Modul Mata Kuliah Journalisme Online - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY

online civility brought about by the millions of new creators and consumers of new media content, as
those such as Andrew Keen are also quick to point out.
However, the manner in he and others like Amanda Chapel (who strikes me as a woman tragically
blinkered by her own genius) and Loren Feldman (who desperately needs to learn that the repetitive use
of the f-word is no substitute for essentially vacuous commentary) flag the shortcomings of citizen
journalism glaringly ignore the potential of new media, and citizens who find expression through new
media, to change the dynamics of polity and society in countries such as Sri Lanka where as Nalaka
Gunawardene pointed out in this blog, traditional mainstream media is mainly located in and published
through just two urban locations, necessarily marginalising the aspirations, ideas and voices of those
resident elsewhere in the country.
Amanda Chapel however does raise a fundamental point – what is the economic basis of citizen
journalism?
You cannot have an economic system where half of it is not economic. You can’t have a boat with holes
in it! You can’t have a store where you charge at the front door and customers take whatever they want
out the backdoor for free. In short order, there will be NO paying customers. And without paying
customers, you can’t make anything to sell or give away.
Amanda is surprisingly oblivious to the spirit of the Free and Open Source software development
community, the viability of products and services created through open source software development
processes, or indeed, the spirit of volunteerism in general.
That said, if citizen journalism initiatives are to scale up and become sustainable over the long-term,
there exists a need to create multiple revenue streams, not just from advertising or donor funding. I
believe there is an eventual market for the monetisation of citizen journalism content that based on say
the ground-rules of content creation I’ve tried to foment in Groundviews, provided that mainstream
media is willing to pay for and publish this content, advertisers are convinced that content is read by
those with purchasing power for the products and services they seek to advertise and ordinary citizens
themselves (based on through models of subscription that operate of scale rather than high-entry costs)
see the benefits of subscribing to content that is geared to their interest and have a mix of local,
national and global news, analysis and information. The last point would require, especially in countries
like Sri Lanka, citizen journalism also engages with the mainstream media in order to tap into their
distribution networks and broadcast footprints, which in turn requires a multi-media approach that isn’t
solely based on accessing content online.
This is an evolving debate, and through praxis (particularly in the Global South) and the thrust and parry
of wit online, I look forward to an evolving understanding of how new media & new technology can
support the basic democratic aspirations of all communities and peoples, irrespective of where they live,
or who they vote for.
Addition: Just came across Principles of Citizen Journalism, launched recently, which I think is essential
(Posted by Sanjana Hattotuwa)
http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/auteurs-and-amateurs-the-debates-on-citizen-journalismcontinue/