Continuing along the idea of citizen journalism and law...

The idea that citizen journalists are out of the legal/ethical structures imposed upon the rest of the media is one that France has already addressed in part.

On 3rd March, the Prevention of Criminality Law (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=21237) was passed. Nicolas Sarkozy said the law was aimed at so called 'happy slappers' who film acts of violence. The law provides for sentences up to FIVE YEARS and fines of up to £50,000 for publishing for anyone caught breaking acts mentioned in the law - one of which includes violence "committed by an agent of the state in the exercise of his duties".


If this isnt a hamper to Citizen journalists and a direct attempt to keep them under control then i dont know what is and it could potentially result in a world wide blanket ban on such examples of Citizen journalism but does it then take away the right to freedom of expression? and is it even possible to impose such a law in practice??

If the toulouse riot is anythying to go by, no. policing the citizen journalists would require almost double the number of police...hours after the riots - despite the law - videos and photos began to appear on the net.

However, implemented or not, this law introduces a clear distinction between 'professional' journalists, allowed to show images of violence and ordinary 'citizen' journalists who can be jailed for the same thing

SOPHIE

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Legal minefield

Whilst citizen journalism can enhance journalism as a whole, there are several concerns that should be taken into account...with 7/7 CJ proved to be a massive asset (at least to journalists) in that it gave us pictures to descibe exactly what happened but come the arrests on 21/7 all the mainstream news organisations were observing a news blackout implemented by police; citizen journalists however were very much out of that structure and hence could potentially threaten national secrurity by interferring with anti-terrorist operations. This links up with grey areas regarding legal technicalities that wont always be observed by citizen journalists....there is a very real risk that national security and the judicial process may be undermimed. - sophie

Citizen Journalism: A help, a hindrance....or a headache?

A discussion with a journalist revealed an interesting angle for our search to decide if citizen journalists are a help or a hindrance. It could be argued that pictures or videos sent in by a citizen journalist are always going to be helpful to a journalist in one way or another. But with the material a journalist, or someone, would have to sift through in order to choose something suitable it may cause a headache!

Think about it…the amount of footage that was used in the BBC coverage of the 7/7 London bomb attacks. The videos taken by citizen journalists would have been just a handful of the many that had been sent in. Someone had to judge them In terms of journalistic content. Someone had to check the quality of the videos. Many of the videos would have been taken by people with low quality footage on older camera phones. Footage that is badly distorted wouldn’t be suitable for broadcast on a television program.

Furthermore, someone would need to make sure the footage is in fact suitable for broadcast. An example of this would be the hanging of Saddam Husain. The footage shown on the TV was different to that shown on YouTube On TV you wouldn’t see him actually being hung, while citizen journalists in Iraq filmed his hanging in full. So if you desired you could search for it.

Another example would be back at the 7/7 attacks. Some footage would be deemed too gory for broadcast…no one would want to see bits of a blown up body while they’re eating their dinner in front of the 6 o clock news. So again a person, a journalist, has to choose what will actually end up on the television.

Essentially it comes down to this. Citizen Journalists are helpful to regular journalists, but when they are filming things…disasters…they won’t be thinking about ‘taste and decency’ and what will be suitable for broadcast. A journalist on the other hand knows what can and cannot be shown. So, a citizen journalist’s footage is useful…when it is suitable for broadcast. But it does cause the journalist a headache when they have to go through every single but of footage they are sent in to judge if it can be used….or not.

Citizen journalism can not take our jobs. Simple.

A survey of members of the public revealed some interesting points...most agreed that in a crisis, they would rise to the role of citizen journalist and capture the footage in whatever form. In regard to pay, opinions were mixed - some were decidedly against and others were adament that they should profit from the service they provide the press. What they did all agree on was that citizen journalism could never take over from qualified journalists because, in the words of one, "there is always a need for professional"....this is comforting news and it makes sense.
When people talk about how citizen journalism is taking over our jobs they are not really thinking straight. Imagine a world where there were no journalists, only citizen journalists; It just wouldnt work....to exist, citizen journalism in dependent on the structure provided by journalists.
If we look at it like this then, citizen journalism can only be an asset to the industry....a means of developing and enhancing a package/article that abides by the strict codes of conduct impressed upon journalists. It could never put a journalist out of a job because a journalist is needed to put their work in context. (one has to consider legal and ethical frameworks etc)
Where this becomes undermimed slightly of course is on the internet but I shall look at that in more depth later on before this blog becomes so long winded as to boor you senseless.
I shall leave you with this thought...as broadcast journalists would we not relish the opportunity to incorporate actual footage of the event we are covering as it happened if we were unable to get hold of it ourselves - be it audio, photos or video? I certainly wouldnt knock a gift horse in the mouth.....

Compare if you will examples of what I am trying to say....below are the ITV and BBC reports on the day of the London Bombings. BBC uses CJ within its piece. ITV does not. Which do you think is the better report?

SOPHIE