The role of citizen journalism at VTech
Increasingly, ordinary people who find themselves in the middle of extraordinary events become citizen reporters, thanks to modern technology like cell phones that take digital pictures and video, or social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, or their own blogs.
OhMyNews.com, the South Korean citizen journalism site, makes this comment about the role played by student Jamal Albarghouti, who recorded a much-seen video on his cell phone.
Again, Albarghouti and his cellphone video have shown the power of the ordinary citizen to capture a news event. Granted that the efforts of ordinary people as citizen journalists are a matter for debate, the traditional media still make a reflexively negative comparison between citizen journalism and that provided by professionals. Interestingly, when presented with a citizen who sent an exclusive report to the mainstream media, as Albarghouti did to CNN's I-Report, they insist on wondering, in grudging amazement, "What made you record the event? How did you record it?"
1:29 PM ET | 04-18-2007 | permalink
