Training Citizen Journalists Thanks to the...

Training Citizen Journalists

Thanks to the internet, pretty much anyone can practice journalism. We’ve been exploring how to deal with the information overload, and how to evaluate journalism that’s not necessarily produced by a traditional newsroom. Some argue that journalism born from Twitter monitoring is not real journalism. But it seems here to stay.

via Gigaom:

This democratization of distribution has had a profound effect on the coverage of uprisings in Egypt and Libya and more recently in Syria. Because of YouTube, Twitter, and other networks, more information is available about what is happening in those countries. But is it reliable? According to some reports, the news coming from Syria has been altered by activists who are trying to make a specific point. Does that mean citizen journalism is flawed? Not really. It just means we need better tools to make sense of the flood of news all around us.

How can we improve online citizen journalism? Al Jazeera has an answer: by teaching tools. It has just launched an educational campaign aiming to “raise a new generation of citizen journalists.”

via The Realtime Report:

Facebook and Twitter will enable these journalists to update the world about news in their area — and Al Jazeera’s new YouTube channel, Al Jazeera Unplugged, will teach them how to use these social networks to share information. The first videos stick to the basics: how to use Twitter and Facebook. The videos will gradually become more advanced as the campaign continues, with an increased focus on producing and sharing content.

Riyaad Minty, Al Jazeera’s head of social media, told GigaOm that “The focus is mostly on how these tools can be used to create greater awareness around issues within your society. That’s where the name unplugged comes from – it’s more about a need to disconnect, go out and create content – not just consuming media.”

FJP: Subscribed to the channel and looking forward to more videos.