June 18, 2004
Did Denver Deliberately Endanger Citizen Journalists?
Jeff Jarvis writes about a blogger's concern - which he shares - about the media encouraging citizens to send in photos of tornadoes.
A blog called WOlves writes:
"Because I have a satellite dish, I happened to be watching an evening newscast of a Denver station, KCNC Channel 4. Early this week, the Denver area experienced a spate of tornadoes. They included in their coverage a number of photos taken by citizens with digital cameras or cell phones. As you can imagine, many of these were very well done, close up and quite dramatic.
The newscasters also encouraged viewers to send in their pictures of the event, which is where this kind of citizen journalism stopped being a positive thing.
I can't imagine what they were thinking. They were actually suggesting their viewers go out, put themselves in harm's way, and take pictures of tornadoes.
This action is at best irresponsible. At worst, KCNC is deliberately eschewing caution in order to somehow appear “cutting edge,” or “responsive to consumer needs.
[...] As far as I know, no matter what the fragmentation of market or decline in ratings, has any station or media outlet here in the low desert ever suggested its viewers do something so dangerous for so little return."
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