Legal Research

The Evolution of the Citizen Journalist

Back in the early 1990s, an amateur with a $300 video camera exposed police brutality and changed the way that news was reported.  During the 2004 Asian tsunami, bloggers on the scene posted updates every few minutes with details that matched, or exceeded, those provided by the mainstream press.  And this past weekend, Twitterers gave us a second-by-second running commentary on the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Is this the natural evolution of the Citizen Journalist?  Michael Arrington of TechCrunch (”I Can’t Believe Some People Are Still Saying Twitter Isn’t A News Source“) seems to think so:

“If I didn’t hear about something important happening by watching my Twitter stream, it’s the first place I go to get an idea of what’s going on.  Years ago I would have turned to the cable news channels, now it’s Twitter.  It’s not just the speed of early reports either. Twitter also serves up a constant stream of updates as situations progress.”

Coincidentally, this weekend Tim O’Reilly posted about “Why I Love Twitter“.  While he didn’t mention Mumbai, he echoed Arrington: “… for me, Twitter is about quick hits, not about extended discussion.”

Personally, I had trouble following the Mumbai Twitter stream.  It may be a generational thing, but I think I prefer the hourly NPR updates I get on, say, WXPN.  I get a summary of what they know is true, not a rehash (a “retweet”) of unverified rumors.

Full post as published by Jenkins Webblits on December 01, 2008 (boomark / email).