I reckon it’s a logical extension of citizen journalism (see my previous post for more on this). It’s giving qualified journalists the tools to report on anything and everything as they go about their everyday lives.

I, for one, always carry a small digital camera in my handbag. Several times I’ve passed car crashes on the way home from work and stopped for a quick photo that can be used in the paper (I work for a local Brisbane newspaper, the Albert and Logan News).

But imagine if I could do the same on my mobile phone. One less thing to carry – and I could grab interviews with people on scene at the same time. Before you know it, I’d have enough material for both an online and a print story. Like this guy.

There are a couple of stumbling blocks. Quality of images and video are one. But mobile phone companies – particularly Apple and Nokia – are leading the field in creating smartphones capable of taking photos of HD camera quality.

For Aussie journos, expensive internet charges – and at times a lack of broadband coverage – is another issue. Mobile companies only offer capped data packages at the moment, so exceeding the monthly limit, at a high cost, is almost inevitable.

But this will change. It’s just a matter of time.

– Koren

Frank Barth-Nilsen writes about mobile journalism 
and reporting on his blog, Mojo Evolution.
Photo: Bloggerguy.

I adored the Alive in Baghdad vlog, which puts faces to the statistics bandied about on the news every night. This citizen journalism project is first-class and worth a look.

Likewise, MobuzzTV impressed me with its slick, TV-news-style production. The only difference? The content was actually interesting and not at all predictable like the daily news bulletins.

I thought Ask a Ninja was stupid, Wine Library TV didn’t appeal to me and Rocketboom loaded poorly with stilted images (but interesting and satirical content).

This small taste of vlogs really opened my eyes to the wide variety of high-quality video information out there. It seems online video is gaining speed as a story-telling medium, which I reckon spells good news for journalism. I’m all for an even playing field!

– Koren

PS – I decided to give vlogging a go. In the spirit of mojos, I used my Nokia 61-something. Unfortunately its measly two megapixel camera compromised the quality and I’m sure Jennifer Woodard Maderazo would hate me for introducing yet another crappy quality, not very interesting vlog to the world.

But here it is, if you can bear it…

This week’s piece (PDF – head to chapter six) described the South Korean OhmyNews phenomenon.

Creator Oh Yeon-ho goes by the motto “every citizen is a reporter“. But, unlike blogs, contributors must conform to a strict code of ethics. I reckon this is a smarter way of tapping into the blogging world, a way of overcoming the Wikipedia-type problem of not being credible while still building that all-important sense of community.

Even more ingeniously, writers are paid according to the story’s popularity. So unlike many other news forums (apart from their few token attempts), it’s the readers who decide what the top news story is, not editors.

The format is clearly working: the site has been profitable since 2003 and makes 70 per cent of its revenue from advertising. It seems to me the concept worked because it moved a step ahead of other mediums stuck doing things the old way.

So what’s to stop the journalism world from heading this way in the future, especially if the advertising model is working?

In launching wholly online, OhmyNews also saved a heck of a lot of money. Makes me wonder if Fairfax Media had something similar in mind when it launched the Brisbane Times last year…

– Koren

It touched on “citizen” or “grassroots” journalists: ordinary who make their photos, video and audio available to the wider public.

YouTube video: “Citizen Journalism – What Is It?“

This can be a handy form of news breaking during extraordinary events because it gives the public an insider account of the action (think of the Qantas air disaster passenger footage). It effectively means journalists are everywhere.

There’s a second positive to user-generated content: journalists can use these news gatherers for future stories. It’s a huge bonus because finding witnesses and victims for the first-hand-account story is often difficult. And these golden news sources often come to us!

Of course, there are downsides. Checking the accuracy of the account may be difficult in some cases or legal issues may arise. And peer written and reviewed sites, like Wikipedia, are intrinsically dangerous when it comes to being factual, credible and truthful. But consumers are generally aware of this and many use Wikipedia as a first point of call to get the basic idea and research on from there.

The main problem I see – and it’s a major issue with all new media – is how to make money. How will advertising work in this format? Because without traditional news outlets creating revenue to fund blogs, podcasts and vlogs, can the industry continue to pay top quality journalists?

– Koren