Citizen journalists are using social media platforms in relatively “closed” societies such as Iran and China to supply information to the outside world. During the 2009 protests in Iran, people used cell phones and Twitter to document the unrest. These messages and images were picked up and published by newspapers around the world, leading to “the biggest embrace yet of a collaborative new style of news gathering – one that combines the contributions of ordinary citizens with the reports and analysis of journalists,” according to a New York Times article.
How do you feel about this expanded role of ordinary people in closed societies? Is this a positive direction for journalism?
Newspapers & Social Media 
I believe this is a very important and positive movement. In some suppresed countries, there is no free press, journalists or ordinary people have no channels to make their voice heard. Social Media, however regulated and forbidden, find its way out these countries and help people express their views, it may not mean a lot individually but when it cumulates, just like happened in Iran or in Palestine, it does put some pressure on the governements nevertheless. And sometimes that’s all you can do anyway…
Thanks for your comment. Yes, those cumulative voices can be very powerful, and for those who have had none, it must seem like a very hopeful breakthrough.
Cool photo!
That cartoon is from Google images and I think it is really creative too…
The advent of social media, such as twitter, blogs, etc, and rapid-fire electronic communication, such as sms, has revolutionized freedom of the press. Those societies that seek to oppress the media, have a much more difficult time now. Some countries, like China, try to bottle up any media that refuses to adhere to established protocol and propaganda, but even Beijing is discovering that it is impossible to make a country completely water-tight when it comes to new media (although they try, on a recent visit to Shanghai, I couldn’t get access to twitter, Facebook or even YouTube, but a quick detour through a a proxy site quickly remedied this challenge).
Yes, there was an interesting article in the International Herald Tribune recently about the teams of people in China who work to block websites, blogs and other social media deemed inappropriate in China. Good post…Thanks for your comment.
I read about the protests in Tunisia this morning and thought about your blog post. This is yet another example where traditional media, when denied access (the case of Le Monde for example), turn directly to citizens “on the inside” and rely on reports through blogs, facebook, twitter and sms for fact gathering. And when bloggers end up in jail, the world instantly knows about it…
Thanks for your message! I hadn’t heard about the protests in Tunisia, but will take a look…Once again social media and the blogosphere is breaking news for me!
Overall, a positive effect, once the use of social media in news matures and people gain more perspective on its usage. But it’s a double-edge sword at times. Does speed (Tweats, posts) engender depth of understanding of an issue (deep analysis and understanding of an issue)? Not sure always. (was an article on this in TechCrunch recently, but not locating it right now.) Also there is the issue of credibility, authenticity since there are obviously fewer “screens” and “checks” on reporting/fact-finding in social media vs. traditional model. But clearly, in oppressive societies there is an unequivocal benefit from giving citizens, journalists, etc. another accelerated means of publishing what’s happening “on the street”, especially when that info is literally being squashed by the state, like we see now in the Middle East!
Makes me wonder what effect Twitter would have had – if it existed then – on the Holocaust in 1930’s/40’s Germany, the Killing Fields in Cambodia in the 70’s and other atrocities where getting out the word/news to the world earlier in the event – directly from the mouths (and Tweats) may have changed history.
You make a good point, I think depth of understanding and accuracy are two big concerns related to social media.