Jouralist, can anyone do it?

                                         

   The Daily Star disclosed the fact that 1 journalist dies every 12 days in Levant region according to Lebanese media watchdog SKeye, on 5/4/12. 29 journalists have been killed since last World Press Freedom Day and European Union’s office in Beirut has declared that it is going to serve justice by catching and punishing those who committed such crimes (May 3 is considered as World Press Freedom Day  which was declared by the United Nations General Assembly to promote freedom of expression under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).  Fellow photographers of Ali Shaaban held a ritual in remembering and honoring his death on 4/10/12 who was a cameraman and shot on Syria border while shooting a footage by laying down their cameras in front of his poster.

   Going back to Andrew Cohen’s article that asserted and debunk the idea of “becoming a journalist is easy; anybody can do it,” I strongly agree with his opinion: as the Daily Star has demonstrated, every journalist has not only a duty to report a news, he/she has a duty to go to “desperate” places in order to gather information and seek for truths because often than not, risking to go to these lawless regions sometimes are required in changing the world.

    Cohen’s article essentially shows what it really means and takes to be a journalist. At the same time, I believe that the term itself is subjective because everyone has different definitions of who is eligible to be called as a journalist. However comparing  DanielSchorr, a legendary journalist who worked as a senior news analyst for NPR (National Public Radio) to Amanda  Lindhout, an adventurer Andrew described as the “true journalist,” they appears to share a common feature: advocating for public’s right to know.

   One of the astonishing goals that Schorr achieved was his stance on either to hide or tell the source of the Pike Committee Report. In 1970s, the Congress formed the Pike Committee, chaired by Representative Otis Pike to conduct an investigation the CIA’s operations. Mr. Pike claimed to publish his result of the investigation (or Pike Committee Report) to public while Ford Administration strongly refused to do so. However, it was eventually leaked to Village Voice, the company Schorr worked for, and the Congress summoned all the reporters/journalists of Village Voice to ask how they were able to obtain it. Schorr strongly refused to reveal the source of  Pike Committee Report, despite the fact that such refusal could lead him to serve jail time. He had a firm stance, nonetheless: it was his job to preserve the mission of journalism, which is to advocate the public’s right to know. His stance can be compared to the choice that Lindhout made as well. She knew that going to Somalia would be dangerous but telling the world/public what is really going in that region was more important to her.

   Journalism is considered to be 4^th branch of government, a medium employed to inform the public with truths. However, it is a trend that the people no longer trust in journalism anymore. With development of technology that allows anyone to have the power of journalism such as blogging and accessing to Internet to conduct their own research, it could be thought that people could become a journalist without formal training or education from journalist schools. Amanda Lindhout fits to the previous statement, for not going to a journalist school. However, this doesn’t necessary mean that anybody can do it. There is still a “definition” of what it means to be a true journalist.

Ohmynews: Ohmychallanges

The Founder of OhmyNews: Mr.Oh

   Bruns, the author of the article “Gatewatching, Gatecrashing” claims that citizen journalism is the true second-tiered form of media than alternative or tactical media: ” [citizen journalism] provides a pathway for off-mainstream news sites as they progress beyond a purely tactical stance, avoid the simplistic oppositional posturing of alternative media, and develop in to a fully formed second tier of news media,” (257). Thus, citizen journalism allows the participants to become a hybrid produser where they not only consume but produce media at the same time; this ultimately causes the news to have omni-perspectives rather than dictated by the journalists.

   OhmyNews is the South Korean model of citizen journalism. Its motto is “every citizen can be a reporter,” according to the founder Oh Yeon Ho; the site is unique because it provides opportunities for anyone to actually become a “paid” reporter if he/she decides to register with the website. This website initially was an attention-grabber, for providing an innovative public platform to the users but now, it is constantly confronted with various challenges.

   OhmyNews publishes about 150 stories daily, where a third of them are written by professionals and rest are contributed by citizens. Another third of citizen’s works is rejected due to having unverifiable facts or not appropriate topics. However, there is a catch: if they decide to attend the writing workshop and learn how to “re-polish” their stories, they get a second shot on republishing their stories. But... how many of them would actually spend their own time taking classes as if they have become high school students again? Also, this whole phenomenon itself provides good reasons for journalists to reaffirm the fact that ordinary citizens aren’t simply capable of participating in digital media without any formal trainings or degrees.

   Economic depression plays the “bad guy” role as well. The subscribers are allowed to pay “tips” to the articles they like (or formally known as “donations”) and this is a big motivation to some. AndrewGruen, an OhmyNews journalist, claims that the biggest payment he ever received from the public was an amount of $20,000 in US dollars. Now, people have become stingier and want to freeload. Less money equals less motivation and less motivation leads to less participation.

   Despite the fact that there are alternative competing citizen media platforms, OhmyNews is still thriving. It strives to employ democratic measures to ensure that every citizen has a voice. In 2002, for instance, the President Roh of South Korea won a tight presidential race and even though it’s not the only reason for his victory, his OhmyNews citizen “supporting” journalists’ articles (whose stories inevitably expressed favorable opinions to him) changed many of voters’ perceptions toward him. This demonstrates that the citizen journalism is no longer a joke, where a person can just blog or write about anything he desires; his voice can shake the whole entire nation, just as Wendy Chun covered the story on Mad Cow disease.