Week 11: Journalism and The Internet
The reason I talk to myself is because I’m the only one whose answers I accept. ― George Carlin
The internet has replaced traditional journalism where the public used to obtain news updates or information about affairs around the world through news agents. With the internet, we have learnt in Week 2 that there has been a shift in power of journalism. Now, anyone can update the world on any kind of news. Platforms like
STOMP, that encourage this type of journalism, known as C
itizen Journalism, have been established because of this. However, this type of journalism can in fact take place in a lot more platforms than that.
Blogs,
Facebook,
Instagram and
Twitter are even easier for people to access and instantly report and write about their own lives or a larger issue or event. Anyone can be a journalist, even
Esme the Guide Dog, who shares with people about his life through his Facebook page.
One incident that went viral earlier this year in March was when Esme the Guide Dog posted a post to complain about an unhappy encounter at a McDonald's outlet in Jurong.
Just this post alone made the post go viral within 7 hours. However, this post was rather misleading as it lacked the details of what had exactly happened that morning. In the following picture, read more information about the incident that was lacking in the initial post by Esme the Guide Dog (above). This showcases
a flaw in accuracy of the news that comes about by the
microblogging functions that these platforms provide.
The above picture also counters the accuracy of the news because more people are onto the story due to the
rapid spread of information that the internet enables. Hence, other internet users can do like what Mark XLii has done and put forth the lacking information to ensure that all facts are presented for readers to assess and make their own judgements on the incident.
Thankfully, the two parties involved were able to put forth their views and shake on the resolution in the end. If you would like to read about the incident and what both parties had posted, you may visit their Facebook pages via the links below and click and search for posts in March 2014.
The next post that was written on October 7 also went viral overnight. It was regarding a Ministry of Education-approved sexual education workshop by Focus on the Family that was conducted for Hwa Chong Junior College students. In the post, 17-year-old student,
Agatha Tan, posted a long letter she had written to her principal, Dr. Hon, about her opinions about the workshop. Her arguments were logical and well presented, which was probably why she was able to raise so much concern on the issue such that former Hwa Chong students gathered together and began a petition.
If you would like to read the letter she wrote, you may check out her Facebook page for it.
If you have noticed, my introduction of the two cases are in fact also citizen journalism at work. In fact, my post, and even my entire blog is a product of current day journalism. Did not realise, did you? If abused, citizen journalism can definitely be a bad thing, but if used wisely and properly, like my blog (teehee), it definitely can bring about a whole lot of benefits to the society.
Stay alert guys!
Week 11: Journalism and The Internet
The reason I talk to myself is because I’m the only one whose answers I accept. ― George Carlin
The internet has replaced traditional journalism where the public used to obtain news updates or information about affairs around the world through news agents. With the internet, we have learnt in Week 2 that there has been a shift in power of journalism. Now, anyone can update the world on any kind of news. Platforms like
STOMP, that encourage this type of journalism, known as C
itizen Journalism, have been established because of this. However, this type of journalism can in fact take place in a lot more platforms than that.
Blogs,
Facebook,
Instagram and
Twitter are even easier for people to access and instantly report and write about their own lives or a larger issue or event. Anyone can be a journalist, even
Esme the Guide Dog, who shares with people about his life through his Facebook page.
One incident that went viral earlier this year in March was when Esme the Guide Dog posted a post to complain about an unhappy encounter at a McDonald's outlet in Jurong.
Just this post alone made the post go viral within 7 hours. However, this post was rather misleading as it lacked the details of what had exactly happened that morning. In the following picture, read more information about the incident that was lacking in the initial post by Esme the Guide Dog (above). This showcases
a flaw in accuracy of the news that comes about by the
microblogging functions that these platforms provide.
The above picture also counters the accuracy of the news because more people are onto the story due to the
rapid spread of information that the internet enables. Hence, other internet users can do like what Mark XLii has done and put forth the lacking information to ensure that all facts are presented for readers to assess and make their own judgements on the incident.
Thankfully, the two parties involved were able to put forth their views and shake on the resolution in the end. If you would like to read about the incident and what both parties had posted, you may visit their Facebook pages via the links below and click and search for posts in March 2014.
The next post that was written on October 7 also went viral overnight. It was regarding a Ministry of Education-approved sexual education workshop by Focus on the Family that was conducted for Hwa Chong Junior College students. In the post, 17-year-old student,
Agatha Tan, posted a long letter she had written to her principal, Dr. Hon, about her opinions about the workshop. Her arguments were logical and well presented, which was probably why she was able to raise so much concern on the issue such that former Hwa Chong students gathered together and began a petition.
If you would like to read the letter she wrote, you may check out her Facebook page for it.
If you have noticed, my introduction of the two cases are in fact also citizen journalism at work. In fact, my post, and even my entire blog is a product of current day journalism. Did not realise, did you? If abused, citizen journalism can definitely be a bad thing, but if used wisely and properly, like my blog (teehee), it definitely can bring about a whole lot of benefits to the society.
Stay alert guys!
