introducing citizen journalism to “the” journalism school clyde h. bentley, ph.d. ohmynews...
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Introducing citizen journalism to “the” journalism school
Clyde H. Bentley, Ph.D.
OhMyNews International Citizen Journalism Forum
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
The first. We say the finest.
Missouri School of Journalism was started in 1908
Early participant in global journalism education Developed participatory curriculum, “The
Missouri Method.” Real world publications, real journalists as
professors
http://www.journalism.missouri.edu
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
Inspired by others OhMyNews was well known to professors
and popular with our Korean students
Launch of Northwest Voice generated a faculty discussion.
Dean Mills recognized the potential and asked us to move quickly.
Proposed in late May 2004, launched
Oct. 1.
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
A challenge to tradition
Missouri is the home of newspaper journalism education
Some faculty questioned the ability to maintain credibility
Could we teach a journalism where “we” were not in control?
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
New journalism skills
“As more and more news organizations adopt community/citizen/open-source journalism ventures, they'll need to learn how to run them.
“Covering stories and collecting, cultivating, sharing stories are very different things. Helping others to share their lives is still journalism, and it needs to be taught.”
Brian Hammangraduate student
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
Is there a future for journalists?
YES -- both professional and citizen journalists
Blogs pose both a threat and an opportunity
The power relationship in information is being re-negotiated
Journalists provide continuity and quality control
Story tellers become story guides
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
Readers reach readers
“I have seen newspaper companies spend thousand of dollars annually to determine what readers expect. Few of their findings, however, are ever implemented.
“The greatest benefit of what we have done with MyMissourian is we have given newsroom leaders an inexpensive and effective way to give readers what they truly want.”
Hans K. Meyergraduate student
Citizen journalism succeeds where others have failed.
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
The arguments
“Decency” - How do we treat profanity and adult topics?
“Commercialism” - What about the promotion of a business, organization, religion, etc.?
“Literacy” - How much editing and rewriting should we do?
“Banalism” Is anything just too stupid to appear on the site? If so, how dumb is dumb?
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
The policies
“Decency” No profanity, no nudity - use normal newspaper standards of propriety
“Commercialism” Don’t ban businesses that self-promote, but work with them to produce copy of general interest.
“Literacy” Keep editing to a minimum, focusing on readability rather than style. Avoid jargon and cultural slang that can be misinterpreted.
“Banalism” Journalists are poor judges of the banal. Rather than say anything is too low-brow or too silly, we will just find an appropriate category for it and let the public judge it.
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
The Four Rules
No profanity
No nudity
No personal attacks
No attacks on race, religion, national origin, gender or sexual orientation
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
The end of “NO” “I worked in newspapers for seven years,
and as an editor most of my dealings with the public were about telling people “no” due to limited space. NO, we can't cover your event. NO, we can't run your youth baseball photo in the
newspaper. NO, your story idea isn't good enough for publication.
“The open source format takes a medium with limitless file space and allows us to finally say ”YES" to the public.”
Jeremy Littaugraduate student
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
Technology goals
Curt WohleberMissourianOnline editor
High level of usability
Minimal technical support
Little or no software cost
Design flexibility
http://www.mamboserver.com/
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Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
Simple design, simple categories
Small menu of categories
Each section has a team of students
Graduate students manage the teams
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
The American version of citizen journalism
Much less emphasis on politics
High interest in “family” topics
Premium value on the “comment”
Allows newspapers to answer their critics
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Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
Earth Day:Natural news
Annual festival celebrates environmental awareness
Provided wireless laptops so citizens could comment on the spot
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
Earth Day: Picture it Loaned digital
cameras to citizens to document the festival
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
History:Then & Now
Museum supplies historical photos
We shoot the current view
Public invited to comment
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
A Korean perspective
There is no great need for alternative journalism in U.S. A major difference from OhMyNews No clear issue to draw concern
Unclear direction -- is it journalism? Provide a perspective on societal issues
Take initiative -- do not wait Soliciting news is too passive
Ho-Jin Yoongraduate student
Citizen journalism at the world’s oldest journalism school
Into the future
Print edition scheduled for fall
Daily teasers in the morning newspaper
Increased connection with high school journalism classes
Addition of student-written blogs and index of local blogs
Class that focuses on “journalism of sharing”
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