CitJ notes for German journalism class

In a short while I'll be speaking via iChat to a class of German journalism students from the Henri Nannen School of Journalism in Hamburg.

Ulf Gruener, the faculty member who invited me to speak, wanted me to go over some of the basics of citizen journalism. He said it's not yet too widely practiced in Germany. Since I don't speak or read German, I'm a bit hampered in proving or disproving that assertion. However, it does seem that there's at least some citJ movement in Germany...

On Dec. 13, 2006, the English edition of OhMyNews published Citizen Journalism Brought to Germany. Apparently in Spring 2006 the major German online news venue Netzeitung launched an online citJ venture called Readers Edition. Due to my language limitations I can't assess that venture's content directly, but it does seem to get a steady flow of contributions. According to OhMyNews, one controversy (at least as of December) concerning Readers Edition was whether the business model would be changed so that people would have to pay to contribute.

In September 2006, U.S. media pundit Jeff Jarvis wrote about Readers Edition. He said:

"Readers-Edition.de, an online paper by and for das volk. True to form, Dr. Michael Maier [Netzeitung’s editor-in-chief and business head] insists that the people must report: 'We don't publish commentary.' So citizen reporters submit news and photos on politics, sports, technology and business. Netzeitung, the parent, puts the best on its home page and then pays the contributors.

'Maier says his online [professional staff] journalists were at first afraid of these interlopers. But he also says his reader/writers are better at working with links than ordinary reporters, are fast (helping him scoop competitors), and are smart (they gave him an exclusive on a revival of the 60s radical group the SDS).

'One reason we bloggers like blogging is that we have no editors. But the Readers-Edition contributors do: a team of fellow reader/writers act as volunteer moderators with the help of one Netzeitung journalist. They get together in meetings across Germany to share tricks of the trade. They even share rejected stories so contributors can learn what it takes to make the grade. Now that’s transparency."

I intend to ask the German students today if they've seen Netzeitung's Readers Edition, and what they think of it.

CITJ & CULTURE SHOCK

As with journalism in general, citizen journalism is in the eye of the beholder. The term "citizen journalism" itself is controversial -- I'm not completely happy with it, either. But I use it as convenient shorthand.

There are cultural differences in the practice and perceived role of journalism from nation to nation, and from community to community. Expect an even wider range of practices, roles, and opinions to evolve for citJ

In North America, I've noticed news professionals often demonstrating considerable resistance to the concepts of citizen journalism. Every time we write about it on Poynter's blog, someone complains that it's not "real journalism" or it can' possible be "as good" -- or even that its very existence is dangerous.

Often, news audience members express those same concerns. Not everyone wants citizen journalism. They prefer to rely on professional news organizations to be their filters and fact checkers.

However, mainstream professional journalism doesn't own the news, and there's more than one way to share news. Citizen journalism efforts are proliferating, and many are thriving, precisely because there a large demand for this kind of news.

In my opinion, news organizations should look to citJ as a complement -- not a replacement -- for what they do. In some cases, as Maier noted in Jarvis' post, citizen journalists get better leads, move faster, and are more willing to exercise the full potential of online media.

Personally, I think these days everyone should have some journalism skills -- whether they're reporting news or contribution analysis & commentary or not.  I think it's naive to continue to rely on news organizations to do your finding, filtering, and checking for you. If you don't know how to follow topics directly from primary sources, at least for things that affect you most directly, you'll probably end up suffering for it somehow.

...Of course, others disagree with me. That's fine.

I'll have more to say to the class, but that should get the ball rolling.

MORE LINKS FOR THIS CLASS:

• KCNN: A new online resource for citizen media from the Knight Foundation. Adam Glenn and I have been building a database of citizen journalism sites for this site which officially debuts at the end of March.
• Colorado Confidential: A mixed professional/citizen journalism effort to cover politics in my state, Colorado.
• YourHub: A network of citJ sites, with local print editions, run by the Denver Newspaper Agency by a staff of about 25 people.
• Blog Lubbock: Example of an independent citJ site, very informal, simply a blog. For greater Lubbock, TX.
• Northeast Beat: Independent citizenJ site about northeastern Minneapolis, MN. Founded by a professional journalist as an independent side project, but also features several contributors who are not news pros.
• Baristanet: Meant to mention this, but didn't get around to it. Great example of a citizen journalism site covering several northern NJ communities. It offers several features, including forums and map mashups.
• The Elements of Journalism: I recommend this book to anyone interested in citJ. In fact, I think someone (maybeI'll do it later) should adapt this classic for citizen journalists.
• The Fact Checker's Bible: Another great book for citizen journalists, professional journalists, and anyone who needs to verify any information. It needs a good update for the online age, but the basic principles are solid.

And thanks to Inge (excuse me if I've misspelled her name) for asking whether there might be a new practice evolving: "journalism lite." Great term, and sure to be as controversial as citizen journalism, I'm sure!

 

Comments

[Lubbock Blogger]

Thanks for including Blog Lubbock on your post.

Great site! Lots of good information and advice.

[Ulf Gruener]

BTW: What term do you (or: should we) prefer ...
Citizen Journalism
"collaborative journalism" (Paul Brannan, BBC)
Participation?
Conversational Journalism?
...