citizen journalism from H’burg to Korea
posted by Brent FinneganBeing the admin of this news blog, I think a lot about the term “citizen journalism” and what that means exactly. Other than the career versus hobby aspect, what is the ultimate difference between a news blogger and a journalist?
A recent story on AlterNet.org explores that very topic. In Korea. Much to my surprise, Harrisonburg resident Han Na-young was mentioned in that article. She’s a fellow Citizen Academy alum, and a “citizen journalist correspondent” with OhMyNews in Korea (her articles are in Korean, so I couldn’t find them on the English site). Han interviewed me for one of her stories about the academy last year.
Other than maybe Chris Graham, I don’t personally know any bloggers that actually get paid for blogging. For the record, there are only a handful of things I’ve posted here that I would consider “citizen journalism” pieces (as opposed to meta news reporting).
I suppose this is as good a time as any to plug Lowell Bergman’s investigative report on the modern MSM. If the topic interests you, it’s definitely worth checking out.
posted: July 9th, 2007 by Brent Finnegan
filed under FYI, about hburgnews, news & meta-news.
Comments: 2
Comments
Comment from Frank J Witt
Time: July 9, 2007, 10:03 am
Very interesting. I do beleive that WE all are journalists…the main difference being is that one mans truth is another mans lie. No one sees everything the same. Some people beleive the answer to energy problems is corn. Corn producers think it should be the answer as well. But the consumer is seeing record highs in oils, butter, cheese, milk…ect. WHY you ask? Corn…plain and simple. Taking a chunk of necessity and allocating it somewhere else cuases shortages. Remember supply and demand?
Comment from JGFitzgerald
Time: July 9, 2007, 2:20 pm
Journalist, in and of itself, means someone trying to report objective facts, either in the service of an informed public, or to support commentary that may support one side, but reports both.
Blogger, on the other hand, is as close to undefined, or perhaps as far from defined, as a term can be. One who maintains a blog? One who posts or comments? One who provides original material? One who comes up with a new way to frame his talking points, or a new excuse to flame his neighbors? Blogging is less than a decade old; when explosives were that old, the fuse hadn’t been invented yet.
This site appears to be moving toward mostly journalism in its main posts. As to what it’s moving from, that’s still mostly undefined.
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