Comments for Consumers as Creators http://citizenmedia.wordpress.com Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:17:29 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on Pakistan and The Internet Part 1: The New York Times by Miguel Raul Perez http://citizenmedia.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/pakistan-and-the-internet-part-1-the-new-york-times/#comment-4 Miguel Raul Perez Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:17:29 +0000 http://citizenmedia.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-4 * Was this intended journalistic partnership successful for all parties involved? First, I see this as an attempt by the NY Times to gain marketshare by gaining a competitive edge over its rivals by using "citizen journalists," nothing more. I think the NY Times had no choice but to rely on citizen journalists since the government's media black out probably affected the fixers that they rely on in Pakistan. The NY times needed to report on the protests and they found their solution by holding a cattle-call for media related to the protests that they couldn't have obtained otherwise. Simple economics. To keep its competitive edge over its rivals, it used "citizen journalists." So, do I think that this was successful for both parties? Yes. Definitely. The NY Times was able to gather media from Pakistan that they wouldn't have been able to get and with that they undoubtedly raised their web hits as consumers sought media related to the protests. The "citizen journalists" also got to dissent against their government through an American news site that gets more page views than all other top 5 US newspapers by circulation. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/nytimes.com http://www.burrellesluce.com/top100/2007_Top_100List.pdf The NY Times just needed a way to consolidate its market share by employing "citizen journalism" so that it did not lose net traffic against the other news papers' sites. Business aside, both parties won. The Times got to keep its net traffic and the protesters found an outlet. Miguel Raul Perez Senior Robinson Secondary School Fairfax, VA * Was this intended journalistic partnership successful for all parties involved?

First, I see this as an attempt by the NY Times to gain marketshare by gaining a competitive edge over its rivals by using “citizen journalists,” nothing more.

I think the NY Times had no choice but to rely on citizen journalists since the government’s media black out probably affected the fixers that they rely on in Pakistan. The NY times needed to report on the protests and they found their solution by holding a cattle-call for media related to the protests that they couldn’t have obtained otherwise.

Simple economics. To keep its competitive edge over its rivals, it used “citizen journalists.”

So, do I think that this was successful for both parties? Yes. Definitely. The NY Times was able to gather media from Pakistan that they wouldn’t have been able to get and with that they undoubtedly raised their web hits as consumers sought media related to the protests. The “citizen journalists” also got to dissent against their government through an American news site that gets more page views than all other top 5 US newspapers by circulation.
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/nytimes.com
http://www.burrellesluce.com/top100/2007_Top_100List.pdf

The NY Times just needed a way to consolidate its market share by employing “citizen journalism” so that it did not lose net traffic against the other news papers’ sites.

Business aside, both parties won. The Times got to keep its net traffic and the protesters found an outlet.

Miguel Raul Perez
Senior
Robinson Secondary School
Fairfax, VA

]]> Comment on What Is Citizen Journalism? by Miguel Raul Perez http://citizenmedia.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/what-is-citizen-journalism/#comment-3 Miguel Raul Perez Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:43:58 +0000 http://citizenmedia.wordpress.com/?p=6#comment-3 * What strengths and weaknesses do you see in the layer metaphor for citizen journalism? It's a little too optimistic and utopian to think that we can get rid of the middleman completely. And it doesn't address spam at all. An open site where everyone is ultimately free to edit and publish anything in its final incarnation step 11 would probably fall prey to spam as thousands of blogs and sites have. Even if these citizen journalism outlets were to become successful - what's there to stop Murdoch or Graham from buying them? The MSM is always looking for new outlets (myspace, slate, etc.) Even if they are out of the picture by step 7 it doesn't mean that they will disappear. Adding a print edition seems redundant and wasteful as the world is becoming more paper-free each day. Circulation rates of newspapers in America are on a down-ward spiral. This would only be useful in the developing world or in places like Japan where they boast the highest circulation rates. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/yearbook/reports_trends.jsp Even if the future of news is something like wikipedia, there is one thing that will never change: payola. Jimbo Wales was paid off to make edits not too long ago http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/05/BUVFVDM3H.DTL Miguel Raul Perez Senior Robinson Secondary School Fairfax, VA * What strengths and weaknesses do you see in the layer metaphor for citizen journalism?

It’s a little too optimistic and utopian to think that we can get rid of the middleman completely. And it doesn’t address spam at all.

An open site where everyone is ultimately free to edit and publish anything in its final incarnation step 11 would probably fall prey to spam as thousands of blogs and sites have.

Even if these citizen journalism outlets were to become successful – what’s there to stop Murdoch or Graham from buying them? The MSM is always looking for new outlets (myspace, slate, etc.) Even if they are out of the picture by step 7 it doesn’t mean that they will disappear.

Adding a print edition seems redundant and wasteful as the world is becoming more paper-free each day. Circulation rates of newspapers in America are on a down-ward spiral. This would only be useful in the developing world or in places like Japan where they boast the highest circulation rates. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/yearbook/reports_trends.jsp

Even if the future of news is something like wikipedia, there is one thing that will never change: payola. Jimbo Wales was paid off to make edits not too long ago http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/05/BUVFVDM3H.DTL

Miguel Raul Perez
Senior
Robinson Secondary School
Fairfax, VA

]]> Comment on Welcome by Tuan Anh Nguyen http://citizenmedia.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/welcome/#comment-2 Tuan Anh Nguyen Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:23:24 +0000 http://citizenmedia.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/welcome/#comment-2 Dear Will, I'm a senior at McKinley Technology High School in N.E. Washington. I am looking forward to comment each subject brought forth by you in the area of citizen journalism. Keep me posted. -Tuan Dear Will,

I’m a senior at McKinley Technology High School in N.E. Washington. I am looking forward to comment each subject brought forth by you in the area of citizen journalism. Keep me posted.

-Tuan

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