I, Reporter

Transparency: Cleaning your citJ "filter"

I just read an interesting post by Steve Rubel at Micropersuasion: "We're All Gatekeepers." He wrote:

"Everyone has information they're holding on to. In the media's case, it's a scoop. In PR's case, it's a media embargo or exclusive. And in the blogger's case, it's information that they are among the few or even the one who's privy to it. So the debate shouldn't be over who is the gatekeeper or whether 'gatekeeping' is dead. We all are gatekeepers depending on where the news thread starts. As long as there's news, there will be gatekeepers. Gatekeeping is just much more flat now. Anyone can join in if they have high-value information."

It's true, we have more ways to access information than ever before. Each point of access applies its own filter.

This means it's more important than ever to be conscious of filters, especially as applied to any type of "news." It's no longer safe or smart  to make wholesale assumptions about any class or genre of news filtering -- from professional news organizations, to citizen journalism, to PR, to peer-reviewed journals, to personal blogs. We all have holes in our nets.

Here's what I commented back to Steve...

UK: New "Code of Practice" for "Witness Contributors"

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...

Open CitJ Sites: Why not require transparency?

Wherever there's an open forum where people can post citizen journalism or other kinds of stories or announcements, you'll find plenty of promotion and agendas. This is inevitable, and it's not necessarily a bad thing, I think -- as long as there's transparency.

And that's the problem...  Too many open citJ sites (especially those sponsored by news organizations) don't require or even facilitate transparency. That is, they generally don't require the people who post content to clarify how they're related to or involved in the story. This makes it difficult for the audience to put citJ and other contributed content into perspective.

Fortunately, I think this problem could be fairly easy to address...

Objectivity, Independence, and Transparency: Three-Legged Stool?

All journalism, but especially citizen journalism, faces ethical quandaries. Three of the thorniest issues in journalism ethics are independence, objectivity, and transparency. Together, these provide the core context for any work of journalism. They concern process as much as results and perception.

There is general agreement that all three are noble goals for journalists. However, there is lively debate over whether any of these are fully achievable in the real world -- and even more debate over what these terms actually mean. We'll be discussing and exploring these issues considerably in I, Reporter. 

Personally, I see all three goals as being complementary and mutually necessary for sound journalism, whether professional or not. It works like a three-legged stool. If any one leg is emphasized at the expense of another, the stool tumbles. Yes, I have sat on enough bar stools to speak with authority on this matter.

I'm too rushed at the moment working on several simultaneous projects. So for now I'll just kick this off with a brief overview. I'd like to hear others' opinions on these goals, so we have a broader base for future discussion...