Rosen defines citizen journalism as, “The people, formally known the audience, employ(ing) the press tools in their possession to inform one another”. I am inclined to agree with his definition, though in my eyes, not everybody who utilizes press tools (video phones, multimedia stories, photographs, etc) is classified as a ‘citizen journalist’. Uploading a video of an event to social media does not constitute citizen journalism; citizen journalists employ press tools and apply them to create a story that fills in any gaps that previous reports may not have done.
Whilst citizen journalism and publishing of UGC has become more prevalent in recent years with the introduction of smart phones, the audience has not become the producer. The audience works in conjunction with traditional media outlets and journalists, and they fill the gaps they perceive in the story. This allows for the shift of power through distribution from the major media and gives the public control over what news is disseminated. This is shown in cases such as Ferguson and the Arab Springs. Citizens are empowered to report on what is occurring, and work hand-in-hand to distribute their ‘truth’ to the greater news audience.
User Generated Content (UGC) has become increasingly prevalent in the media ecosphere in recent years as social media has become more popular as a news distribution method. With this progression, User Generated Stories (UGS) have surfaced as a source of information, though with not as much ferocity as UGC.
Although social media is a popular source of online news, it is not always entirely accurate. UGS will work hand-in-hand with traditional news stories to aid their distribution throughout the world. UGS can develop a well-rounded view of a current news issue and give the viewer/reader an opportunity to express their opinions and views which may be different to those that media are portraying. This is being shown currently in Ferguson, Missouri, where civilians on the ground are posting content that depicts a different view of the events to that being depicted in the media.
There is a place for crafted UGS in the media ecosphere. As the relationship between UGC and UGS develops it will grow into a more sophisticated method of news distribution. Social media and interactive news websites will become the outlet for these stories. UGS and traditional journalism will always work closely together, as they will regulate each other’s content and will ensure that UGS are kept at a consistent, high quality level.
In a digital era, multimedia journalism has fast become the prevalent method of how news stories reach the public. The need for instant gratification and to be constantly up-to-date with fresh information on the latest news stories has led to the slow decline of print newspapers in favour of online news outlets.
News outlets such as The Age and the Herald Sun have swung their focus onto their online websites opposed to their print media as it is easier to keep updated, and they do not want to fall behind in a constantly changing news environment.
Multimedia news stories allow the reader to engage more with the story content; shorter paragraphs separated by visual and/or audio aides encourages the reader to absorb the information presented in the article, instead of skimming over big chunks of text in a typical print article.
Multimedia journalism can be told linearly at the discretion of the journalist/editor, yet most stories that include multiple multimedia elements are told in a non-linear fashion. Multimedia elements can provide context and depth to an article where a standard, linear layout may not be able to.
Rachel Young 