Final News Journal Assignment, Due 4 May

We are concluding the term with an examination of participatory journalism (and in particular, participatory journalism online). For your final news journal assignment, write an entry of about one or two paragraphs in which you discuss an example of participatory journalism and how that example might contribute to our understanding of journalism as a whole. Use the resources on participatory journalism I have provided as a starting point, though you may choose an example from elsewhere if you wish. Post your submission by using the comments link at the bottom of this entry. We will discuss this further in class. If you have questions, please ask me.

Participatory Journalism

For Thursday 26 April: Please read chapter three of the We Media report (you already read chapters one and two)

This week we will discuss some of the ideas in the We Media report, the first few chapters of which you read for today. In particular, we will be concerned with how participatory journalism might fit into a larger world of journalism.

Today we will address the concept of participatory journalism (sometimes also referred to as citizen journalism), defined in We Media as follows:

“The act of a citizen, or group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires.”

Links to check:

• neweurasia.net
  • kazakhstan.neweurasia.net
  • ru.kazakhstan.neweurasia.net (Rus)
• Adam Kesher (Rus)
• OhMyNews!
• Wikipedia entry, Samizdat

Due Date Reminder: Required Reading for 24 April

Reminder: Final News Stories are due Tuesday April 24.

For Tuesday 24 April, please read chapters one and two (pages 7 to 20) of We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information.

For Those Interested in Extra Credit…

Anyone interested in extra credit for publishing a final project with KIMEP Times should know that remaining story slots are filling up fast. If you want to get something published, it would be a good idea to get it done quickly…

Schedule Change for Thursday 5 April

On Thursday 5 April, class will meet in 237 Valikhanov (10:30 am) for a presentation hosted by the Department of Journalism. U.S.Ambassador David A. Gross, Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy. Ambassador Gross will discuss control of the Internet, government access to communications, the Internet as a tool for development, and related issues.

This discussion will be relevant to our upcoming examination of journalism and the Internet. Attendance is required and material may be on the exam. Please take notes on the presentation.

We will resume our discussion of Al-Jazeera in class on Tuesday 9 April.

In Class Today: Media Development and Journalism in the Arab World

Last Thursday we discussed some organizations concerned with issues in international journalism. We also discussed the concept of “Barriers to Media Development”: Conditions that can make it difficult for people to practice journalism according to the sorts of principles outlined in The Elements of Journalism. We can think of these barriers according to the following categories:

• Physical Barriers (geographic conditions, etc)
• Cultural Barriers (historical issues, education level, language, beliefs, etc)
• Economic Barriers (lack of resources to support media)
• Political Barriers (influence of political power [which may be from governmental or non-governmental sources] on the activities of media)

Of course, we don’t want to think only in terms of barriers to development; these same categories can be used when we consider things that promote or enhance media development. Today I will give you a handout, “Some Major Factors Affecting Media Development,” which we will discuss. We will also discuss your recent journal entries in relation to these factors.

Next we will turn specifically to journalism in the Arab world. I will present a brief overview of some broad issues related to media in the region to help give some context to our understanding of Al-Jazeera as a regional broadcaster.

Some other helpful resources:

• Arab Media Watch
• Arab Press Freedom Watch
• Map of the Middle East and Asia

Reading for Tuesday 3 April, Arab Media and Al-Jazeera

For next Tuesday the reading will be:

• Frontline, “The Arab Media Revolution“
• Al-Jazeera article distributed in class
• Please read the Al-Jazeera site throughout the week.