Today in Journalism.co.uk, Jemima Kiss reports that the British National Union of Journalists has published its new "code of practice" for what it calls "witness contributors."
See: "Union launches code of practice for use of citizen journalism." Kiss notes that the code is intended "for publishers of citizen journalism designed to encourage responsible and ethical use of user-generated material."
The NUJ code document itself doesn't appear to be available as a regular web page, but you can download it as a Word document. (Get the document.)
I read through this document (it's short). While it's probably useful within its oddly narrow focus, I think it's ignoring the big picture -- and the potential -- of citizen journalism...
Continue reading "UK: New "Code of Practice" for "Witness Contributors"" »
I couldn't help but think about citizen journalists' potential role as tipsters, after hearing a fascinating talk over at Columbia Journalism School by David Barstow, the NY Times investigative reporter, about his 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning series on workplace safety at McWane Industries, a iron pipe maker labeled by the paper as one of the most dangerous employers in America.
One thing that jumped out at me in the remarkable discussion on how the series came about, and the varied and impressive range of techniques Barstow used to report it, was this –- despite the company’s deliberate indifference to worker safety, Barstow said no local papers near various McWane plants had ever touched the larger story. The weak quality of the local news organizations, Barstow argued, was further hampered by a mentality that left beyond question anything that seemed to contribute to the local economy.
Is it possible citizen journalism could have made a difference in this case?
Continue reading "Could Citizen Journalists Have Saved These Lives?" »
Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a colleague about the apparent demise of Bayosphere, the ambitious Bay Area citizen journalism venture launched to great fanfare in May 2005.
I mentioned to my colleague that I think Bayosphere may have tried to start too big. It seems to me that citizen journalism generally has a better chance of thriving when it starts small -- either by focusing on specific neighborhoods or towns (not amorphous regions), or by choosing rather narrowly-defined topics, or by cultivating close relationships with a small core group of contributors.
It's more like growing a garden than building a factory...
Continue reading "CitJ: Is It Better to Start Small?" »
One of the highest-profile independent venues for citizen journalism
appears to be on its way out. Today, Bayosphere
founder Dan Gillmor published this open
letter to the Bayosphere community. While not
exactly saying "it's over," the writing is on the wall...
Continue reading "Bye Bye Bayosphere" »