Reflecting on the series of articles published on Nieman reports about citizen journalism, I was particularly amazed as how CJ has evolved in such a short span of time. As part of the mainstream media, I consider CJ as a threat. But as a citizen myself, who is particularly concerned with community issues as well, I am happy for the advent of CJ, which I believe will play an even more important role in the release of information in the future. The public, now with a wide array of choices, will be the main beneficiaries of this phenomenon in the future.
I welcome the CJ phenomenon and just like, Dan Gillmor, I consider CJ practitioners an ally. CJ has yet to fully get off the ground in our city, Bacolod, because only a small percentage of the population has access to the internet. But our company, the Visayan Daily Star, is also not taking chances. It has launched a website to cater to web users and its audiences abroad as well, while it continues to publish news reports daily.
Nurturing trusted communities and citizen participation will eventually become the value for news organizations. No less than the BBC has acknowledged this idea. Richard Sambrook of BBC stressed that sustaining a healthy and strong relationship with the people will be the key for media’s survival but “technology is changing that relationship fundamentally”.
But more than its relationship with readers, the challenge for news organizations is mounting because of technology. This means journalists need to be more flexible and should adapt more skills as it gears up for convergence.
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