March 28, 2006
Citizen journalism story frenzy (part 3) - ITV welcomes the 'video witnesses'
The UK Press Gazette has put together a special feature about citizen journalism. [via Scoopt Blog]
This is part 3.
ITV welcomes the 'video witnesses' - by Jonathan Munro deputy editor of ITV News.
"Citizen journalist" is a dangerous phrase and people in our industry use it every day. They shouldn't.
Mr Bloggs witnessing and filming an event is not a journalist. He doesn't check facts, find context, and look for second sources. He's more valuable than an eyewitness, who gets things wrong... Mr Bloggs with his cameraphone can't do that. So I call him a "video witness".
Better than an eyewitness, but miles away from being a journalist.
As a starting point, we at ITV News will ask for pictures after an event, but not in advance. Culturally, we may all become more proactive, but at this very early stage being reactive feels better.
And it is an early stage. All sorts of issues will hit us, and it'll be rare to have a big breaking story without someone capturing it on their mobile. But we, as an industry, are good at change — and as our audiences increasingly use phones to watch their news as well as gather it — they're changing too."
Other chapters from the special feature in the UK Press Gazette:
-- Using a cameraphone to cover Iraq for CNN
-- Turning the digital deluge into news
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