BBC Makes 20-Minute Video on Citizen Journalism
The BBC has made a mini-documentary on Citizen Journalism. There is little that is new here for anyone who has been keeping abreast of the movement, but it is still a pretty good primer. It might work in a classroom.
While watching it, I was reminded of a keynote speech statement made by Alejandero Junco de la Vega of Mexico’s Grupo Reforma at last year’s Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) convention in San Antonio. He said:
It’s all well and good to encourage your citizens to become your eyes and ears, but let’s not forget, those citizens have a mind as well. Getting their audiences observations is one thing. Getting their thoughts in an organized and stimulating process is far richer and more potent.
The BBC documentary is all about eyes and ears, and little about minds.
Finally, you might want to read de la Vega’s whole speech it is very inspirational. But alas, what is not mentioned is that in the Q&A afterwards, he said his citizen advisors would not include the poor and uneducated. His newspaper councils are made up of experts and elites. That’s problematic for a public journalist, but considering how far newspapers have come in Mexico, it would be unfair for me to be too critical.
