Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Journalism largely consists in saying “Lord Jones is dead” to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive - G.K. Chesterton

There used to be a layer between traditional media and citizen journalism, in that people would ring into radio shows with their stories or contact newsrooms about an event and journalists would ultimately decide whether the story would see light of day.

However citizen journalism and traditional media are now coexisting side-by-side. Stories which traditionally would not have been picked up by mainstream media, such as the Sony DRM scandal earlier this year, have taken on a life of their own and spread like wildfire across the Internet. In Ireland we’re beginning to see the signs of this as activists such as Patients Together begin to become more organised. As a result activists’ stories are beginning to get picked up by the press much faster.

At the end of the day the public have always been the source of the media’s stories. However a level of arrogance seems to have developed in media circles about the public’s role in journalism. Niall Cook hits the nail on the head with two of his posts. Firstly he points out the Times’ opinion of bloggers, who called them “unsophisticated, prejudiced, conspiracy-obsessed, hyperinflated and plain wrong.” I might be some of those things, but talk about a sweeping statement! Working in PR, we’ve said that about a few journalists also

However, it’s his follow-up post that really drives home my point. Cook quotes an article in the latest Nieman Reports which states “The main difference between traditional journalism and citizen journalism is that traditional journalists are sent out to cover things they don’t really care about… But a citizen journalist is not out to cover something, but to share it.” It’s the emotion felt by activists that gets their story across the line.

A traditional journalist’s job is to give us a balanced account of the story. They don’t make the news, they report it. A citizen journalist’s job is to share their view of the world with us. Thanks to tools like blogs and podcasts, it’s much easier for them to do that.

The public have always been the media’s source of information. Previously, they had only been able to pass on that information to journalists who would decide what was newsworthy. Now individuals can share their stories with the world and the wider public can decide what’s newsworthy or not. Importantly, a story which only appeals to a small section of society is now able to be communicated to that section much easier than before.

Niall Cook links to a handy diagram to illustrate what is being deemed as the new “emerging media ecosystem”.

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