Media Magazine

Examples:
• Rodney King, and African- American man, caught on tape being battered 4 police men. The footage made it on to prime time news, and the explicit nature of the video raised fury among viewers which then resulted in six days of riots. The video is still available on YouTube.
• News organisations now include formats where people can join chat rooms, ask questions on Q&A’s, comment on blogs etc.
• Bebo, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook.
• Wikipedia news and Google news.
• Asian Tsunami on December 26th 2004 was caught on camera by many accidental journalists, and when people were searching for lost ones, they turned to social networking sites to spread the message.
• London bombings – first hand footage of it was seen to be more emotive and hard hitting.
• 23 year old, Seung- Hui Cho, an undergraduate from America, sent videos before his killings to the NBC news. Also during the massacre, many other people pulled out their gadgets to record it.
• Twitter and Flickr were the centre of attention when the Mumbai bombings took place in November 2008.
Theories:
Before audiences were passive, they took in what they were given and didn’t question what they saw. Now with the power to exploit whatever you want, many people have become active, they are actively taking part in the media.
Benefits to institutions:
Many big news firms can make the most of UGC to attract more audiences, make their news seem more real and raw.
Benefits to Audiences:
Audiences are able to respond to information they get, create their own content and play an active part.
a. What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
Someone who witnesses and captures events that take place in the moment and expose the news to others via the media.

b. What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
Footage of Rodney King being beaten up by the police.

c. List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
Q&A’s, emails, forums.

d. What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
UGC is more real, in the moment, raw, whereas professionally shot footage is more mediated.

e. What is a gatekeeper?
A gate keeper is someone who decides what is and isn’t worth ‘news value’.
f. How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
Now the audiences make their own news, they are in control of what is in the media and is not.

g. What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
Citizen Journalists.