Online Journalism News

News round-up: Would you go to a 'citizen brain surgeon'?

Busy busy. Let's get on.

• Firstly, there has been a spate of discussions on blogging and citizen journalism recently, and no doubt there will be plenty more. The most recent was at the Frontline Club last week, chaired by John Owen of NewsXchange.

This was after a day at the Ifra Newsroom summit and the NUJ Oxford branch the night before, so I admit I was flagging a little and needed my cocoa. But points of note:

• Elizabeth Lee of iTalk News explained a little behind the iTalk citizen journalism model - although I think the concept was some way above the heads of some of the panel, let alone the audience.

The site launched in trial mode in January, is run by a team of between five and 10 people in San Francisco. Contributions are displayed according to an automated reader voting system, so the more readers like a piece, the higher it is displayed on the home page. Submissions and vetted, edited and fact checked by the staff team, and podcasts and video content will be introduced soon. Would this work in the UK? Still early, I'd say.

• Neil McIntosh of Guardian Unlimited said he's not comfortable with the term 'citizen journalism' because it seems to imply that journalists aren't citizens.

Blogging is the first pure form of journalism borne of the web, he said. At the Guardian's morning news conferences, they ask what would be the best way of covering a particular story and that may mean using a blog post rather than a straight news story.

And blogs also encourage a transparency and openness between a publisher and a reader because they require a certain tone of authenticity and speed to work. All fair enough.

• Then we heard from Simon Bucks of Sky TV News. He didn't want to talk about the Sky website, but about his concerns that the public can't and shouldn't be encouraged to trundle around to news events with cameras imitating professional broadcast journalists.

He asked the audience what they'd decide to do if they needed a brain tumour removed: would they go to a professional brian surgeon, or a citizen brain surgeon? A compelling analogy, but it really is quite unsound for a number of reasons.

Firstly, he seemed a little hung up on this very specific idea of citizen journalism - that members of the public would be trying to compete with mainstream news organisations.

In practice of course, citizen journalism is more about being a citizen than about being a journalist. I doubt that many of even the most committed contributors actually want to be journalists. Part of the reason for this is that many people feel locked out of MM**, like it's inaccessible, unresponsive and just isn't giving the public everything that it needs.

It might be just a simple discussion space, or a write-up of an event at a school that the local news wouldn't think was newsworthy - nano-news. Whatever - this defensive and rather introspective response shows some lack of both imagination and healthy curiosity about what could be. And what will be. Think outside your box!

There is an enormous space for news, information, discussion, collaboration and plenty of room for everyone.

Someone asked: "Mr Bucks, do you prefer professional sex?" Touché.

Actually, I confess that I have been known to rant in a similar vein about bad art. Self-trained artist? But you wouldn't go to a self-trained doctor, would you?

< rant >

Straight-from-the-tube sunsets on ready-made canvasses that say nothing more than they enjoyed the sensation of squidging the paint around with the brush. Fair enough, but don't inflict that kind of dustbin fuel on others. I mean you might enjoy the sensation of plenty of other things but that doesn't mean they are suitable for an audience. Let alone asking people to pay you for it on Bond Street in Brighton on a Saturday afternoon.

< /rant >

I digress...

The Google bit

• Always up to something, this lot. Google is reportedly now working on deals to introduce classified advertising alongside its search results - yet more worries for news publishers. Google has been in discussions since June, according to Classified Intelligence, speaking to firms like Adicio, who currently provides software for job ads on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Boston Globe. Classified Intelligence predicts that advertisers will inevitably switch to ads on free search sites if they can attract a larger audience than a paid service. More on CNet's Google Blog.

• And telecomms firms are worried too - about Google's plans to create a free wireless web network across San Francisco, according to the New York Times.

• Plus Google's new blog search tool, in case you missed that.

And still only seven years old...

Advertising = looking good

• More money is now spent on web advertising than radio and outdoor ads, and the total 2005 spend in the UK is predicted to top £1 billion. Digital Republic has more.

Legal stuff = looking good

• If your web publication can be accessed anywhere in the world, does that mean you could be subject to legal action anywhere in the world? MediaGuardian explains why the latest ruling in the Canadian courts is good news for web publishers.

Blogging = good

• Natty little moblog coverage of three recent Ifra events: the Ifra Newsroom Summit in London (see our report on Steve Yelvington's case study of on BluftonToday.com) as well as the sister Ifra events in Beirut and Moscow.

• A couple of journalists' blogs: Les Floyd is blogging about his experiences as one of Press Gazette's press cadets, and Mark Allen is blogging his wait for a double lung transplant.

Being ironic = 'bad'

• In the US, ABC News is getting some flack for a satirical posting on its The Note blog - this from über-blogger Jason Aravosis. It claimed to have sneaky copy of a speech Bush was due to give, but actually posted a transcript of a Jimmy Carter speech from 1979. That's naughty and irresponsible for a respected news organisation, apparently.

Attention spans - bad

• Snippet on Channel 4's new FourDocs scheme - it invites the public to produce their own four-minute short films and upload them to the Channel 4 website. Apparently four minutes is the average attention span of a web user.

Barry Scott = bad

• Poor old Barry Scott. There you are, banging on about all things Cillit on your own blog, and suddenly you get in trouble with all those skeptical bloggers for posting a few comments elsewhere...

Bloggers don't like pitch invasions from 'evil' big business, so 'Barry Scott' was quickly outed as a PR exercise. But at least that gives me an excuse to link to this old but entertaining piece of silliness. Turn speakers up!

Current listening: Ain't Goin' Down That Dirt Road, Howlin' Wolf.
Mood: Busy, apprehensive. Where does the day go?

**MM = Mainstream Media, not Marilyn Monroe...

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