In this speech, the speaker is one specific citizen journalism platform platform. But his observations apply to the citizen media movement:
In comments delivered during a recent joint webcast with Allvoices.com, the largest open media site in the world, Internet visionary, teacher and author of Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky cited the importance of civic and citizen journalism, its role in journalism’s ecosystem and the evolution of journalism schools in an increasingly fractured and shrinking mainstream media climate. Mr. Shirky’s remarks focused on principles necessary for the success of citizen journalism including participation; using the media to transform society; and technology’s ability to take local news global for the protection of democratic ideals.
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“Despite first-person accounts being critical for a detailed and accurate accounting of news, the mainstream media still generally fails to recognize the importance of citizen journalists,” according to Mr. Shirky. As example, he cited CNN’s anchors watching a Twitter feed during the Green Revolution and saying essentially “[this is the best source] of information we can get right now out of Tehran about the Green insurrection.”
According to Mr. Shirky, “Citizen Journalism is always seen as grainy photographs and grainy videos; there is still a kind of ‘Oh we’ll do it if we have to’ sensibility on the part of media. Citizen media provides an alternative that needs to be part of the general ecosystem. And from what I’ve seen, leading by example and showing is necessary; showing journalistic outfits that getting this kind of on-the-ground reporting changes your ability to understand the facts and fundamentally shapes the conversation.”
