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Stephen: Hello, I'm Stephen.
Rob: And I'm Rob.
Stephen: And this is 6 Minute English! This week we’re talking about citizen
journalism.
Rob: Citizen journalism – that’s when people who aren’t trained journalists write or
report about their experiences or use social media, like Facebook or Twitter, to
broadcast their messages.
Stephen: Over the last few weeks, media companies have published a large number of
videos, photos, phone calls and blogs from citizen journalists in countries
where protests have been taking place, and there aren’t many – or any -
traditional journalists. But as usual, I’m going to start with a question for you,
Rob.
Rob: OK, I’m ready.
Stephen: Which of these six countries, according to figures from internet world stats, has
the largest percentage of people using the internet?
Rob: The largest percentage of people who use the internet. OK. Have got you any
clues?
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Stephen: Well, your six countries are South Korea, Japan, the US, the UK, India or
China.
Rob: Hmm…let me think. I would say South Korea.
Stephen: Well, I won’t tell you the answer just yet. We can find out at the end of the
programme. So let’s talk about citizen journalism. Could citizen journalists
ever replace traditional journalists? Peter Barron, the Director of External
Relations at Google, says there has been a massive democratisation in access
to information.
Rob: A massive democratisation – that's when people all over the world can access
information on the internet, and use the same tools to publish information
themselves.
Insert 1: Peter Barron, Director of External Relations, Google
The point here is that there has been a massive democratisation in access to information
and the ability to publish information – so everybody these days can be a publisher.
What you’ve seen time and time again, is that the very high quality material rises to the
top and becomes a trusted brand, alongside the trusted brands that already exist.
Stephen: Peter Barron from Google believes that the best quality blogs will become as
trusted as media companies - media brands - which already have a good
reputation.
Rob: Very high quality material rises to the top – the best blogs will become as
popular as traditional broadcasters or newspapers.
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Stephen: Alan Rusbridger is the editor of the Guardian newspaper in the UK. He says
that traditional journalists will always be needed to make sense of large
amounts of information, something which citizen journalists might not be able
to do. He uses the example of Wikileaks.
Insert 1: Alan Rusbridger, Editor, The Guardian
The case of Wikilieaks was an excellent one; 300 million words would have been
completely meaningless if it had been dumped on the internet, as well as being
completely unsafe. It took months of Guardian, New York Times, Der Spiegel
journalists going through and finding the stories, redacting them and making sense of
them. So the journalist still has a valuable role as mediator, analyser and finder and
verifier of stories.
Stephen: Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian newspaper, who gives the example of
Wikileaks, where he says 300 million words, dumped on the internet, would
have been completely meaningless if journalists hadn’t been able to go
through them.
Rob: To go through them – finding stories and checking them. He says the journalist
has a valuable role as mediator, analyser, finder and verifier of stories.
Stephen: Journalists need to check stories – to verify them, to check they are safe to
publish and that they are true. Anne McElvoy from the Economist magazine
says that citizen journalism hasn’t really been tested yet. It’s a very valuable
source when the story is on the street, but not when we, the readers, listeners or
viewers, aren’t sure which side we should be on.
Rob: Whose side we should be on - who we support. When it is clear whose side
we should be on, citizen journalists are very valuable, but when we don’t
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really know what’s going on, we need the traditional skills of journalists to
analyse material to help us understand. She says ‘we rely on the trade’ -
meaning the trade of the traditional journalist.
Insert 3: Anne McElvoy
Citizen journalism hasn’t really been tested yet; we’re writing a lot about it and
reflecting on it. But really, what we’ve seen is it being very active and also being a very
valuable source, I should say, but in situations where we kind of know, generally, which
side we are on. We know that the story is on the street. I think citizen journalism will
have a much tougher time when we have situations - which will arise - when we’re really
not sure which side should have the upper hand, or, indeed, what’s really going on. And
that’s an area where I think you do rely a bit on the old trade to have analysis skills and
to help you out there.
Stephen: Anne McElvoy talking about citizen journalists. So, before we go today, Rob –
which of those six countries did you guess has the highest internet penetration?
That’s the highest percentage of population who are online.
Rob: OK. Well, I said South Korea. Am I right?
Stephen: Actually it’s the UK – followed by South Korea, then Germany, Japan, the US,
China and finally India.
Rob: Well I never!
Stephen: And a chance to hear some of the words and phrases we heard in the
programme today. Would you mind, Rob?
Rob: OK, we heard:
citizen journalism
trained
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social media
democratisation
to publish
media brands
to go through them
verify
hasn’t really been tested yet
valuable source
Stephen: Thanks for that, Rob.
Rob: You’re welcome.
Stephen: Well, that’s all we have time for today - we’ll have more "6 Minute English"
next time.
Rob: Bye for now!
Stephen: Bye
