citizen journalism
October 2008 
If could report the news in your world, what would you share?
Posted on May 3rd, 2008
by 
Andrew
Andrew
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for May 03, 2008:
Interesting question for me, as I'm a newspaper reporter, and therefore mass media.
There is a lot of crap out there that is depressing to cover. Do we really need to know more about this, I sometimes find myself asking 15 inches into a scandal story.
At the same time, I do a lot of the positive. I recently helped to get the word out about a girl with facial deformities. Four months later, a doctor has taken on her case pro bono. That makes my job a bit more worthwhile.
But if it were somehow, inexplicably, exported from homes across the nation? Well, there would be a whole lot of crap not worth reading. Rover has flees. Jason bruised his knee by falling off his skateboard.
But there would be plenty like the girl I helped, too. Those kinds of stories sometimes get buried in the avalanche of the negative, but they are what is really important at the most basic level, and they are the type of things that dwell on people's minds.
What if you could somehow coral the thoughts of the masses? You'd get a whole lot of stuff like: "I'm stuck in traffic for the fourth day in a row, and I'm about to go ape shit and ram the car in front of me"
Imagine that over, and over, and over again. Maybe this would help us get over societies obsession with the car. Maybe emphasize bicycle infrastructure and compact cites. Save gas, reduce pollution, save time stuck in traffic, get healthy from the exercise.
But you never know. We might get a lot of news about how much some old lady likes her roses...but maybe that would be good for us too.
There is a lot of crap out there that is depressing to cover. Do we really need to know more about this, I sometimes find myself asking 15 inches into a scandal story.
At the same time, I do a lot of the positive. I recently helped to get the word out about a girl with facial deformities. Four months later, a doctor has taken on her case pro bono. That makes my job a bit more worthwhile.
But if it were somehow, inexplicably, exported from homes across the nation? Well, there would be a whole lot of crap not worth reading. Rover has flees. Jason bruised his knee by falling off his skateboard.
But there would be plenty like the girl I helped, too. Those kinds of stories sometimes get buried in the avalanche of the negative, but they are what is really important at the most basic level, and they are the type of things that dwell on people's minds.
What if you could somehow coral the thoughts of the masses? You'd get a whole lot of stuff like: "I'm stuck in traffic for the fourth day in a row, and I'm about to go ape shit and ram the car in front of me"
Imagine that over, and over, and over again. Maybe this would help us get over societies obsession with the car. Maybe emphasize bicycle infrastructure and compact cites. Save gas, reduce pollution, save time stuck in traffic, get healthy from the exercise.
But you never know. We might get a lot of news about how much some old lady likes her roses...but maybe that would be good for us too.
Access: Public
Andrew, interesting. It's possible, though, if you are referring to those who prefer “good” or “positive” news; that they mean not ones that seem to be completely individual as that driver stuck in traffic; but the one you reported that caused a Dr to take the case.
That was my first take. And on my second, I realize that it's true–one can't really know what will turn out to be individual and what will turn to something that can change a nation. Does it really depend on the media?
And– how much freedom do you really have, as a reporter, to decide what to report?
I think you might just have the most important job in the world in this era:
“Information” manipulates and forms the masses.
You are more important than the doctor who took on the case without pay. That happens each and every day and it changes nothing. I am a doctor. Trauma and Emergency Medicine.
You have a much more important role in present society than I do. And one more fraught with pitfalls and responsibility. The Word.
I will pray for you
:)
Meenakshi - I work at a regional newspaper that gives me a fair amount of freedom, as long as I can present a case for the topic's relevance. At others, that's not necessarily the case, however.
Ruth - It's true, I think that my job is an important one, but I'm afraid that most are turning away from it and what it represents. How many people read the newspaper anymore? Perhaps they watch some TV news coverage, but I can assure you, as someone who has watched one of my 70 inch news stories get picked up by the local news channel and turned into a 25 second broadcast, that those shows lack a depth of coverage, and often skip over the unglamorous day to day stories that are often the most important.
People seem to be turning away from details for glossy talking points and reality TV.
When I said that you have the most important job in the world I was referring to your role as a journalist in general, not that you are specifically in the newspaper business.
I do not know how old you are, but certainly young enough to move in whatever direction you feel most called in your field. Perhaps you are telling yourself you do not wish to spend your career in the PAPER part of journalism. We shall see.
I don't get TV reception in my home at all. I am 50 years old and when I was 5 years old my parents got a little black and white TV and kept it in the basement where we could watch it if we chose to sit with the dust bunnies on the creepy vinyl couch. As an adult, I have received TV occasionally for a few months at a time. When I was breast feeding twins my husband climbed the pole at the back of the house to hook up ilegal cable for a bit. I enjoyed the ads and sat there with my mouth hanging open at the creativity and audacity of the marketing industry.
But once I had my feet and hands back again we unhooked the cable. I have had no TV reception of any form in my home in well over a decade. My 4 sons don't mind. They can watch it out and about if they wish, but never seem to. I consider home television invasion of my thoughts and heart and soul and interconnection-space with family. But when I visit others, I still love the ads. :) WOW!! They sure are cheeky and sneaky!
I listen to CBC Radio. I occasionally read the newspaper.
Mostly I surf the net.
My 19 year old son just finished his first year in Journalism at Carlton University in Ottawa.
I will keep your career in my prayers
The Word
:)