Ireport vs. Traditional News Media Chris Culwell

Background Public Journalism (or Citizen journalism) Form of journalism in which general citizens who are not professional journalists gather and report news or information. Roots began shortly after the 1988 Presidential Election Coverage in the media ended. Which is preferred, online news or traditional print/broadcast media? Has anyone heard of or used Ireport? Anyone actually posted on Ireport?

Background Cont. Some journalists questioned the trust that exists between the media and the general public. Early Public Journalism involved a professional journalist gathering a group of citizens together for a discussion, that would then be turned into a story. Too Expensive

Types of Citizen Journalism Audience Participation (User Comments, personal blogs, ect.) Independent News and Information (Consumer Reports, Drudge Reports) Full-Fledged Participatory Websites

New Technology Creates New Journalism Medium The advancement of the internet within society brought about of new medium for news. Online News sites began to appear. (NandO.net, New York Times, MSNBC) NandO.net created in 1994 by North Carolina newspaper The News & Observer.

New Technology Creates New Journalism Medium Cont. The internet brought about the opportunity for average citizens to report post their own “news.” Blogs Chat Rooms Message Boards Wikis Mobile Computing

First Citizen Journalism Websites OhMyNews: South Korean site created in 2000 by Oh Yeon Ho. First site to accept article from its readers. 80% of site content is provided by ordinary citizens. Originally only offered written articles.

AssociatedContent.com: Created in 2004 and known as the “People’s Media Company.” First public journalism website to actually pay for the content they received from users. Provided user submitted articles, video and pictures. WorldVoiceNews.com: Launched shortly after Associated Content. Claimed to be “Honest and Unfiltered.” Also paid for user content.

IReport Launched on August 2, 2006 by CNN to allow citizens to post breaking news in the form of pictures and video. In March 2008, CNN launched the official website for Ireport, ireport.com, after paying $750,000 for rights to the domains ireport.com and i-report.com. Domains purchased from Rick Schwartz, who had registered the domains in 1997.

IReport Similar to YouTube. Allows contributors to network. Reported 102,423 IReports since the inception. 915 IReports featured on CNN in the last month, according the ireports.com.

Virginia Tech Massacre Ireport provided video of the shooting at Virginia Tech in April 2007 in the form of footage captured by VT graduate student Jamal Albarghouti. CNN paid an unknown amount for the footage. Video Albarghouti used a Nokia cell phone to capture the video.

Minnesota Bridge Collapse Many of the early pictures and eyewitness reports for the bridge collapse in Minneapolis in August 2007 were submitted by Ireport users. Pictures

Pros Cons Timely News First Person Perspective Any others? Lacking Credibility Lack of Journalistic Integrity New York Times

Competitors Ireport has lead to the creation of other citizen journalism related media created by other big name media companies. ABC – i-Caught Fox – uReport MSNBC – FirstPerson

Traditional or Citizen Journalism Which Do You Prefer and Why?

Sources Ireport: http://en.wikipedia.org/wikiI-Report CNN's citizen journalism site iReport goes live: http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9872781-2.html Citizen Journalism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism OhMyNews: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OhmyNews

Sources Cont. Student shot video of campus shooting: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/16/vtech.witness/index.html CNN Shells Out $750K For ireport.com Domain: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/18/cnn-shells-out-750k-for-_n_82210.html