving lectures at universities and at the “web-Mon-
days” being held in various cities in Germany. Web-Mondays are
informal gatherings to bring together those interested in developing web
2.0 applications.
In his travels, Schink says that he met many “open-minded students,
who really supported the idea of citizen journalism.” From the interested
people he met, he found 10 volunteers who were willing to serve as
editors for the new online newspaper. Called moderators, these
volunteers are the interface between the articles submitted by readers
and the process by which these articles are chosen, prepared, and placed
on the Reader’s Edition web page.
Before the official opening of the Reader’s Edition site, Schink
collected e-mail addresses of interested people whom he encouraged to
explore the site. “Some of them were bloggers,” Schink writes, “and as
you can imagine, they really liked to play around with the site.”
Though the majority of the editorial work and articles are contrib-
uted by volunteers to Reader’s Edition, the parent newspaper,
Netzeitung, has been providing technical and other forms of support.
Recently, however, the editor-in-chief of Netzeitung, Michael Maier, has
informed those participating in Reader’s Edition that they will have to
become self-supporting. Maier has hired a business consultant, Hugo
Martin, to take Reader’s Edition into what is being called Phase 2.
Martin is proposing that Reader’s Edition become a community platform
for NGO’s and others who want to have access to publishing tools and
are willing to pay a fee for this access.
There have been concerns raised in the Reader’s Edition online
forum about the changes being proposed and that such changes are being
Page 21
carried out just a few months after the online introduction of the citizen
journalism project. One reader proposed that a two or three year period
of time is needed to see how such a project will develop, rather than
making substantial changes after only six months in operation.
Netzeitung, the parent newspaper, however, is undergoing changes
in its ownership structure. Started in 2000 by a Norwegian online
newspaper company, Nettsvision.com, Netzeitung has already seen a
number of changes in its ownership structure. Recently, the current
owner, Orkla Media, sold the rest of its media empire to a British media
corporation, the Mecom Group, headed by British media figure David
Montgomery. Only Netzeitung and Reader’s Edition remain with Orkla
Media. Hence Netzeitung staff members expect that changes in the
ownership and financing structure of Netzeitung are likely to follow.
Despite the upcoming changes, however, Reader’s Edition has already
proven to its readers the promising potential of citizen journalism.
One early participant, Rolf Ehlers, describes the varied and
interesting content contributed to Reader’s Edition by its readers. He
writes, “Reader’s Edition is opening a new world of citizen participation
in all political and societal questions. The readers seem to have a clever
ability to maintain order, and they will need it because in the end there
is no domain they won’t be confronted with. When they started they
found an interesting mix of contemporary issues and those that are more
long term.”
Ehlers concludes, “Reader’s Edition is doing what I dreamed of
with my web site a few years ago but which I could not then realize
technically. Reader’s Edition is more than a competitor to the known
print media. It will bring new forms of news and views which you didn’t
even know existed.”
© 2006 OhmyNews
Page 22
Citizen Reporting in Brazil
The information highway belongs
in the hands of the people
by Guilherme Lopes Neves
Audience participation in the creation of news content is not simply
an online phenomenon, at least not in Brazil. Radio stations like Jovem
Pam used to put the public on the air reporting the traffic, for example,
and I’m sure that all over the world other companies have done the
same.
But the Internet obviously gives the public much more chance to be
heard, seen and read. The Net is a great leveler, equalizing the produc-
tion of journalists and their audience.
Years after OhmyNews started citizen reporting at a level unimag-
ined by many people, the big corporations have started to do the same.
Steve Outing pinpointed this “move” by the mainstream media in
an article on Poynter Online, in which he writes: “To varying degrees,
news organizations are giving their audience greater opportunities to
participate.”
Outing names the BBC as an example, and we can add to it CNN,
AOL, and many others big media organizations.
In Brazil, there are three user-generated content projects. They are
from the sites iG, Terra, and Globo Online; all of them accept texts,
photographs, video and audio from the public.
Everything started with the Reader-Reporter section on iG. Anyone
could write and send stories to them. After checking the information, the
text was published. This was in about the year 2000.
Globo Online, is part of a huge communication company, Globo
Organizations, which has newspapers, radio stations and television
stations. The site was inaugurated in 1996. And in this year it started the
Eu-Reporter (I-Reporter) section, with texts, videos and photos sent by
the audience.
We also have the Vc-Reporter (something like U-Reporter, with
“U” meaning you) section on the Terra Web site. Belonging to the
Spanish communications corporation Telefonica, Terra does the same
Page 23
as Globo, receiving the material from the public by mail.
In the year 2006, iG set up the My News site, accepting users’
collaboration, and allowing readers to comment on the articles.
All these Brazilian sites are focused on news and facts. But, at least
two of them, Globo and iG, accept opinion texts, published with
identification, at iG, and in a different section at Globo.
The texts are published in their integrity, with small changes.
None of these organizations pays for the collaborations; not even a
symbolic amount. All sites make very clear that once the text is
submitted, they can do whatever they want to it. Those are the rules.
The major difference between these sites and OhmyNews is the fact
that participating at OMNI makes you part of a community of citizen
reporters, engaged in journalism free from the main-stream.
Since I’ve started writing for OMNI this year I’ve been feeling that
I’m part of something greater and truly democratic, not simply contrib-
uting to a big news medium. I could finally, after seven years studying
and five working as journalist, feel like a reporter.
All because first, you decide the subject, the approach and your
sources; second, you have space enough to examine the subject deeply;
and third, you sign the article, read the comments and know how many
people have read your story. Everything a “usual” journalist has, we
have here.
An alternative to the big news
In Brazil, the media is highly concentrated, which is a shame for
democracy. It happens that when the owners of media companies don’t
want the population to know something, people just won’t know. It is
like being responsible for a public highway and only allowing people
you want to ride along it.
The information highway needs to be in the citizens’ hands and
participatory journalism can do that.
Contributing to a big content site is a good start. It will be even
better if citizen reporters keep their own blogs, for example, to discuss
subjects of communitarian interest, and not go to the main-stream to get
attention.
At the big corporations there is every chance that the audience
contributions get lost under the content generated by the staff journalists,
Page 24
who don’t communicate with the citizens.
I don’t think those initiatives are a bad idea; they are a good start.
Citizen journalism could be an alternative to big media speech. But
right now it is just becoming a part of it.
There are initiatives in Brazil that are more democratic and where
all the content is collaborative, but compared to spaces like OMNI, there
is lot more that can be done in Brazil.
© 2006 OhmyNews
Netizens in Japan Take a New Step
Forward
by Ronda Hauben
I want to welcome OhmyNews Japan which has just been launched
in Japan. This is an important step in the effort to spread the Korean
OhmyNews model to other countries, both by learning how to build on
the lessons from the Korean model and how to change the model to
respond to different local conditions.
While the Korean OhmyNews emphasized “‘open-minded progress’
in order to change the distorted environment in the conservative-
dominated media” in South Korea, OhmyNews Japan will instead have
a policy of “‘political and ideological neutrality’ in order to fit the socio-
political environment in Japan,” announced Oh Yeon-ho, the founder
and CEO of OhmyNews. He also explained that citizen reporters in Japan
will use their real names in their articles, just as citizen reporters in
Korea are required to do; however, pen names will be “allowed for some
exceptional circumstances.”
An article describing the launch of OhmyNews Japan reported that
“bloggers and netizens in Japan are actively discussing directions and
approaches OhmyNews should take.”
1
It is good to see that bloggers and netizens in Japan have the
opportunity to contribute to OhmyNews Japan and to help it to develop
and spread.
Page 25
This is a welcome sign, as it is a reminder of how Japanese
researchers and Japanese society welcomed the concept of “netizen” in
the mid 1990s and helped it to spread in Japan.
In 1995, Professor Shumpei Kumon, the director of the GLOCOM
Institute (Global Communications Institution) in Japan, learned of
research by a young researcher and invited the researcher, Michael
Hauben, to Japan to share his research.
In 1996, Hauben wrote a description of the role played by Professor
Kumon in helping to spread the concept of netizen in Japan, Hauben
writes:
“A little under one year ago, I received a letter sent through the
Internet, via electronic mail. The letter was sent by a professor from
Japan, and concerned studies we were both interested in.... The specific
concern was about the emergence of Netizens, or people who use
computer networks who consider themselves to be part of a global
identity. The Netizen is part of a developing global cooperative commu-
nity.”
Hauben shared the email from Professor Kumon he had received a
year before in 1995 which said in part: “I am a social scientist in Japan
writing on information revolution and information-oriented civilization.
Since I came across the term ‘netizen’ about a year ago. I have been
fascinated by this idea. It seems that the age of not only technological-
industrial but also political-social revolution is coming, comparable to
the ‘citizen’s revolution’ in the past. I would very much like to do a
book on that theme.” (E-mail from Professor Kumon)
2
Professor Kumon appreciated Hauben’s role in developing and
spreading the concept of netizen as a new form of online citizenship, a
new form of social identity and consciousness.
3
Professor Kumon
invited Hauben to Japan to be one of the guest speakers at the
Hypernetwork '95 Beppu Bay Conference on the “Netizen Revolution.”
A little while later, Professor Kumon published a book in Japanese
titled, “The Age of Netizens.” It included a chapter by Hauben “The
Birth of the Netizens.”
4
Also when Hauben’s book Netizens: On the History and Impact of
Usenet and the Internet was published in a print edition in the U.S., a
Japanese translation soon followed.
5
Page 26
One of the netizens that Hauben met when he was in Japan was
Hiroyuki Takahashi, at the time a college student. Takahashi suggested
that there be a netizen association formed to help to spread the Internet
and to encourage people to learn how to become part of the online
world.
Though the netizen association wasn’t able to form at the time, the
beginning of OhmyNews Japan to develop citizen journalism in Japan
and the OhmyNews model is a hopeful sign. It is a means to continue
efforts to spread the Internet and to encourage people to use the Net in
ways that will be helpful for their lives and for society.
Notes:
1. “OhmyNews Japan Debuts”
(
http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?menu=A11100&no=3
13808&rel_no=1&back_url=)
2.
http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/text/netizen-a-call.html
3. http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/ch106.xpr
4.
http://groups.google.com/group/fj.misc/msg/65a9f2d1109d64b6?dmode=source
5. The Japanese edition was published in 1997 by Chuokoron-Sha, Inc. The url for the
online English edition is:
http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/
© 2006 OhmyNews
Exporting Citizen Journalism
Sites in Denmark and Israel Demonstrate That
OhmyNews Model Is Spreading
by Ronda Hauben
The OhmyNews International Citizen Reporters’ Forum 2006
session describing how citizen journalism has spread to Denmark and
Israel was an important contribution to the forum. Erik Larsen who
founded and is CEO of Flix.dk in Denmark and Michael Weiss who
founded Scoop.co.il in Israel presented fascinating descriptions of the
Page 27
online news sites they have begun in their respective countries.
Flix.dk began in 2003 before there was an English version of
OhmyNews. Larsen described how he read an article about OhmyNews
in 2003 and had to go to someone who could translate the Korean so he
could learn as much as possible about OhmyNews in its Korean edition.
Flix.dk was launched in November 2003 from a small computer in
Larsen’s apartment using open-source software. At first he worked with
two colleagues to provide the management and friends, family, and
colleagues contributed the articles. For the first year, in addition to
stories from others, the three editors would write “a column a day,”
Larson explained, “focusing on some unconventional news story or
taking a deeper look at news and media culture in general.”
The goal for Larsen and his colleagues was to create a site for
citizen reporting that would be based on sound journalistic practices and
user-created content and the sharing of knowledge. Their hope was that
this would lead to having better information available to people and that
the articles and discussion would help people to change their view of the
world to have a more accurate view and ultimately more democracy.
Flix.dk thus far has been a non-profit model. Larsen realizes that he
needs additional funding as it grows but that there is a need to be careful
about what the sources of funds are, as certain sources of funding can be
very detrimental to the ability to have a democratic media. He refers to
examples of how certain forms of funding ended up destroying the
newspapers they were supposed to support, as described in the book
Market Driven Journalism by John McManus.
Larsen described how certain articles in Flix.dk provided break-
throughs in spreading knowledge of and gaining contributors for the
online newspaper. One such case was the “Keld Bach-case” in Spring
2004 where a Danish blogger was threatened by some lawyers and told
he had to remove some links on his blog or he would be liable for a large
amount of money. The lawyers, in threatening the blogger, were
violating his rights, and the coverage of the story on Flix.dk led to live
radio show coverage, so that the lawyers had to publicly apologize to the
blogger.
Larsen told of the difficulty of finding funds to help Flix.dk grow,
but that the site is appreciated by the Danish public and contributors.
Page 28
Given the crisis he outlined in the Danish media environment, there is
a serious need for Flix.dk.
Scoop.co.il came into operation after the last OhmyNews Forum.
Weiss began his talk with the statement that “it is tempting to think that
money runs the world.” Instead, however, he explained that the real fuel
is vision. He hopes that Scoop will be a tool for making change.
In his talk, Weiss described how he recruited citizen reporters by
sending invitations to those bloggers and others online whom he felt
would make a valuable contribution to Scoop.co.il. Also he described
how there are rewards for doing a certain number of stories but that
citizen reporters receive no payment for their articles.
The funding for Scoop.co.il initially came from an Israeli venture
capitalist. Citizen reporters who want to sign up to write are put through
a screening process, and have an initial phone conversation with an
editor.
Weiss also hopes to start soon an English language section of
Scoop.co.il. There are many contributors from diverse sections of Israeli
society for stories for Scoop.co.il.
These two presentations were a highlight of the 2006 forum. They
are concrete embodiments showing that the model provided by
OhmyNews Korea can lead to different variations and can be established
in other countries and in other languages. These examples of other
working citizen journalism sites raise the hope that by next year’s
OhmyNews forum, there will not only be many more citizen reporters
but also several more examples of online sites inspired by the model that
OhmyNews Korea is pioneering.
© 2006 OhmyNews
Page 29
Netizens Are Critical to
Citizen Journalism
[Citizen Reporters in Their Own Words]
Ronda Hauben from the U.S.
by Ronda Hauben
It is with a smile that I prepare today to go to Korea and the 2006
OhmyNews International Citizen Reporters’ Forum.
When leaving the forum last year I remember having a conversation
with one of the citizen reporters. She said she had been thinking and felt
that perhaps one of the most important aspects of citizen journalism was
that there are netizens, people online who have found that the Internet
is helpful in their efforts and desire to make the world a better place.
She felt that it was from the netizens that the significant aspects of
citizen journalism will develop. She told me she wanted to be sure to
share this with me before she left the forum.
I first came to learn about OhmyNews in 2003 when I saw an article
in the Financial Times that said the “netizens” in South Korea had made
it possible to elect the president of the country. This made me curious
and I wanted to learn what I could about what had happened.
From Korean friends online and off I came to know about
OhmyNews. A Korean friend showed me the Korean edition, which was
all there was in 2003, and she translated some of the many comments
there were on different articles.
She encouraged me to write to founder Oh Yeon-ho with my
questions about OhmyNews.
I probably did try to write an e-mail and sent it, but don’t remember
exactly and didn’t at the time get an answer. Instead Mr. Oh, it seems,
was preparing to do an English edition so that the many people who
were interested in OhmyNews but who couldn’t read Korean would still
get an idea of the idea of citizen journalism.
A little while later, a netizen I met online said she would submit an
article I had written about the Howard Dean campaign in the U.S. to
Page 30
OhmyNews. In it I compared Dean’s election campaign to the campaign
for the presidency of South Korea. She translated it into Korean, and it
appeared in both English and Korean in an issue of the Korean
OhmyNews in March of 2004.
This all raises an important question for me that I hope will be
considered at the 2006 forum: How is the spread of OhmyNews and
OhmyNews International connected to the fight for democracy? The fact
that the birth of the Korean edition of OMN was connected to the
continuing fight for democracy in South Korea seems an important
aspect of any effort to spread the lessons from the Korean OhmyNews to
other publications and to other countries.
The netizens of South Korea who contributed their articles as citizen
reporters when OMN began and who continued to contribute the articles
as it grew, are a factor that is to be considered and understood. Also, it
seems there was a staff for the newspaper which not only encouraged the
submissions, but who also helped to cover the developments in the fight
for more democracy in Korea for the young newspaper.
I have found that learning about and understanding the develop-
ments in the Korean fight for more democracy is an encouragement to
continue working with OhmyNews. I often wish that OhmyNews would
have more of the articles from the Korean version of the newspaper
translated into English to be part of the English edition. That way there
would be more knowledge of what is happening in Korea among those
who read and write for the International edition of the newspaper.
Next year is the 20
th
anniversary of the victory of the 1987
revolution in South Korea. Perhaps in honor of this event OhmyNews
can find a way to share more of the events of the Korean democratiza-
tion efforts with those who can only read the English edition.
I often wonder if there is any way there could be an American
version of OhmyNews which would be a champion in the fight against
the conservative press and politics that dominate U.S. society. It seems
so difficult to consider this possibility here in the U.S. as the conserva-
tive forces are so strong and pervasive.
It seems that they would find a way to impose the need to make
money on whatever was created, rather than recognizing the need to
have a social purpose as the critical thrust. This is why I feel it is so
Page 31
important to have some knowledge of how OhmyNews grew out of the
progressive movement in South Korea. It is important to remember that
an early goal of Mr. Oh was to create a media culture in which “the
quality of news determined whether it won or lost,” not the power and
prestige of the media organization that printed the article.
Last year’s forum was a very memorable experience. There are
many special events I recall, but the most special was after I gave the
brief talk I had been invited to give. Several citizen reporters for the
Korean edition of OhmyNews came to embrace me and thank me for the
talk. The talk I gave was about the online research of Michael Hauben
in 1992-1993 which discovered that the Net was encouraging people to
be able to participate as citizens in a way previously impossible.
This research – observing what was developing on the Net – esulted
in the concept of “netizen.” The continuing spread of the Net and the
netizens are symbolized by “netizens” I met during last year’s OMNI
forum. They, in turn, are a tribute to and an encouragement for the
spread of OMNI’s great experiment.
© 2006 OhmyNews
Citizen Journalism Not About
‘Amateurs’ or ‘Pros’
Interview with OhmyNews Citizen Reporter Ronda Hauben
[Editor’s Note: This is an interview with OhmyNews International featured writer
Ronda Hauben for the Korean online publication ABC Paper by Heewon Kim, a
researcher who received her M.A. a year ago from Yonsei University in Cultural
Studies. The interview appears in the Aug. 31, 2006 issue of ABC Paper in Korean. The
interview here is a slightly edited version of the Korean original.]
ABC: Can you write a short self-introduction for the readers about your
main interests and your research? Or just say hello to the ABC Paper
subscribers.
RH: As a bit of background, I recently returned from a wonderful visit
Page 32
to Korea. I was invited to attend the OhmyNews International Citizen
Reporters Forum in July. After that was over, I stayed in Seoul for
several days.
I have a great deal of respect for what netizens have achieved in
Korea. (Here I am using ‘netizen’ in the sense of one who acts as a
citizen of the net, rather than the use of the term as any user.)
I am co-author of the book “Netizens: On the History and Impact of
Usenet and the Internet.” The book was put online in January 1994.
During this visit to Korea I met with Yun Young-min, who is a
sociology professor at Hanyang University. He showed me his book in
Korean about the Internet.
The book is “A Theory of Electronic Information Space: A
Sociological Exploration of the Computer Network” (Seoul: Jeonyewon,
1996). It included a number of references to “Netizens.” He had written
to me an email message explaining that the book “Netizens” encouraged
him to push forward his plan to write a book about cyberspace in
Korean. It was quite wonderful to see an actual early reference to the
book “Netizens” in a Korean book about the Internet.
I am especially interested in the impact of the Internet and of
netizens on the continuing struggle to extend democracy, in theory and
practice. South Korea is in the forefronts of the world with regard to the
spread of broadband access, and has a strong tradition of a democratic
movement. Perhaps that accounts for why South Korea is in the
forefronts of exploring how the Internet can be a “laboratory for
democracy.”
I am doing research about the experience of netizens in Korea and
have tried to help spread knowledge about these important develop-
ments.
I would welcome collaboration with Korean netizens and other
researchers.
ABC: We know you have researched Internet journalism and netizen
participation in Korea for a long time. What was the first motivation to
you? Is there any particular event or opportunity which led you to
Korea?
RH: I first learned about the important developments in South Korea
when I saw in 2003 a reference on the front page of the Financial Times
Page 33
newspaper that the president of South Korea was elected by netizens.
It was fascinating to see both that netizens in South Korea were
mentioned on the front page of the Financial Times and that they were
credited with bringing about the election of a head of state. This was a
significant achievement. I knew it was important to learn about what
was happening in South Korea.
ABC: In Korea, the concept of ‘netizen’ seems to be usually misunder-
stood. Can you explain the exact meaning of it to Korean people?
RH: My co-author of “Netizens,” Michael Hauben, did research online
in 1992-1993 to determine what impact computer networking was
having on the lives of those who had access to the Net. What he
observed was that many of the people who responded to some questions
he posted online, were excited about what the Net made possible for
them. Also, though, surprisingly many of those who wrote explained that
the Net was an important development and they wanted it to grow and
flourish and to be available to anyone who wanted access.
Just as the French term “citoyen” or citizen, was used during the
time of the French Revolution to signify a social identity of an individ-
ual who contributes to his or her society, both on a national and
international basis, so the term ‘netizen’ reflects a new non-geographical
socially based membership.
The term ‘netizen,’ as it was originally created, was used to describe
people who cared about the Net and the larger world it is part of and
work toward building the cooperative and collective nature which
benefits the larger world. In this case the word represents positive
activity and no adjective need be used.
Another use of the term ‘netizen’ developed, one which refers to
anyone who uses the Net for any purpose. Then the term is prefixed with
adjectives, like good or bad.
I reserve the term ‘netizen’ for those who devote time and effort to
make the Net, and the world it is part of, a better place. (Michael
described this distinction in the Preface to “Netizens.” This is online at:
ABC: In addition, do you think netizen participation will be more
activated in the near future? Or do you think we have many new
obstacles against the netizen movement?
Page 34
RH: During my recent visit to Seoul, a number of the people I spoke
with were concerned about what the prospects were in the near future for
the netizen movement.
I think that having a longer term perspective which takes into
account the important achievements of netizens in Korea thus far, and
also tries to understand how the difficulties in the past have been
overcome, would be helpful.
For example, in reviewing what happened with regard to the Hwang
Woo-suk affair (i.e. the Korean stem-cell scientist), it is important to
keep in mind the achievements of young netizen scientists and other
netizens who posted online what was wrong with Hwang’s papers and
spread the exposure on the Internet.
Some felt this would reflect poorly on Korea and Korean science.
To the contrary, the ability to uncover fraudulent scientific activity
reflects very highly on Korean scientists and on Korea. The ability to
counter all the efforts to cover up the scientific fraud was an important
achievement of netizens in Korea.
I realize that there were those online who supported Hwang. I am,
however, reserving the word ‘netizen’ for those who were active in the
fight for honesty in science.
ABC: You did various case studies on grassroots journalism. Especially
you are very interested in OhmyNews, and also contributing as a citizen
reporter. What do you think of the social effects of OhmyNews?
RH: Part of the concept of ‘citizen journalism’ is a return to the idea of
journalism having a public purpose and responsibility. The Internet has
made it possible to reinvent the concept of news so that the real-life
conditions of more people and their news and views become part of
what is recognized as journalism.
This isn’t an “amateur” journalism replacing a “professional”
journalism. Rather it is an extension of who is to be able to contribute to
what is considered as “news.”
In the U.S. there is a great effort to defend “corporate journalism,”
i.e. a journalism which reflects the news and views of the powerful and
the wealthy in U.S. society.
The Internet, however, expands those whose ‘voice’ can be heard.
The development of citizen journalism where it is not only that
Page 35
readers can discuss what “journalists” write, but where readers contrib-
ute as “journalists” is an important contribution to the effort to define a
21
st
century journalism.
ABC: Now OhmyNews became quite influential, so it is regarded as a
very successful model. Do you think this kind of model can be success-
ful in other countries? Or do you think there are unique
features/background in Korea?
RH: It is not accidental that OhmyNews could be developed in South
Korea. It is in South Korea that there has been the confluence of both
widespread access to broadband, and the democratic achievements of the
1987 revolution. There is also a continuing commitment to carry on the
struggle for democracy by a significant sector of Korean society.
But while South Korea is a special place with regard to these
elements, I don’t believe it is unique. Instead, I feel that as lessons are
learned from the experience of the Korean edition of OhmyNews, these
lessons can make it possible to develop other versions of OhmyNews
elsewhere.
ABC: What is your expectation of OhmyNews Japan?
RH: I wish those who are beginning OhmyNews Japan well.
It is an important effort they are undertaking. I feel that most
important will be what goal is set for OhmyNews Japan. When I told a
Japanese friend about the effort to begin OhmyNews Japan, he wondered
whether it would be able to become a major opinion leader in Japan.
Can OhmyNews Japan champion the voice of the powerless so it
will be heard? Can it support those who are concerned with the broader
social needs of society and support their efforts for reform?
A while ago, I was told that some in Japan are afraid to speak out
using their own names as they are concerned that they will be penalized.
If this is a current problem, it would seem important that OhmyNews
Japan take this problem into account and communicate with netizens in
Japan raising the question about what to do with regard to such
problems.
Will OhmyNews Japan welcome contributions from netizens in
Japan? Will netizens find a way to support and help OhmyNews Japan
to develop? These are some of the challenges that I believe lie ahead for
OhmyNews Japan.
Page 36
ABC: In the U.S., there are many people who express their political
opinion. (e.g. bloggers) It seems to be easy that everyone can make
his/her own channel to spread their opinions and arguments. Maybe is
this a reason for the failure of Bayosphere? What do you think of the
main reasons of the closure of Bayosphere?
RH: I don’t know the reason for the failure of Bayosphere, other than
the short statement that was posted by Dan Gillmor when he announced
he was ending it. In his statement he mentioned that he had depended on
startup funding and on trying to find further funding.
Someone posted in response that it would be interesting if a
researcher compared the creation of OhmyNews with Gillmor’s efforts
to create Bayosphere.
I felt this was a helpful focus. When the Korean OhmyNews began,
it devoted resources to support the blacklist movement which had as its
purpose to document which policians were unfit for public office. Also
it welcomed netizens and their contributions and even paid them a little
for their work. The Korean OhmyNews began as part of an effort to
provide an effective counter to the conservative press.
These socially oriented efforts of the Korean OhmyNews provide a
basis for support by netizens. I don’t know if there were similar socially
oriented efforts of Bayosphere when it began.
Even more important, however, is the fact that OhmyNews has
welcomed progressive people to contribute their news and views.
This didn’t seem to be the case, in my experience, with Bayosphere.
Instead it seemed to be focused on a more narrow technical community.
ABC: People are starting to enjoy multimedia, not only text, so that
many websites like youtube.com have become very popular. We can see
similar phenomena in Korea. Do you think this can change the
power/relationships of existing mainstream broadcasting media? (As
blogs and OhmyNews vs. existing newspapers.)
RH: Sure. Already online videos are providing a challenge to the
mainstream media.
Netizen journalism in all forms of media, however, would benefit
from having a consciousness of what kind of media is needed as the
alternative to the mainstream media.
It is helpful to look at what is being developed and to also have an
Page 37
ongoing collective conversation about what is desired.
My view of a netizen media is a media which makes it possible for
the common people to have more power over their lives and over the
decisions that affect them. This could be part of the needed vision for the
development of a netizen media.
ABC: Finally, do you have a next plan to visit Seoul again? In addition,
what will be your next research?
RH: Yes I would like to visit Seoul again soon. It was wonderful to have
been invited to conferences in Korea last year and this year and to have
had the opportunity to have discussions with Korean researchers and
activists interested in democracy.
Actually I would like to be able to spend six months in Korea so I
could do more serious research about the role of netizens in Korean
democratization. Spending some time in Korea would help me to
become more familiar with the Korean language, which would also help
my research. Unfortunately I don’t speak Korean so I hope to find a
collaborator who can help me know more about the content of Korean
language posts on the Internet.
Currently, I am working on a proposal for an updated edition, a
second edition of “Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and
the Internet.”
I would like to have a section of the book about the role of netizens
in extending democracy. The achievements of netizens in Korea would
be an important part of the section.
I have been working on some draft papers about netizens and
democracy in Korea.
The papers are online and I welcome comments and discussion of
them.
The papers are:
1. The Rise of Netizen Democracy A case study of netizens’ impact on
democracy in South Korea.
(
http://www.ais.org/~ronda/new.papers/netizensskorea.txt)
2. The New Dynamics of Democratization in South Korea The Internet
and the Emergence of the Netizen.
3. Carother’s Critique of the Transition Paradigm and the 2002 Presiden-
Page 38
tial Election Campaign in South Korea ‘The Netizens and the Conserva-
tive Print Media.
I also have an outline for a paper about the history and impact on
democratic developments of the internet in Korea: What is the Impact
of Netizens on South Korean Democratization?
A version of the book “Netizens: On the History and Impact of
Usenet and the Internet” is online.
I would appreciate comments and discussion toward doing a 2
nd
edition of the book. Perhaps there could even be a Korean translation of
a 2
nd
edition.
I would like to see a version of OhmyNews like the original Korean
OhmyNews for the U.S. I would want to be part of the staff that helps to
provide the editorial direction for such an undertaking. It would be
wonderful to have a netizen online newspaper in the U.S., which would
collaborate with other netizen media around the world.
Both parties welcome comments and discussion of the issues raised
in this interview. Heewon Kim maintains a blog at hypercortex.net.
Where Do You Head,
Citizen Journalism?
Impressions from OhmyNews
International Citizen Reporters’ Forum
by Alexander Krabbe
[Citizen Journalism and Beyond/OhmyTV] 2006
Two years after the launch of OhmyNews International, different
forms of citizen journalism have appeared on the Internet. At
OhmyNews’ second International Citizen Reporters’ Forum, key
representatives presented the special characteristics of their forms of
citizen-participatory journalism.
What can be learned from them? Will there be a common perspec-
Page 39
tive, a common dream that can bind the different projects together in
order to form an effective counterweight to traditional media?
Diversity
Presentations by Tim Lord, managing editor of Slashdot.org and
Ethan Zuckerman, co-founder of Globalvoicesonline.org, revealed their
approaches to their audience, and gave the forum’s attendees a better
idea of the diverse ways citizens could participate in online media.
Slashdot.org and Globalvoicesonline.org differ very much from the
OhmyNews project, which may be considered an attempt to integrate
bloggers into a semi-professional editing process. At OhmyNews, editors
help citizen reporters create articles of a certain standard of quality.
Slashdot.org in the words of Lord, rather forms a contribution
factory in which comments on news are promoted. Citizens contributing
to the Web site will remain anonymous, increasing the chance of
keeping discussion on various topics alive and dynamic.
“Contentious,” “interested” and “helpful to each other” is how Lord
describes the people who contribute to Slashdot.org. However, modera-
tors decide where a comment will be placed and thus how much
attention it may gather, which has displeased some contributors.
Consequentially, anti-Slashdot.org Web sites have already popped
up, which in a way confirms the original’s popularity among Internet
users. The most popular Web site critical of Lord and his colleagues is
named, as one can guess, Anti-slash.org.
Lacking in Cooperation
When asked how he regarded future cooperation between different
citizen journalism projects, Lord remained reserved: “It is difficult, for
example, to place permanent links connecting various citizen media
projects to each other. One cannot be sure whether the readers will
accept that. Besides, many Web sites are already over-linked.”
Zuckerman seemed more open-minded toward establishing a vital
cooperation between the numerous citizen media projects. “We already
face a lot of cooperation with other forms of citizen participation Web
sites,” he said. Close contact would be held with Reporters Without
Page 40
Borders.
Globalvoicesonline.org, which gets 900,000 hits per month, gives
bloggers a chance to present their personal stories to a global audience
in a professional environment. Zuckerman calls it an “amplification of
blogs, rather citizen media than citizen journalism,” as emphasized by
its aim of pointing out divergence in media focusing that leaves large
regions uncovered by the conventional press.
Africa suffers from a lack of internet access, which makes reporting
from countries such as Nigeria difficult. Zuckerman pointed out the
asymmetry of media attention by comparing Nigeria and Japan – two
countries with almost the same number of inhabitants, but with very
different proportions in media representation.
OhmyNews founder and CEO Oh Yeon-ho looks at future coopera-
tion in the citizen media sphere on a greater time scale: “We find citizen
journalism today in an early stage. Various forms are developing in this
environment. There may be cooperation between grown projects in the
future.”
Thus, citizen journalism today consists of many islands. Global-
voicesonline.org and Slashdot.org are but two examples. At the forum,
Lord and Zuckerman only presented their islands, neglecting the chance
to develop concrete plans for inter-project cooperation. Not a single
suggestion in this direction was to be heard.
American technology writer and former columnist Dan Gillmor,
now engaged in his own citizen journalism project, expressed his view
on the issue this way: “I think cooperation between the different grass
roots journalism projects will be hard.” Gillmor, however, on
Ourmedia.org offers basic information to those intending to run
participatory media projects. A learning center that shows how to create
video blogs, podcasts, screencasts, digital stories, and other emerging
media forms can be found easily on that Web site.
Outlook
This author’s impression from the Citizen Reporters’ Forum is
stamped by the lack of connection between different participatory media
Web sites. Maybe the reason for this is that the old elite of the early
Internet age still dominate.
*
They grew up with ideological fights over
Page 41
operating systems and source codes and consequentially coined the term
“flame war.” As with the beginning of many progressive movements,
the power of citizen journalism appears to be split.
Nevertheless, the citizen reporters attending the forum represent a
new generation that stands at the gates of the participatory era. Unlike
the ego-focused hacker generation, these engaged people – from
different countries, from all social classes, and from every age – seem
to form a united movement. One day their spirit may give citizen
journalism a new dynamic, bringing the media into the people’s hands.
© 2006 OhmyNews
*
Note: The editors see the early history as a time of great sharing and equality. The
early hackers were respected constructive members of the community.
OhmyNews Changed My Perspective
[Citizen Reporters in Their Own Words]
by Amit Pyakurel
My name is Amit Pyakurel, a college student from Nepal, and I
have been a citizen reporter for OhmyNews for a while now. My first
encounter with OhmyNews was an exciting experience and left me
overjoyed that my first article about the conflict in my country got
published on the front page of the site. This also led me tsee that even
a person like me, who hasn’t yet made a firm commitment to a journal-
ism career, could tell the story to a global audience.
Though I am like a toddler in the field of journalism, my work with
OhmyNews International has changed my perspective on the society I
live in and on the world at large. Political and social issues are my fields
of interest, and I do often become concerned with various issues, good
and bad, from other parts of the world having to do with my livelihood.
And since becoming a citizen reporter for OhmyNews I feel that my
concerns have acquired a new direction, which I can express through my
writings, letting a wide range of people worldwide attend to and respond
Page 42
to my stories.
Working with OhmyNews has further helped me to see that writing,
especially on sensitive social or political matters, is not a cakewalk. You
needn’t just know what has happened, but why and how. Getting a
deeper sense of an issue means hard work and practice, thinking, and
patience. Though I can’t expect such skills to develop in an amateur like
myself all at once, I do appreciate the job of the brainy staffers associ-
ated with OhmyNews who remark on my work and make suggestions,
point out my mistakes, and encourage me to do better. This helps me
develop motivation with responsibility.
Today’s world is no longer confined to a particular social milieu or
within the territory of any national boundary. The social conflicts,
poverty, and other forms of human suffering are no longer a concern just
of the people directly or indirectly affected by them but now have also
become the concern of people living remotely from the actual happen-
ings. Thanks to the advancements in information technology that have
narrowed the world in this manner, making it like a single village, and
OhmyNews’ idea of citizen journalism, a new dimension is added to this
concept of a “global village.”
I admire OhmyNews’ concept, “Every Citizen a Reporter,” aiming
as it does to bring together the voices of global, everyday citizens and
their concerns with events around them. People from different walks of
life and with different perspectives should come together by means of
this common platform and generate a wider range of ideas about issues,
something that, I believe, could get us closer to their resolution on the
basis of an understanding created through this global debate.
OhmyNews is certainly establishing a unique trend in the field of
journalism, in which anyone can participate, and it already consists of
intelligent and hardworking staffers, who, I believe, have a glorious
vision to grow this news industry amid a vibrant global media market.
As its goal is to provide information not generally covered by the
traditional media, I think mere reportage is not what OhmyNews should
be about. A new perspective or commentary on some common issues
and on those making the headlines could satisfy a modern audience
seeking something other than traditional news stories. I think OhmyNews
could also lend special interest to the in-depth reporting and assessment
Page 43
of individual issues not usually contained in the professional media.
When the civil conflict spearheaded by the decade-old bloody
Maoist insurgency was already making global headlines, not only the
Nepalese but the international community abruptly became more
concerned when King Gyanendra staged a coup in February 2005,
overriding civil liberties and restricting press freedom. It was in the
latter days of the coup’s legacy, when demonstrations against the
monarchy began to disrupt the national economy, that I joined
OhmyNews as a citizen reporter.
During the latest 19-day protests, the people’s burning resentment
against the royal regime and its oppression rose to a new height. Not an
officially accredited journalist with an ID tag, I was rarely out on the
streets to collect first-hand information on the crisis. I did refer to the
local media and online news sites in combination with my own
experience to cover the news stories. The turmoil in my country did
arouse my feelings, and I felt that, at least, “I am having my say about
these events for a global audience” as I began to write for OhmyNews.
The Internet has brought about an information revolution, but in
Nepal, its use hasn’t yet been all that convenient for the ordinary citizen.
I have a dial-up connection, which has been helpful for me in working
for OhmyNews, but it’s slow, expensive, and unreliable. Because of
these considerations and technical unavailability in most places,
broadband and cable Internet have yet to make their debut in Nepal.
It seems just a short time ago that journalism itself began to take
root here. The nonpartisan Panchayat rule from 1960 to 1990 was a
black era for the media, as the press was systematically and brutally
suppressed in that period. The press escaped suffocation after the
multiparty democracy was established in 1990, and the ensuing
constitution ruled out press restrictions, with some exceptions, like the
prohibition of any kind of criticism of the monarchy.
The press in Nepal experienced another oppressive episode during
King Gyanendra’s 15-months of dictatorial rule. Regarding Nepal’s
recent political transformation, its parliament, arising from the massive
people’s movement in April, has attempted to do away with the speech
restrictions, especially on criticism of the king and the royal family.
Another media form that has revolutionized information flow in
Page 44
Nepal for some time now is the FM radio stations. Initially, having only
one state-owned AM radio station named Radio Nepal, we are witness
now to a number of private FM stations, which are gaining in popularity.
Though some FM stations that thrived initially focused only on
entertainment, avoiding politics and news-oriented material, some newly
emerging private FM stations have brought Nepal into a new informa-
tion age, making rural residents, the majority of the population, aware
of political and social issues.
There has been a remarkable upsurge in the media market in Nepal
since the establishment of democracy in 1990. Along with many local
newspapers, some private dailies, like Kantipur, have gained a lot of
popularity, as at first there was only the state-owned Gorkhapatra daily,
which monopolized newspaper publishing. Initially there was only the
state-owned Nepal Television, today there are four other private TV
channels whose dissemination of the news has been able to attract wider
public attention. People have yearned for fairness in the news since the
state-owned media during the dictatorship dispersed artificial and
misleading information to subdue the democratic process.
Thanks to the emerging media market in our country, we no longer
have to depend upon a media monopoly, and such multilateral media
could help to make information more fairly available to the public. As
the media situation has significantly improved in Nepal, although aiming
to be better in the future, the practice of citizen journalism here does not
seem such a far-fetched expectation. But OhmyNews’ model of “paid
citizen journalism” could still be a distant goal in as economically
fragile a developing country as Nepal. It would be a different thing if
some popular media industry could follow up on this trend based on
economic success, but this could include only a comparatively small
number of urban people, not the majority living in the countryside,
where poverty and illiteracy are rampant.
© 2006 OhmyNews
Page 45
Researching the ‘My’ in OhmyNews
An Exploratory Paper into the Workings of Citizen
Journalists in Korea
by Shaun W. Sutton
As both a communications researcher at the University of Leeds and
a fanatic of anything Korean, I have been struck by the various activities
of OhmyNews citizen journalists.
Indeed, since OhmyNews’ founding in early 2000, Korean news
guerrillas have been attracting the attention of world leaders, media
organizations, and interested academics and citizens alike.
In response, over the past six months I have been conducting a
detailed academic investigation into the popularity behind the success
of OhmyNews.
This investigation gives a unique insight into the Korean version of
OhmyNews, and readers of OhmyNews International will no doubt find
interest in the results when comparing the Korean case study to their
respective countries.
The investigation’s purpose has been to find out exactly why citizen
journalists write articles for OhmyNews. With the support from the News
Guerrilla Team in Seoul, an empirical survey was administered to a
sample of OhmyNews contributors, with these results forming an
important part of the research paper.
The completed paper, in PDF format, can be examined at the link
below. Comments on this research are welcome.
(
http://image.ohmynews.com/down/etc/1/_316425_1%5B1%5D.pdf)
Page 46
Citizen Journalism:
Holding Power to Account
How Life in a Palestinian Refugee Camp Led Ramzy
Baroud to Dedicate Himself to the Truth
by Ramzy Baroud
I still vividly remember the anger in my father’s voice as our family
of seven gathered to warm ourselves around a tin pan filled with burning
coal in our house, in a refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip. That was nearly
20-years-ago, and the camp was under a cruel Israeli military curfew.
Outside, Israeli army vehicles roamed the streets of the dreadfully
crowded and impoverished camp. “Those who violate the army’s order
and leave their homes will be killed,” blasted a voice from the loud-
speakers positioned atop one of the Israeli vehicles. The soldier spoke
in broken Arabic; his threats sounded ominously genuine.
Inside our humble dwelling, a refugee home that first started as a
mud hut, we huddled with indescribable fear. Many people had died this
way. Some of our neighbors were shot for looking out their windows.
Others were killed inside their homes. Our house was riddled with
bullets. We had no reason to doubt the Israeli army’s threats. My Dad
instructed us not to breath heavily, not to sneeze, and not to move for
any reason. Even this could drive a herd of soldiers into our house.
A few hours later when things quieted down, my Dad, comforted by
the fact that the jeeps seemed to have moved on to another part of the
camp, turned on the radio. He never missed the BBC Arabic hourly news
broadcast, even now.
Palestinians have always had a love-hate relationship with the
media. Knowing that the name of our refugee camp was uttered on some
radio station thousands of miles away, was in some way a recognition
that our plight mattered, even if only a little. Hate, because this was
hardly the case, and even if some references were made, they barely
deviated from the usual mantras that saw the Israeli occupiers as the
ultimate source of information, the primary authority on what had indeed
happened.
Page 47
This remains the case today. What the Israeli army acknowledges
becomes fact, its narrative is the trusted narrative; what it dismisses, has
simply never happened; at best, it’s a murky Palestinian allegation.
The BBC radio mentioned nothing of the Israeli curfew imposed on
half of the Gaza Strip that day, nothing of the wanton killings of several
people. One boy who died that day was a classmate of mine, shot as we
protested against the armed Jewish settlers’ attack on our high school.
The still silence was now coupled with anger. “No one gives a damn
whether we live or die, slaughtered like sheep and not even a mention on
the news,” my father began his own commentary, which often followed
disappointing news broadcasts.
Out of this sense of helplessness my insistence on “getting the word
out” was born. It had little to do with the 1988 U.S. presidential
elections, an event that some argue led to the introduction of the concept
of Citizen Journalism. It also had little to do with the advent of the
Internet, although the latter has provided a platform for many people of
conscience to disseminate their ideas.
“Getting the word out” or “just telling them the truth,” as Malcolm
X often preached is not inborn in me, or anyone else for that matter, but
it is necessitated by circumstances: where a narrative is conveyed by one
party, and the other party is completely excluded. While such an
assertion sounds academic and perhaps a bit redundant, this kind of
neglect is injurious to most of the forgotten multitudes all around the
globe, those whose “side of the story” is either deemed irrelevant,
unimportant or inconsistent with the mainstream narrative which has its
own intricate checks and balances.
It comes as no surprise that my studies, career and activism have
always remained closely tied to that notion: I studied, taught and wrote
about journalism for many years. While I began my writing career at a
very young age, as a correspondent for a few local newspapers in
Palestine, my direct involvement in Citizen Journalism didn’t begin until
much later, in the year 2000.
A year earlier, I had embarked on what then looked more like a
personal website, where I would post my weekly commentaries and the
work of a few others. But the advent of the Palestinian Uprising in
September 2000 turned that venture into one of the most stable and
Page 48
widely read Palestinian online newspapers in the English language. It is
called The Palestine Chronicle.
In record time, The Palestine Chronicle attracted a large number of
writers from across the globe who sought not financial rewards, but a
much needed platform to express their well-stated yet neglected points
of view. Into its seventh year, The Palestine Chronicle has grown in
scope and import, covering the Iraq war as well as the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
Though no match for the traditional pro-Israeli media and with no
financial backbone whatsoever, The Palestine Chronicle has made a
dent in what had seemed to be an unwinnable battle for honest reporting.
The year 2002 witnessed the Israeli reinvasion of major West Bank
population centers, prompting thousands of peace activists from across
the world, notwithstanding Israel itself, to travel to the West Bank. Most
of these activists hoped to convey the story beyond the headlines and the
forgotten news segments filed by detached reporters based in five-star
hotels in Tel Aviv. Through The Palestine Chronicle and other online
venues, these activists were provided with a platform.
For example, Brian Wood – a U.S. based activist who visited the
West Bank during the Israeli invasion of Jenin in April 2002 – used to
sneak into the Palestinian refugee camp where hundreds of people were
reportedly killed or wounded, call a friend in Colorado and convey a
report regarding what he saw there over a cell phone. The report would
in turn be sent to me in Seattle; I would edit and post it, and also send it
to a mailing list of thousands, and eventually to hundreds of thousands.
Using the same style, and following the U.N. failure to investigate
the Israeli killings in Jenin, I managed to use citizen reporters to put
together what later became an Amazon.com best seller, Searching Jenin:
Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion. The book was the fruit of
nearly 30 individuals; only two were professional journalists. It was the
first, and still the most authoritative response to all the allegations made
regarding the two-week long battle in Jenin. The book was used as a
source for Middle East studies programs in various U.S. universities.
Citizen Journalism is not stamp collecting. It’s true, at times it can
be a fun and financially rewarding hobby to those willing to hide behind
the backyard bushes of Hollywood celebrities, ready to snap the
Page 49
million-dollar photo and sell it to some tabloid. But in my experience it
can be a very useful tool in confronting authority, revealing atrocities
and holding those in power to account for their deeds.
If Citizen Journalism, using the Internet and other media, succeeds
in penetrating the monopoly of the corporate media on news (thus
narratives and discourses), participatory democracy, which has been
long circumvented by media deception and official propaganda, might
finally recover some of its losses.
To achieve that, Citizen Journalism has to thoroughly analyze what
is going wrong in today’s mainstream media and remain focused on
what the priorities are, what counts and what truly matters.
Ramzy Baroud teaches journalism at Australia’s Curtin University of
Technology, Malaysia Campus. He is the author of “Writings on the
Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle” (Pluto
Press, London), and editor-in-chief of The Palestine Chronicle.
© 2006 OhmyNews
Time to Think
Reflections on the Uses and Abuses of the Media
by Fiza Fatima Asar
The role of the media has long been under discussion, usually from
two perspectives, one emphasizing how it might serve to improve
society and the other discussing the ways the media have been manipu-
lated by governments and elites in their own interests. It is unfortunate
that the socially positive role of the media is often superseded by the
larger interests of a national elite, the manipulative role emerging as the
more dominant.
Hitlerian Germany was a prime historical example of how govern-
ments can employ the media to influence the mindset of citizens. During
the Cold War, exemplified by “Voice of America,” the media were once
again used to promote the opposing sides’ ideas. In some cases, as with
Nazi Germany, the media may be used directly to market certain ideals,
Page 50
and in other cases, it is a subtler process, in which the viewer/listener is
influenced less directly.
In this context it is interesting to note the growing attention world
governments are paying to the Arabic language and their willingness to
reach Arabic-speaking audiences. There is a new wave of Arabic
channels being introduced by major powers around the world.
Russia is in the process of starting an Arabic channel by the name
of “Russia al-Awam,” which will be aired in all Arabic-speaking
countries. In recent times, Russia has increasingly oriented itself toward
the Middle East. With its softer attitude than the West’s toward Iran and
the Hamas-run Palestinian government and its observer status in the
Organization of Islamic Countries, Russia can be seen as playing a
strategic game against the West. It’s a two-way contest, however.
The West is trying to win the hearts and minds of the
Arabic-speaking public as well. As the BBC World Service extends its
Arabic broadcasts, CNN is monitoring its Arabic website. France, too,
is aiming to broadcast its Arabic channel by 2007, the year Russia
al-Awam will broadcast. Germany’s channel, Deutsche Welle, is also
interested in broadcasting in Arabic. Denmark and Spain are not far
behind.
It is especially interesting to note this development, keeping in mind
that these are the very countries that have seldom had warm relations
with Arab-speaking peoples. There is enough evidence of this discrep-
ancy in the treatment of the working class in France, which, not
surprisingly, numbers many immigrants, a large fraction of whom are
Arabic-speaking. This population lives under poor conditions and suffers
increasingly tougher labor laws.
Denmark is home to the cartoons considered insulting to Muslims
around the world. The negative reaction of Muslims to the cartoons only
encouraged other European newspapers to continue their war on the
susceptibilities of Arabs and Muslims in general. Enough has been said
about the “war on terrorism” initiated by the United States and fostered
by its Western allies. To fight “terrorism” these countries are commit-
ting acts of state terrorism, rounding up and imprisoning Arabs and
Muslims without solid evidence, denying them legal access, sending
them to jails like Guantanamo, and to other forms of maltreatment, as
Page 51
was evident in the Al-Ghraib torture scandal.
When a contradictory picture like this emerges, it is difficult not to
question how the motives behind it relate to the media. Is it purely a
desire to reach out to wider audiences, or is it a long-term strategy to win
over the Middle East by changing truth to propaganda?
If one were to begin believing in the idea that perhaps Western
media in the Arabic-speaking world would be a positive step toward
introducing the idea of democracy, it only takes a little while to look at
the examples of Algeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia,
Hamas-run Palestine, and, in fact, every other country in the world to see
how and when the West chooses to ignore the democratic ideal and in
fact works against it where democratically elected groups are not to the
West’s liking.
These are the very media that showed footage of Palestinian
children rejoicing after the 9/11 attacks without clearly showing whether
the footage was from a prior recording, or whether the children were not
tempted, by candies, perhaps, to act the part. Western media, attempting
to break into the Arab world, are just a continuing chain of foreign
enterprises, franchises, and companies that exercise a monopoly against
the locals in all parts of the world. The problem is when we continue to
indulge ourselves in the supposed “benefits” of these institutions,
choosing to ignore the way they add to the contradictions around us, and
the way they maneuver us away from reality.
Perhaps now is the time we must really question ourselves – is it
permissible then for us to ignore the question of media manipulation and
elite interests? Do we not have a responsibility in this toward ourselves
and others? We may be in a better world today, when it comes to the
opportunities we have to filter incoming information and make
judgments based on our wisdom. In the age of information and technol-
ogy, the twin factors of media and knowledge have been transformed
into newer and better shapes, so that the role of governmental manipula-
tion can be, and has been, greatly reduced.
No longer should we, as a global community, be content to blame
our local television, radio, and print media for the misconceptions and
ignorance we labor under. We have a great responsibility to ourselves
and others to comprehend and promote the truth. Agreed, technology has
Page 52
reached far and wide, and the Internet is more widely used than ever
before. Yet, there are still many to whom access to technology is still a
privilege. It is we who can employ our resources, use our good senses,
break the ignorance we live in, make wise decisions, and then spread
this light among others through our voice and commitment.
© 2006 OhmyNews
Great Expectations: A Writer’s
Dilemma
When Confronted by an Emotional Topic,
How Does One Remain Objective?
by Bhumika Ghimire
While doing research on Afghan women for an OhmyNews article
titled Afghan Women: Forgotten and Betrayed, I had big hopes.
I am the “new kid on the block,” who hopes for big results for her
work, no matter how small the work is. I had hoped that my article
would spark a debate and make people see the failure of international
intervention in Afghanistan, but nothing happened.
The article was published and after five or six days everyone forgot
about the long suffering women of Afghanistan. The lack of outrage
among readers made me question my motive. Was I writing about the
women to get results or to just fulfill my duty? Should I expect results?
I got my answer a month after the article was published. During a
meeting with a local peace group, someone said that if we just remain
spectators we will turn out to be terribly angry people seeing all the
injustice in the world. We have to do something to make our voices
heard, be it in writing or by public speaking. This is the only way we can
do justice to ourselves and the people around us.
The moment I heard this, I had an epiphany. I realized that my
writing about the lives of Afghan women was my duty – something I
had to do – whatever the outcome may be. I understood the futility of
Page 53
my great expectations.
Even though I know what I am supposed to be doing, I can’t help
but hope for results. I don’t know how seasoned journalists like Ahmed
Rashid, who has been writing on Afghanistan for nearly 25 years, keeps
his priorities straight. He has seen death, destruction, injustice year after
year for last quarter of a century. How can one be objective in such a
situation? If I put myself in his shoes, I can see that I would have turned
into a frustrated lunatic unable to handle all the pressures.
I don’t think my expecting results is because of my being a woman
– making me somewhat emotional. When I used to write about Nepal
and the way the Maoists have escaped justice, I knew that my writing
would do nothing to improve the situation. I continued to write because
I could not stop myself.
I think this is because since I grew up in Nepal, I know how things
work there, so my “Nepali” gene told me not to dream big. But in the
case of Afghanistan, I don’t have that advantage. I don’t have the
“Afghan” gene in me, so I don’t know how the people of Afghanistan
think. I guess that is why my inner, inexperienced self took over and
made me hope and dream.
I am ranting about my dilemma because today I got a message from
the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA),
which talks about a report from United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM) which says that 65% of the widows in Kabul see
suicide as their only option to escape life’s miseries.
To be a good journalist you have to be objective. But when you read
about situations like the seven-year-old child being victim of domestic
violence or a little girl being given away in marriage to a man twice her
age, how does one remain objective? How to shut down your emotions
and just write the news?
I cannot turn myself into a stone and just write the news. I am
outraged by the situation of women in Afghanistan and yes, I do expect
my readers to feel the same. I know I should not expect dramatic results,
but this is the only way I can keep on writing.
© 2006 OhmyNews
Page 54
On Being a Citizen Journalist
The Greatest Beauty of Citizen Journalism Is
That its Power Is in Every Citizen’s Hand
by Masimba Biriwasha
Being a citizen journalist has taught me to be responsible with the
power that I have over information. I have a powerful understanding of
the importance of information in shaping people’s decisions and
destinies.
I have a special responsibility to make sure that the information that
I collect is accurate and truthful before sharing it with other citizens.
It is not the simple desire to see myself in print that drives me.
Rather, it is to see citizens empowered to make independent and wise
decisions about their lives and livelihoods.
I strive to be fair and complete in the stories that I tell. My aim is
always to tell an accurate and authentic story, one that reflects reality as
much as possible.
I strive to remain independent from the people and issues that I
cover. Obviously, I am deeply concerned about the issues that I write
about. But my primary motivation is to provide a complete picture, even
if it is not entirely positive. I try to tell the truth as it is, without
embellishments.
As a citizen journalist, I am not a mere conveyer of information. I
am more that just a cog in the wheel of information. I am a citizen first,
with a sincere desire to see freedom, fairness and justice prevail. I have
a firm belief that freedom of expression is fundamental to citizens’
progress, peace, and prosperity.
I therefore always do original reporting, applying a keen sense of
judgment to information. My primary allegiance is to the public. I am
aware of my own opinions and biases, and strive to interrogate them
when I do my reporting.
I make it a point to represent all significant views in a way that is
non-partisan and provides wholesome information to citizens.
I am curious and persistent. I have an in-built desire to keep going
over the edge in search of the truth. I ask questions – many questions –
Page 55
and never take no for an answer.
I am not intimidated by the big and powerful in society. However,
I maintain an immense humility and passion to see the voices of the
downtrodden speaking forcefully about issues that affect their lives.
My principal obligation is loyalty to citizens and the truth. I am
highly disciplined at verifying the authenticity of information. And I
maintain a rigorous independence from the characters behind the stories
that I seek to tell.
I believe citizen journalism is an avenue to challenge dominant
views in society. Usually, these dominant views marginalize the
voiceless through economic and political power as well as access to the
big media.
Every day, I face challenges to compromise these values but I
always fight to keep them at the front of every story that I tell.
Citizen journalism is in essence supplying citizens with information
that they can use to make a difference in their lives. It is more than just
juggling words to paint a picture. Overall, it is a painstaking process that
involves collecting and checking facts. And, above all, having the
courage to share a story without fear or favor. The greatest beauty of
citizen journalism is that the center of its power is in every citizen’s
hands.
A key question for me when I compile stories is always: how will
a story help a citizen to be part of the change that makes our society
better and freer?
© 2006 OhmyNews
OhmyNews Inspires
Citizen Journalism in Indonesia
OMNI Citizen Reporter Launches Panyingkul!
by Lily Yulianti
When I raised the idea of a local citizen journalism Web site in my
home town, Makassar, Indonesia, I received some skeptical responses.
Page 56
People said that the Internet is still a luxury thing in Indonesia, there are
not many people that have adequate writing skills, and how would I find
citizens to actively and continuously send their report and articles.
It was in April last year. I was sitting in front of my computer in
Tokyo, imagining a local Web site run by ordinary citizens, in a city,
around 6,000 kilometers away from me. Well, this is the fact: the
number of Internet users in Indonesia is less than 10% of the total
population. Makassar, my home town, is located in South Sulawesi
Province, Eastern Indonesia, where the infrastructures lag behind the
major cities in the western part of the country.
“Let’s test the water. We’ll never find out the feasibility unless we
have a go,” I said to some close friends last year.
Why did the idea of a local Web site with a citizen journalism
model look so appealing to me? The fact was, after spending several
months writing for OhmyNews and reading some articles about reader
participation in creating news, I found that this model channels citizens’
voices and promotes people’s involvement in the public arena – in an
independent media from the public, for the public.
It was nearly one year ago, when some friends of mine in Makassar
agreed to join a discussion on citizen journalism and an online workshop
to investigate any possibilities of introducing the new journalism model
to the city. Later we decided to write several stories about the city
square, Karebosi. Seven citizens came up with various ideas, inspired by
the history, myths, and people of the square, and we presented the stories
on a citizen journalism Web site called Panyingkul! on July 1, 2006. In
addition, we also wrote book reviews about Makassar, small bookshops
and book-rental or private libraries run by local people.
The word “panyingkul” originates from local languages, and means
junction, intersection. We decided to use the word as we believe that it
is ear-catching, easy to remember, distinctive, and presents the spirit of
an alternative media. With two editors, one Web designer and Web
developer working on a volunteer basis, we launched a project called
“Journalism of Ordinary People.” Our first main stories were the six
feature-style articles about the city square. They were written by seven
writers and on the launching day we declared that this project would be
a monthly Web-magazine.
Page 57
Just a few weeks after the launch, we received positive responses
and also some expectations that the Web site should be routinely
updated. The decision to provide a monthly magazine was finally
changed. We determined to update the site on a daily basis, with one
article per day. There were 10 citizen reporters who confirmed their
commitment to write for us.
Now, 10 months have passed since we launched the project.
Panyingkul! has published 174 articles mostly written by local citizens
in Makassar and several writers in other cities, and also Indonesian
people living overseas. They are university students, fiction writers,
professional workers, and housewives, with ages ranged from 20 to 60
years old.
The stories vary from social issues such as street children, urban
poor, traffic jams, education, public facilities, tourism, marine research,
waste management, environmental issues, economic and social gaps
among districts, women’s empowerment, culture, arts, literature, and so
on. Some stories have a distinctive point of view, such as criticism of
poor public facilities and city development policies.
In some cases, the citizens’ solidarity is easily channeled throughout
Panyingkul! For example there was a collection of donations for a
60-year-old rickshaw driver who was stabbed by his friend. A citizen
reporter wrote the profile of the rickshaw driver for Panyingkul!,
explaining that he has to work as a cleaner at a university in the morning
and also work as a rickshaw driver in the afternoon, in order to meet his
family’s daily needs.
When the citizen reporter wrote about the accident, other citizen
reporters collected donations and also gave away their payments. (Note:
Panyingkul! pays a small fee, around US$10 per article.)
When torrential rains and a storm destroyed a home-schooling
program for poor children in Makassar early in January, again the citizen
reporters collected donations for repairing the building, after a citizen
reporter wrote about the incident.
Today I would like to share my story on behalf of around 40 citizen
reporters in Panyingkul! who have shown their commitment to the spirit
of participatory journalism introduced by OhmyNews: every citizen is a
reporter. I do believe that there are a lot of unexpected possibilities in
Page 58
engaging with this citizen journalism project. Not only have we now
started an initiative to channel citizens’ voices, but we have also started
to re-write stories and histories of the city, based on ordinary people’s
perspectives, and we are maintaining our solidarity, concern, and
passion to share our stories.
Of course hurdles still remain, along with the debate among the
opponents and supporters of this new model of journalism. In Makassar,
most citizen reporters have to go to Internet cafes to get connected. They
have to pay 3.000 - 6.000 rupiahs (around 75 cents) per hour for the
Internet connection. Sometimes they have to anticipate blackouts, when
the electricity is sometimes temporarily cut off.
But no matter what, now we believe that ordinary people have their
own power to spread the information, and to share their stories and
views. As a citizen reporter, Luna Vidya says: “I have been questioning
my identity as a citizen, as well as many things that I have seen and
witnessed in the city and other places. Now I believe that I can share my
views through my writings.”
© 2007 OhmyNews
The opinions expressed in articles are those of their authors and not
necessarily the opinions of the Amateur Computerist newsletter. We
welcome submissions from a spectrum of viewpoints.
ELECTRONIC EDITION
ACN Webpage:
http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/ All issues of the Amateur
Computerist are on-line. Back issues of the Amateur Computerist are available at:
http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/Back_Issues/
All issues can be accessed from the Index at:
http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/NewIndex.pdf
Page 59
EDITORIAL STAFF
Ronda Hauben
William Rohler
Norman O. Thompson
Michael Hauben (1973-2001)
Jay Hauben
The Amateur Computerist invites submissions. Articles can be
submitted via e-mail:
[email protected] Permission is given to reprint articles from
this issue in a non profit publication provided credit is given, with name of
author and source of article cited.
Page 60
