You have an article about the role of citizen journalism in spreading the word of the uprisings now known as the Arab Spring. We build on the recent lesson to discuss how the combination of smartphones, social media like Facebook and YouTube has given a voice to ordinary people trapped in the middle of tragic events. Repressive regimes attempt to control information (think of the Egyptian government'a attempt to shut down internet access during the revolution). In the Arab Spring, social networks can become a tool for ordinary people to express their opinions about their government and their desires for change.
We consider related issues:
- journalistic integrity - respected news organisations like the BBC and CNN have to uphold a reputation for truthfulness and have to be accountable whereas the public can post anonymously.
- how footage can be verified e.g. BBC's Reality Check
- propaganda, misrepresentation and misleading the public
- the case of Khalid Said: in June 2010, the Egyptian businessman and anti-corruption campaigner was pulled from an internet cafe by the Egyptian police and beaten to death. The FB page, created by an anonymous activist, exposing police brutality We are all Khalid Said played a major role in Egypt's uprising.
Additional information:
Jay Rosen, journalist and professional blogger, regular contributor to HuffPost, uses the term 'the people formerly known as the audience'.
For Dan Gillmor, founder of the Centre for Citizen Media, journalism is evolving from a lecture into a conversation, as he writes in his book We The Media (2004).
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