Traditional reporting in the age of citizen journalism

MANILA, Philippines - On February 11, a University of the Philippines professor, who was vacationing in Timor Leste, got a message on her cell phone. It was from her sister in Los Angeles, California, in the United States. She said that Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta had just been shot. The professor was shocked – not by the news but by how she had learned about it. She was at the very island where Ramos-Horta had been attacked. Yet her sister, thousands of kilometers away from the once conflict-torn Southeast Asian nation, learned about the failed assassination first. In late July, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake rocked parts of Los Angeles. Much to the surprise of many, the very first individual to break the news over the Internet was some random LA resident, using a mobile phone and a recent technological breakthrough social networking system called Twitter. That resident disseminated the news nine minutes earlier than the first professionally produced newscast on the incident was aired. New information platform This truly real-time reporting through mobile phones – part of a phenomenon called citizen journalism – has changed the media landscape right before the public's very eyes, according to Filipino investigative journalist Sheila Coronel. Coronel has been teaching at and heading the Columbia University's Toni Stable Center for Investigative Journalism for two years now. She flew in from the US to deliver the 19th lecture of the UP Centennial Lecture Series last Friday at the UP Diliman campus. Coronel, who also spoke to audiences in other UP campuses across the nation through the Internet, said the convergence of mobile phone technology and the Internet has further pushed the expanse of journalism into a new age. "Mobile phones are expected to be the new information platform," Coronel said. "Soon most people will be having access to the Internet through their phones. This can have profound effects in the way we produce and consume news." About half of the world's population, or about three billion people, owns a mobile phone, she noted. The Internet itself has shattered expectations of some communication theorists, according to Coronel, who before her stint at Columbia headed the highly-acclaimed Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). Media consumers as producers As predicted, the Internet has shifted the balance of journalism from the traditional news gatekeepers to regular individuals who have a computer at home or a mobile phone. There has been a major shakeup in roles, Coronel said, and a "participatory revolution" is in the making. The people who merely used to be media consumers have now also become media producers. She said that the Internet has broken barriers and empowered citizens to become reporters, without formal journalism schooling or, more importantly, economic power. "Everyone can now publish on the Web," Coronel said. "You don't have to be a Lopez or a Prieto to have your voice out there." The Lopezes are the family behind the ABS-CBN network, and the Prietos are behind the Philippine Daily Inquirer. More than a billion people - or a sixth of the world's population - have their fingertips connected to the Internet, she said. As of June 2008, there are 113 million online journals or blogs published on the Web and some 175,000 more are being put up every day, according to a popular blog search engine. The Internet has almost literally linked together every single thinking mind in the world. And with these figures, it has been inevitable for the Worldwide Web to foster a thriving market of ideas and voices. Improving citizen journalism But the upsurge of technological advancements and the rise of digital monopoly, as evidenced by mobile phones and the Internet among others, have presented as many solutions as they have planted a number of problems and dilemmas, Coronel observed. Amid a plethora of information bombarding the Web, should concerns be raised on whether the media consumers would be fed the right news, given the unexpected interweaving of unverified reports and genuine news items found on the Web? Coronel, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee in 2003, said there was nothing to worry about. In traditional mainstream media, Coronel believed that the press started out with reporters testing the waters and initially producing amateur reports that later on evolved into more professional outputs. "And their audience tended to go where there was more professional content," she said. "Will it happen to citizen journalism? I'm guessing it will. Over time, the quality of citizen-produced content and citizen-produced site will improve. That required the cooperation of an entire community. It's the synergy that we need to have to bring that about." Emerging roles Coronel explained that instead of getting overwhelmed by the digital age's volumes of information or the speed by which it could travel, all stakeholders should focus on assuming new roles and devising new models to accommodate changes. So-called traditional journalists should not take the new crop of citizen journalists as threats. Instead, this development should serve as a challenge and encourage old-school journalists to take up a new role, not merely writing and reporting news. Coronel said that with everyone being technically considered as news producers, there is a need for someone to filter out the legitimate news and make sense out of the sea of reports flooding the Web. And the University of Columbia professor thinks that this dual role was cut out for the traditional media organizations. "There will be an additional function for journalists," she said. "Not only reporting news but also aggregating, putting together information because people simply do not have time. This would create the need for certain news organizations to act as aggregators." Trained journalists should also take up the role of news developers, giving depth to breaking news stories either by adding relevant background and contextualizing issues to tap the interest of audiences, she added. Through what has now been tagged as the "linking capacity," the Internet has been able to achieve what has been painstakingly difficult if not impossible, both in print and broadcast media. Coronel said that through hyperlinks, audiences are instantly rerouted to related stories that would offer them a glimpse at the bigger picture of any given issue. She cited a recent study conducted by news agency Associated Press showing that the "level of engagement" of media consumers on the Web was "very shallow," making the need for journalists to undertake these dual roles the more urgent. "Engage them by providing them more interesting and deeper content. But also engage them as news producers themselves," she said. Training nonjournalism students in reporting But in the meantime, how does anyone lay a sturdy foundation for responsible and skilled news producers in the early stages of citizen journalism? This is where the academe comes in, Coronel said. With the power to become news gatekeepers rapidly being shared by the citizens who may not actually be "schooled journalists," it has never been as imperative for schools and universities to train every student, regardless of their academic discipline, to become good reporters. Coronel challenged the academe to set up "innovations laboratories" that would impart the basic foundations of ethical and responsible news reporting to all students, with the premise that literally anyone can produce news so long as he has in possession of technology. Even outside the school premises and in the communities, the people should also be tapped to explore possibilities presented by technology, she added. "I think the community media in this country has not really kept pace with the technological developments and has not really used the technology that is already there," Coronel said. But then the problem was not as daunting as it might seem. She said that the community would be prompted to participate in citizen journalism if it is latched on to issues of immediate concern, including water irrigation or agrarian reform program for dwellers in the provinces, for instance. "We need to create a community of journalists, a community of news content producers, and an audience," she said. "We need to train people to be able to use that technology and use that technology to reach the audience." But as the potential of the Internet in becoming a key news vehicle continues to grow, Coronel assured that traditional forms of media would never lose their touch, much less their significance in a democratic society. She said that all these types of media, having their respective weaknesses and strengths, would in fact complement each other to co-exist in a more robust "information sphere." "There is room for newspapers," she said. "But increasingly, young people will be going to the Web. That would be the main platform for news for young people," she said before pausing. "And maybe, older people will stick to newspapers," Coronel ended in jest, eliciting laughter from audiences not only in Diliman but as well as in UP's seven other constituent universities. - GMANews.TV