Weekly Wrap – Jo Leah, MD, Weber Shandwick North
Following a recent meeting with the National Union of Journalists, the Government has reportedly prioritised the future interests of regional newspapers as it is concerned by office closures and redundancies.
While the economic climate and the advent of the internet have been highlighted as contributing factors to declining circulations and advertising revenues, it is important that the impact and potential of citizen journalism is not overlooked.
The London bombings on 7 July 2005 led to the emergence of a new media landscape. On the morning of the attacks, official news channels were reporting huge and unknown power cuts on the London Underground. In the meantime, their news desks were inundated with reports, images and videos from the public about the terrorist attacks and what was actually happening.
Digital technologies have empowered the public, creating a new generation of citizen journalists that can report stories as they break.
Citizen journalists are becoming increasingly active on a local level, driven by a passion for where they live and work, and an interest in issues affecting their daily lives. Their reports populate blogs, microblogs, social networks, forums and comment posts, and prove influential in driving news agendas and forming public opinion.
It is anticipated that a proposed Government summit addressing the future of regional newspapers will play an ‘important role in ensuring a vital service is maintained for the public’. This will need to address citizen journalism as it could be argued ‘the vital service’ is simply evolving as a new form of public broadcasting, eradicating the need for regional news desks and professional journalists.
This is simply not the case. The need for on-the-ground regional media is stronger than ever. Although citizen journalists offer quick and immediate news coverage, unlike the professional media, they often lack any professional training and moderation, processes for checking the factual accuracy of events and news sources, and can be subjective and even belligerent.
Malicious citizen journalists with covert agendas are creating blogs, spoof sites and hate sites to undermine the credibility of individuals and organisations. These sites aim to imitate investigative journalism, official news channels and corporate communications. The end result is not journalism, but harassment. In addition, anti sites are being set-up by recognised organisations that disagree with the messages and values of companies and individuals in the public eye.
Rather than looking to remove or block such sites, companies should create alternative sites that address the issues and offer the facts. This approach counters negative reporting and helps minimise further reaction, bad feeling and public alignment with the negative citizen journalist.
The regional media should work with citizen journalism in a similar vein. Whether it’s good or bad, connecting with citizen journalists at a grass roots level can enable the regional media to complement its reporting with views and opinions from the people that matter – its target audiences - and filter out the negative and inaccurate citizen reporting.
The Associated Press in America has signed an agreement with a major citizen journalism site to integrate user-generated content, while the public’s news and views are broadcast daily on Sky News. The role of the professional media is to capitalise on this new source of news and put its content into context for the benefit of its audiences.
Understanding this approach will prove more beneficial to the future prosperity of regional media than simply deliberating about how to compete with the internet.