A big incident has taken place in one place, the media has not yet reached the spot and started broadcasting live. But in the meantime, a person has started spreading the news of the incident through Facebook. Maybe even doing live promotions on Facebook. It would be a great thing for an ordinary citizen to do his job as a journalist. As an alternative media, the surrounding news is now more easily available than before. Undoubtedly the matter is supposed to be good. But not everything in the world is as white and black, as well as good-evil as well as mixed or gray parts remain. The same is true of the current citizen journalism.
Citizen journalism allows people to flow information freely at home
In this age of internet-based social media triumphs, it doesn't take long for news to spread. What is the need for traditional news media when the news of the neighborhood is so easily available? This question is being asked by many. But there is no chance to reach a solution by simplifying the issue so much. Because it is questionable whether it is possible for an ordinary citizen to fulfill the responsibilities of journalism without any training, responsibility and editing. Questions remain about the veracity of the information disseminated through social media. So to understand the whole matter, one has to look at the matter by judging and analyzing from various angles. First of all, it is necessary to know the beginning and end of journalism.
What is journalism?
Journalism means gathering news, information, etc. about everything around us, providing it to the appropriate media, promoting it or presenting it. This is a profession. That is, a professional person who collects news, prepares or edits news in a news organization can be called a journalist. The media is an essential element in a democratic system of governance, so essential that the media is called the Fourth Estate. The basic elements of a state are literally three - the law department, the administration department and the judiciary department. This fourth estate has been named as the fourth element due to the necessity of media.
One of the pillars of the modern state is the media
Journalism can have different levels or types. Such as photo journalism, entertainment journalism, sports journalism or TV channel reporting etc. Just as there are different levels and types of journalism, there are also different types of media. Such as newspapers, TV channels, internet based news portals, agencies, magazines etc. There are also news agencies like BSS, AP, Reuters.
The sensitivity of the journalism profession
There are some professions that have become more sensitive than the other ten professions. In other words, people in those professions have to behave more responsibly than others, otherwise there is a risk of serious disaster. For example, if a person makes a small mistake in his office which can cause harm, if a doctor makes a small mistake, it can lead to life and death problems. Journalism is also a responsible profession at that level.
Giving a small amount of misinformation can lead to Tulkalam incidents in an entire country. Again, even if the information is not incorrect, just not presenting it correctly can lead to the same level of problem. This is the success of a professional news medium.
A professional journalist uses appropriate methods to gather news and information. After the collection, it verifies the truth-falsehood and dependence. In the end, he edited it properly and made it presentable to the people. Needless to say, the whole job is not someone's job alone, many journalists work on everything from collecting news to verification, editing, etc.
The journalist concerned and that media are responsible for a particular published news. That is, if the news is later proved to be false or if something harmful happens as a result of publishing the news, then they have to be held responsible. As a result, the media tries to maintain a responsibility here. Attempts are made to publish the information and news by verifying it well.
A photojournalist covering the risks on the battlefield a scene from the 1,000 Times Good Night movie; Source: Production still-Paradox Flim 2013
Journalists have good expertise in news gathering, more than any ordinary person. What they achieve is that they spend a lot of time on the field and learn to stumble. Sometimes they have to risk their lives to collect news. It is a part of their professional life. Just as members of the law enforcement agencies risk their lives in the face of terrorists' weapons, the issue is much closer here. Investigative journalists sometimes beat detectives. Maybe that's why in Feluda's statement in Satyajit Ray's story 'Ebar Kand Kedarnath', there is a frank confession from the journalists - "They are not less involved in espionage".
"They are not inferior to spies" - Feluda's remarks about journalist Vargab
News workers are Code of Ethics or Professional to ensure integrity.
Trying to adhere to ethics. In short, the principles of ethics in journalism are to search for the truth, to be impartial, not to harm anyone in gathering information, to ensure transparency, to be accountable, etc. We need to say something in this context. Many may speak of the clash of yellow journalism or counter-journalism with so much praise above. In this context, it has to be said that there are dishonest people in this profession like other ten professions. But the need and importance is not in vain.
Citizen journalism
Citizen journalism refers to when an ordinary person voluntarily collects news or information and publishes it on blogs, websites, social media, etc. All this can be written, pictures, videos. News of many events in daily life are now available on blogs or social media. For example, you used to know about the announcement of a conference through a newspaper, now you can find out from a group on Facebook. In case of an accident, any enthusiastic citizen journalist can show it live on Facebook before reaching the TV channel.
In the age of citizen journalism, even ordinary people can now provide news;
Especially those who are regular on the blog sites are getting to know a lot of news or different things from the blogs that they used to know from the news media. Basically the availability of internet has opened up this new direction. Recently, many first-class media outlets have also made arrangements to collect and send news to the citizens. For example, there is a reader's column in the newspaper, where the readers also write and send the news of the neighborhood like reporting, or many people send a crime scene video in the news of the TV channel.
Is traditional journalism in the cancellation register then?
There is no denying that the traditional media is going through a recession all over the world. Although the main reason is not citizen journalism, advertising. The media mainly runs on dividends earned through the display of advertisements. But in the age of the Internet, sites like Google and Facebook have been left with the lion's share of advertising, leaving the media financially weak due to the advertising crisis. Whatever it is, it is a different matter.
According to experts, citizen journalism can in no way be an alternative to conventional media. There are many reasons behind this. None of the citizen journalists are professionals. As a result, for good reason, none of them are responsible for their published news. As a result, there is no dependence on the veracity of the information and objectivity.
The role of citizen journalism should be as ‘helpful’.
The way traditional journalists provide news from the ground up, verifying the veracity of the news institutionally, is not possible for a single person in citizen journalism. The collected news is verified in various ways after the editor's thorns and then comes out in print. But in citizen journalism, in almost all cases, what seemed to be instantaneous was put on hold. On top of that, it's not his job, it's his hobby in the gap of work. But there is no substitute for professional media to meet the huge demand for accurate information at every moment.
Experienced people think that the need for news media is greater now than ever before. Because now there is a lot of information scattered around, more information than needed comes and appears. In such a situation, professional journalism is most needed. Only a professional, objective media can convey accurate news and real situation in this crowd of thousands of information.
Citizen journalism is able to play a greater role, not as an alternative medium, but through support.
Citizen journalism is the name of a new force of the present time, so far people have only read the news unilaterally. Now the unprecedented opportunity to take a stand on both reading and delivering news has given people a stronger position. Proper use of this opportunity and constructive practice will further strengthen this ‘Fourth Estate’ of the modern state system. So all parties need to be more vigilant to truly benefit from citizen journalism.
