Looking Backwards: Final Reflective Blog

What did you know about journalism, citizen journalism, and blogging before you took this course?

Being journalism major I have taken classes over the years where I learned the basics, laws and history of journalism. Prior to taking this course I knew what citizen journalism was. At least the definition I could gather from Wikipedia or just word of mouth. Blogging was also not a foreign concept due to my job as a face of Albright I was required to blog so I was use to blogging about daily events, but certainly nothing to the level that could be considered citizen journalism.

What did you learn about journalism, citizen journalism, and blogging through readings and discussions?

From the readings I learned a lot about the history and start of blogging and how the concept of citizen journalism came about. I never knew there was background information to the world of blogging or that there was an entire community of citizen journalists. The discussions in class did open eyes to being balanced when covering an event or an issue. The importance of balance was always in the back of my head but having to think about it being on audio or on video made me realize how important it is to show multiple sides of a story in order to make sure the audience is well informed on the subject.

What do you remember most from the readings? What do you agree with/ disagree with?

One of thing that I remember the most from the readings is when they discussed the struggle that citizen journalist face. Since they are not trained citizen journalist are considered in some aspects not to be “real” journalists. I agree with the author of our main text we the media, when he discusses the reason why citizen journalist are “real” journalist and that they provide news from a different perspective and viewpoint and many times through a new and exciting medium. Citizen journalism is the way of the future. Audiences no longer want to sit by and be handed news, they want to be part of the news and feel some sort of connection to the stories, events, and issues that are being presented to them as news.

Describe your experience with the hands-on element with a focus on what you learned, the educational value, and the application to the real world. Be sure to discuss:
a. Use of technology

I thought that the use of technology was great. Prior to this class I had never listened to a podcast let alone record and edit one. Being able to learn how to take a story, develop it and present it in different mediums was really beneficial and a frustrating and educational process.

b. Covering stories/events/issues relevant to Albright/ Reading community

Being limited to stories and events that were relevant to Albright was difficult. Since Albright is a small college the number of events worth covering fell short at times. The option of doing an issue over an event worked some times except when sources did not want to be compliant for the fear of being reprimanded for speaking their minds about an issue that related to Albright.

c. Class critiques of blogs/podcasts

The class critiques were helped me to see how some of my peers viewed my work. Professors were not always my target demographic on campus, so by allowing students to view and respond to my work allowed me to see how my target demographic reacted to my work.

d. Responsibility/freedom of blogging

I would have liked more freedom with the topics for the blogs. I felt that making students blog about a reading assignment in which the questions were provided made it seem like a homework assignment rather than a blogging. In my mind blogging is meant to be a freedom of expression where I can go to gather and distribute information that I feel is relevant.

Discuss what you now think/feel/believe about the role citizen journalism and blogging play in communication.

My opinion has not changed since the beginning to this course. Blogging and citizen journalism is a new form of journalism. It takes the traditional and historical components of journalism and turns into something new. Blogging and citizen journalism allows for more opinions and viewpoints to be heard. I think that blogging and citizen journalism play major role in communication. Without either of them communication would suffer. There would be less ideas and viewpoints in the world of communication. Blogging and citizen journalism allows for every day citizens to become involved in what is happening around them. It also adds to the number of sources that can be used in a story. Now when something happens you can read about it in the newspaper from a traditional journalist point of view. You can then look at a video blog that a bi-stander took with their cell phone and uploaded to their web site. Then once you have gathered information on the subject you can comment on your reactions, thoughts, and ideas about what happened. Blogging and citizen journalism makes information some that can be easily accessible by all who seek it.

Is blogging a form of journalism?

I believe that blogging is a new form of journalism that has adopted some parts from the traditional form of journalism. Bloggers can provide their audience with information, which is something that traditional journalist do. They also follow many of the principles of journalism like proximity, timeliness, and relevance. One big difference between traditional journalist and bloggers is the credibility factor. Traditional journalists are considered credible because they studied the subject and receive some sort of formal training at an institution. Bloggers on the other hand for the most part are self-taught and therefore do no have the same credibility of traditional journalist.