Citizen Journalism

This caught my eye today, from journalism.co.uk about a cyclist assaulted by a NYPD officer, the assault been caught on camera by a tourist in the area at the time and then posted to YouTube.

Now, is this journalism? There’s no commentary, no thought, just the capture of the action … the reporting to the wider world seems to have come from the more traditional outlets – once it had been seen on YouTube.

So is it journalism? Or like a chat in the pub, a half over-heard conversation on the train; just another source for the mainstream media to use.

And so you know , here’s the video:

Welcome to my world …

…”you needn’t shed a tear ’cause I’ve got waffles and I’ve got beer and I’ve got Mr Belvedere” …

Right that’s the random song title / lyric nonsense over with, but I can’t promise it won’t happen again, you’ll just have to live with it / get over it if it does.

So what’s this about? You ask … well to be honest I’m not sure myself at the moment, but for the most part I’ll be concentrating on photography, both mine and that of people whose work I like and admire. Maybe some photo and video equipment news and reviews and a look at the world of the “digital journalist” and where journalism might be headed in the convergent news room.

For now I’ll just add a few links to sites that are essential reading, first Strobist, the place to learn about lighting your subject, taught in an easy to follow/grasp manner by David Hobby.

Second, The Digital Journalist from Dirck Halstead a monthly magazine for visual journalists.

Thirdly and finally for now, What the Duck, a photo taking duck who tells it like it is!

And just in case you didn’t get the song, it’s “Welcome to my World” by Nerf Herder.