HOW CITIZEN JOURNALISTS' USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AFFECT THE ACTIVITIES OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA

GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM

COURSE; INTRODUCTION TO NEW MEDIA

LECTURER; MR. KODWO JONAS ANSON BOATENG

 

 

NAMES                                                                                  

  1. PWABERI DENIS WEDAM                                                       

  2 .KUUPUOLO EVA                                                                 

        3 .AGBEMAVA MABEL                                                              

  4. AZIZ FUSENA                                                                         

  5. STEPHEN KUBATE SALIFU                                                    

DATE OF SUBMISSION; 23^RD OCTOBER, 2013.

Introduction

Technology has modified and transformed many aspects of human life including the media. The technological transition from web 1.0 to web 2.0 has brought in its wake the invention of  highly accessible internet platforms called social media where interested  people link up, connect and share information with one another anywhere, anytime using mobile communication network and devices. The use of such platforms as twitter, facebook,blogger, digg and delicious make the transfer of texts, photos, audio, video and information in general increasingly fluid among internet users.(socialmediadefined.com/what-is-social-media) The increased level of interactivity  allows every member of the public to take part in the collection, processing and dissemination of news information, thus making them citizen journalists. It makes the once dormant audience play active roles in the manufacture of news information. Jay Rosen defines citizen journalism as ‘when the people formerly known as the audience employ their press tools they have in their possession to inform one another’ (Wikipedia).

 

Setting this innovation in the era of the traditional media, also known as legacy media, which only consisted of old traditional means of communication and expression that have existed since before the advent of the new media of the internet industries, its effects are obvious. It affects the traditional media houses as well as their production because of manner in which citizen journalists use the social media to disseminate information, interact freely, and give instantaneous feedback, without one person controlling the entire activity. Having established a premise with the overview of social media, citizen journalist/journalism and traditional media, the document continues to take a critical look at how twitter, facebook, blogger and other social media affect the activities of television, newspaper, radio and other traditional media production and of course to consider how the latter have positioned and are positioning itself .

 

Body

First and foremost, citizen journalists’ use of the social media has lessen the power the traditional media had to play their gate keeping and agenda setting roles. The “autocratic” power that traditional media houses had in choosing news worthy and salient issues, have been “democratized” by citizen journalists who engage in journalistic practices. The effect is that the traditional media does no longer have that sole power to tell the public what is news, because the agenda is sometimes set by the audiences per their contributions on the social platform. Likewise with the salient issues because a great deal of the news information comes from the public.

 

Again, by the use of the social media by citizen journalists, there has emerged a new orientation about the timeliness of news, so that the public does not consider news from the traditional media as timely. Before a traditional media house sends a reporter to an incident scene to cover a story and then pass through an editorial process before it is aired, a citizen journalist by the use of the social media might have broken that same story long before the reporter even got to the scene. For instance, I got to know about the Achimota Melcom collapse on facebook before hearing on radio, television and newspapers.

Also, citizens’s use of the social media for journalistic purposes has also affected the public’s patronage for the traditional media for various reasons;

i.Unlike the social media where audience or the public can always archive for information they have missed, information on the traditional media, except newspapers is transient and fleeting; once you miss it, you can’t get it again.

ii.Whereas citizen journalists use social media to give first hand information in its virgin form, the traditional media gives second or third hand information that is often edited.

iii.When it comes to the issue of proximity, citizen journalists using the social media are closer both geographically and culturally and they offer more insights into the stories they cover than traditional media reporters who may not have any relation with an issue to be reported. These are just a few of the numerous reasons that account for the public perception of the traditional media as less effective as compared to the new media of citizen journalism

iv) Again citizen journalists use of social media segments the audience by offering alternative dimensions. This is to say, diverse information on the social platform allows the audience to choose topics or subjects of interests. For instance there are blogs on fashions, entertainment, food and nutrition. The traditional media on the other hand are restricted to their programme line up.

v) Inasmuch as the traditional media is limited in reaching the audience, the social media has a wide reach and gets to audiences worldwide.

 

Moreover, though positive, the use of social media by citizen journalists also affects the quality of news produced by traditional media by way of their contribution. A traditional media house trying to be first in news may break a story without the necessary details to back the story. Citizen journalists through the social media may contribute pictures and videos to support that story.

 

Conclusion

The traditional media houses see these activities of the citizen journalist as a threat to their course, hence the strategies they are putting in place to meet the changing trend. The traditional media too must behave like the hunter to be able to keep up the pace.

 

Already the traditional media has recognized the good works of citizen journalists in news production and they are strategically incorporating the citizen journalist into their media houses. It is now very common to find traditional media join the social media to allow the public also contribute to their programmes.

 

There is also an introduction of phone-in and texting in order to connect to the audience and share views, comments and feedbacks.

The traditional media are strategizing to meet the changing trends by joining the social media. This aids in overcoming the issues of timeliness and fleeting information. Examples are myjoyonline.com, and citifmonline.com

  

Finally, they give out programme outlines by categorizing activities of the day and allotting times they will be broadcast for audiences to choose their preferences.

 REFERENCES

Jay Rosen (14). "A Most Useful Definition of Citizen Journalism". Press Think. Retrieved 21 May 2012

Anderson, P. (Feb. 2007)What is Web 2.0? Ideas, Technologies and Implications for Education (JISC Technology & Standards Watch).

H. Kietzmann, Jan; Kristopher Hermkens (2011). "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media". Business Horizons 54: 241–251.

Dan Gillmor, We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People (O’Reilly Media, 2004)

COMMUNICATION RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GIJ STUDENTS AND CAFETERIA STAFF

This article is about the communication relationship between Ghana Institute of Journalism, (GIJ) cafeteria and the students. 

Over these few years, as a student of GIJ, I have come to realize that, putting aside the selling of banku with okro soup in the cafeteria recently, students have come to the realization that the types of food being served at the cafeteria have always followed and are still following the same trend in the forms of jollof rice, plain rice, kenkey and sometimes, beans and as a result is serving as a necessity for students’ ridicule.

Initially, with the existence of the GIJ Bush Canteen, which according to sources was ‘executed’ by the Ghana International Press Center as a result of issues here-and-there, students could balance their diets with the bush canteen’s varieties of banku with okro soup, beans with fried plantain and fried-rice with chicken.

At the SRC handing-over ceremony which was held last semester, the issue of same food at the cafeteria for students was raised and a few weeks ago, this issue came up again during the second session of General Assembly meeting and it looks as though until the issue is addressed, more complaints will pour into the school’s SRC office as students lose their patience day-in-and-out.

It amazes me, as to why this issue has not been addressed in anyway and it can therefore be concluded that effective communication between students of GIJ and the cafeteria staff is relevant and is not being applied here in the sense that, with regards to these numerous complaints, an with how information travels fast on such a communication institution, it is very 'norma'l to conclude that the cafeteria staff would have at these moments heard the students' complaints but are disregarding the importance of Organization/Consumer relationship, disregarding the fact that, business in the cafeteria is booming as a result of the food being purchased and consumed by students and lecturers.

More often than not, individuals and organizations tend to forget and ignore the relevance of maintaining a positive communication relationship with their consumers, here is a response to my specially framed-up questions by a co-staff in the cafeteria.

NB: Images of  food being sold at the cafeteria and their consumers; students.

TROTRO DRIVER AND PASSENGER COMMUNICATION; MY TAKE

Organization-customer relationship in Ghana is one issue that has not been critically looked at. More often than not, companies produce their goods for the consumption of their customers, taking into consideration, their (companies) own personal interests. They do these at the expense of their consumers by not communicating effectively with them and as a matter of fact take little consideration into the negative implications of that.

In this article, we are going to look at the relationship between a public transportation driver, popularly known as the Trotro driver and his mate, and their passengers.

About a few days ago, as I sat in a trotro heading towards Adenta, I witnessed a scuffle between the driver’s mate and a female passenger who seemed to be in her early forties. Initially, almost all the passengers in the vehicle were complaining over an incident they saw as due to lack of respect on the part of their driver and his mate. They had stopped the vehicle to pick up other passengers without informing those already seated in the car and moreover took a longer time in continuing the journey. This got everybody angry and they started complaining. Instead of the mate and his driver apologizing, they were rather ‘proving stubborn’ and that spark up the scuffle between then and the passengers. The woman got so angry that she complained, and insulted the driver and the mate throughout the journey, involving their families, until she got to her destination.

As a communicator and journalist-in-the-making, I took the pain in interviewing a driver and his mate concerning issues like this and how they deal with and solve them emotionally and their response can be heard or listened to in the subsequent audio or the audio below.

The cordial relationship between the driver and his [passengers can be as a result of the peaceful and understandable communication that exists between them. Assuming the driver had asked for a few minutes from his passengers just to pick other passengers, I am sure this whole scuffle wouldn’t have started at all.

Below are some images and an audio interview of a public transportation driver with regards to customer/organization relationship.

an image of an argument between the mate and the passenger