Thursday, January 31, 2008

Citizen Journalism (JRN 112 Assignment #1)

I'd love to get a nice SLR digital camera to shoot some awesome photos. In the back of my mind, it's nice to imagine capturing moments on camera for the world to see - get published in a magazine that everyone knows about. Time, Walrus and that sort of thing. But it's just not practical. A student like me has to eat and pay the tutition fees - I got to get by on what I have.

But, it's almost encouraging to see how much of an impact someone can do with a cheap little camera phone. I think that's one part about citizen journalism that I love - the fact that news networks like CNN will use shaky, blurry and pixelated images taken from an amateur with a camera phone.



The person who whipped out their camera phone and recorded this university student getting tasered at this Kerry event became a newsmaker - they were there and that's what's exciting. Playing a role in getting reporting the news first didn't mean having the best equipment, the best technique or the most journalistic integrity and reporting skills. In these situations, being where the story happens is the least it takes to be a newsmaker.

I'm not saying that having the luck of being there and a camera phone ready trumps the abilities and integrity of a real journalist or photographer. Citizen journalism - capturing images and footages let's everyone interact with their news and events like never before. That's what I love about it.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I so agree with that. I love the fact that ever phone comes with a camera now! I whip out my phone like a Ninja. Its insane. I know. But so much cooler.