Citizen and Traditional Journalism – State Government Election October 24, 2008
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Critically compare citizen journalism and traditional journalism in relation to their reporting on the recent WA State Government Election
The media both reflects and shapes public opinion, and media commentary on issues can instigate robust debate within society. The ways in which media engage with, and portray, public opinion varies according to the medium that is utilised. In this essay I consider how both traditional journalists and citizen journalists reported and reflected on the 2008 Western Australian State Government election. I examine the different forms of journalism from two perspectives. I critique Glaser’s (2004) argument that citizen journalism cannot be considered as a legitimate form of journalism as it lacks an editorial mechanism. I argue that traditional and citizen journalism forms a networked ecosystem where they reference and critique each other. I do not argue that citizen journalism is a superior to traditional journalism, nor do I argue that the two forms of journalism are mutually exclusive. Rather, I argue that the traditional and citizen journalism have a symbiotic relationship, and both forms of journalism benefit from the presence of the other.
There was substantial media attention on the election. The election was called on the 7 August 2008, approximately six months earlier than anticipated by some political observers (WAEC, 2008). The election was held on Saturday 6 September 2008 and the result was a hung parliament. Discussions were held between the WA Labor Party, the WA Liberal Party and the National Party for over two weeks to determine he makeup of the incoming government. On the 24 September 2008, eighteen days after the election was held, the Liberal Party was sworn into government after arriving at a ‘power sharing’ arrangement with the National Party. Given the volume of commentary on the election, I confine my discussion to the period between the election night on the 6 September and 24 September 2008 when the Liberal Party was sworn in as the Western Australian State Government.
>I use the articles printed in the West Australian between the 7th and 9th September 2008 which discuss the election outcome as examples of traditional journalism. In order to examine examples of citizen journalism, I explore the Crikey website commentary ‘Wild West Wash Up’ (Bowe, 2008) on the post-election period. A total of 228 comments were posted over a two-week period responding to this thread.< I also explore the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) election website maintained by Antony Green (Green, 2008).The thread ‘WA – State of Uncertainty’ (Green, 2008a) generated 21 comments and the ‘Who will form government in WA’ (2008b) thread generated 26 comments.
These two examples of citizen journalism are useful because the ABC website is highly regarded as Antony Green is considered to be an informed and respected moderator. Many bloggers post comments requesting Green’s opinion on political processes. Therefore the format is often a question posted by a blogger with Green posting a reply. There is relatively little discussion between bloggers as the majority of the discussion is between the blogger and Green. Green has established the website using reader’s feedback, and it appears to be consultative process that is fluid and responsive to readers’ requests and suggestions. I argue the comment function transforms Green’s website from an example of online traditional journalism commentary embedded within the ABC website, to a dynamic example of citizen journalism.
In contrast, the Crikey website has a different format as the moderator William Bowe has a less powerful presence as the majority of feedback and commentary is provided by other bloggers. In this website, there is ongoing dialogue and repeated posting by bloggers, which captures the perspectives of a diverse readership.
In order to critically compare traditional and citizen journalism, it is first necessary to ask the fundamental question of ‘what is journalism?’ Glaser (2004, p. 1) argues that if journalism is a profession with an institutionalised set of understandings, codes of conduct, and processes of editing, filtering and presentation, then few blogs can be considered as journalism. However, as Lasica (2003a, p. 70) notes, not all bloggers consider themselves to be journalists, nor aspire to be a part of that profession. As a result, Glaser (2004, p. 4) argues that while bloggers may perform random acts of journalism, their day-to-day posts cannot be considered as journalism. For Glaser (2004), as there are no requirements for fact checking or adherence to ethical standards, blogs are inherently biased accounts of what one person believes to be true. Mahar (2006, p. 3) considers this debate futile, and distances himself from the ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate’ dichotomy of media practices as he believes it is unproductive to reduce the argument to a misleading dualism. Instead, he argues it is more useful to evaluate the content of the blogs and consider their merit on this basis.
There is little consensus on what constitutes citizen journalism. The concept started in the early 1990s, and involved readers in the development of the news (Willis & Bowman, 2003, p. 9). Meyer (1995, p. 1) discussed the problematic nature of defining citizen journalism, which has also been referred to as ‘civic journalism’ and ‘community journalism’. In the early stages of citizen journalism, theorists resisted defining the concept. Meyer (1995, p. 1) argued that as the concept was in continual development, a definition would needlessly limit it. This is complicated further with the inclusion of the digital component in citizen journalism as every citizen has the potential to participate in citizen journalism through blogging. Both a journalist and a citizen can produce a blog. Furthermore, citizens are not necessarily limited to blogging as a means of participating in citizen journalism; they can also participate in news, forums and chat rooms (Willis & Bowman, 2003, p. 9).
The September 11 attacks in 2001 on the Twin Towers in the United States of America were a seminal moment for citizen journalism as it lead to an expansion in both personal and political blogs. Citizen journalism received worldwide attention in 2003 with the US invasion of Iraq because it was the first time journalists, soldiers and citizens were able to report in real time during the war (Willis & Bowman, 2003, p. 9). This was one of the first challenges to mainstream media, which up until this point had been the gatekeeper and news filter. For the first time citizens were able to access primary sources of information online.
Blood (2004, p. 1) draws a distinction between ‘weblog [citizen] journalism’ and ‘participatory media’. She argues that citizen journalism is high quality journalism produced by contentious amateurs, while participatory media is the ‘shaping, filtering, commenting, contextualising and disseminating…of the news reports that others have produced’ (Blood, 2004, p. 2). Willis and Bowman (2003, p. 9) refine Blood’s definitions further into one of participatory and citizen journalism. They argue it is:
The act of a citizen, or a group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and information. The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires.
Similarly, Bruns (2006, p. 2) argues citizen journalism is ‘discursive and deliberative’, and Bruns uses Gilmore’s phrase to argue that citizen journalism ‘better resembles a conversation than a lecture’.
The roles of collecting, reporting and analysing news which citizens now perform were once the exclusive domain of the news media (Lasica, 2003a, p. 70). Lih (2004) argues citizen journalism signalled a ‘fundamental shift in the relationship between reader and publisher, as communities have formed which have no strict boundaries between these roles’. The shift in the balance of power from the publisher towards the reader is one of the essential features of citizen journalism.
Glaser (2004) argues a key component of traditional journalism is the mediating effect of the editorial process between the reader and the author. However, Lasica (2003a, p. 70) argues that the Internet itself acts as an editing mechanism. Bloggers inadvertently take part in the editorial processes by selecting newsworthy and interesting topics, and add their own analysis, insight and commentary. Redden, Caldwell and Nguyen (2003, p. 74) also argue that blogging can allow readers a greater degree of transparency because sources are linked and can be verified quickly and easily.
It is interesting to compare two articles that were both written on Tuesday 9th September 2008, three days after the Western Australian State Government election. The article published in the West Australian titled ‘Carpenter says he’s trying to build a solid government’ (AAP, 2008a) primarily focused on Carpenter’s tenuous hold on his position as leader of the West Australian Labor Party. While the article notes that outgoing state President of the West Australian Labor Party declined to criticise Premier Carpenter, and the Labor Party refused to comment on his leadership, the news item sourced two people who were prepared to speculate that Carpenter’s leadership position was in doubt. This relatively short news piece contrasts with Antony Green’s blog ‘Who will form government in W.A?’ (Green, 200b) posted on the same day. In a substantially longer, more reflective piece of writing, Green does not engage in the speculation that the Premier would resign and focuses instead on the outcome of each seat in doubt. These examples of traditional and citizen journalism contradicts Glaser’s (2004) argument that blogs are inherently biased accounts of what one person believes to be true. In contrast, the basis of the article in the West Australian draws information from speculation (albeit that this speculation later showed to be correct), while the blog provided a more balanced, insightful and critical commentary of likely scenarios.
In an earlier discussion on Antony Green’s website titled ‘W.A – State of Uncertainty’ (Green, 2008a) on the Sunday 7th September 2008, a number of bloggers noted that Green was very circumspect in predicting the outcome of the election, while the West Australian newspaper was making more confident claims that the Labor party would lose the election. For example, after numerous questions for Green’s perspective on the election outcome, Green posted: ‘I frankly don’t know what will happen, and I don’t see much point speculating on who will win seats when the counting margin is so narrow’. This cautious response was well received by bloggers, and one commented: ‘Thanks very much for your response to my earlier question. I think you are taking a sensible position – the West Australian has had differing reports every ten minutes it seems and it’s quite refreshing to see someone admit that it actually really is “too close to call” and adopting a “wait and see” attitude.’
The blogger may be referring to the articles from the West Australian published on 7th September 2008 with the following headlines ‘WA polls show people fed up with Labor: Hockey’ (AAP, 2008d) and ‘Nelson hails Liberal comeback’ (AAP, 2008c). In response to these articles, a blogger on Green’s commented ‘it’s the West Australian newspaper factor in molding [sic] the local perspective; they are great ones for bleating about things. Fortunately not everyone here is infected which is probably why we have such an interesting election result instead of the Liberal landslide the West Australian was campaigning for’
I have critiqued Glaser’s (2004) argument that the editorial process is a critical component in distinguishing traditional journalism from citizen journalism. In traditional journalism editorial judgement is exercised before an article goes to print, which Glaser (2004) argues acts as the mediating affect between the reader and the author. However, Glaser (2004) does not recognise that editorial judgement does occur in citizen journalism through in ongoing dialogue between bloggers post publication. Kingston (2003, p. 162) argues that the dialogue between bloggers online postings is self-mediating because if one perspective of an issue began to dominate, invariably other bloggers would balance and moderate these perspectives.
For example, there were a number of bloggers on Antony Green’s website who were critical of the ABC’s, or more specifically Green’s, reporting of the election outcome. One blogger commented: ‘What an absolute dropkick this Antony Green clown is; his blithering, ever mind-changing commentary made me switch to a commercial channel (ugh) to get informed hourly updates. I have yet to see a Federal or State election where any of his predictions or summaries are delivered with knowledge and surety’. However, other bloggers were quick to recognise that the slow election count was not Green’s responsibility, and instead they focused their comments towards the Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC). For example, one blogger commented: ‘We found the election coverage on the ABC frustrating too, the electoral commission seemed pretty inept with their information feed. I thought you did a remarkable job despite the difficulties. Thank you.’ These examples demonstrate that citizen journalism has a self-mediating mechanism as non-representative perspectives, such as those critical of Green’s performance, are challenged and a balanced, reasonable opinion is reasserted.
Cohen (1994, p. 98) argues that participatory democracy is a form of social power and is particularly effective as a means of resistance of the dominant discourse and political power. Bloggers create public knowledge, which has to power to create public values, attitudes and beliefs that serve their own interests of the interests of the wider community. Glaser (2004) concedes the bloggers allows citizens the opportunity to challenge the media monopoly in determining what counts as newsworthy. Lasica (2003b, p. 5) refers to this process as ‘thin media’ where small scale operations focus on niche news and information which is not normally found in mainstream media. Citizen journalists can ‘explore, assess the merits and contribute to the case before them’ (Lih, 2004, p. 5). Grossman and Hamilton (2004, p. 2) believe that unlike dominant media outlets, citizen journalists can focus their efforts on specific topics, and ‘act like a lens, focusing attention on an issue until it catches fire’.
For example, bloggers on the Crikey website are continuously scanning the media for relevant articles and issues. It is interesting to note that Antony Green posted two comments in the Crikey thread, and another blogger linked provided a link to his ABC election website which was provided and analysed. Other links were provided for readers’ information and reference. The articles are scrutinised and nuances and potential implications are debated. For example, a blogger provided a link to an article in The Australian titled ‘b sniffer becomes state treasurer’ (AAP, 2008). The discussion that ensured was not centred on Troy Buswell as one might anticipate, rather the speculation focused on the issue that Peter Collier was reported to be ‘slightly disappointed’ that he was not appointed Minister for Education.
Traditional journalists operate under an economic imperative that citizen journalists are not subject to. Traditional journalisms are businesses supported by advertising; they are hierarchical organisations that value smooth production workflows, profitability and rigorous ethical standards (Lasica, 2003a, p. 70). In contrast, citizen journalists value informal conversation, egalitarianism and subjective points of view. Gill (2004, p. 2) argues that citizen journalism is not capital intensive as there is no centralised registry or editorial oversight, and is relatively straightforward to set up and cheap to maintain. As a result, traditional media are more likely to be interested in stories that generate advertising revenue, while citizen journalists are able to describe events that are meaningful to them (Grossman & Hamilton, 2004, p. 2). Similarly, Bruns (2006, p. 2) argues citizen journalism encapsulates individually published news, political blogs, as well as collaboratively written and edited websites. Each of these examples of citizen journalism ‘disrupts the industrial journalism model by employing its users as journalists and commentators’. Antony Green’s website provides an interesting example of citizen journalism as it is a fusion of political commentary and collaborative participation. However, as the ABC employs Green, the issue of Green’s ‘citizenship’ status can legitimately be queried.
In the past, the dominant media discourse has dismissed citizen journalism as a legitimate form of news as they perceive them to be subjective and lacking institutional norms (Redden, Caldwell & Nguyen, 2003, p. 73). In contrast, those who are cynical of the dominant ‘objective’ media discourse celebrate the localisation of blog content. Citizen journalism plays an important role as news media becomes increasingly homogenised and centralised. Citizen journalists place news in a local context, and provide news relevant to their particular niche audience. As Mahar (2006, p. 3) argues, the public sphere requires a base of shared cultural and citizen experiences to draw upon. In the past 10 years, coinciding with the development of the Internet, the Western media has tended towards interpretive journalism, which blurs the distinction between subjective and objective reporting. Traditional media’s recent tendency towards interpretive journalism suggests that they shared much of the same freedom that citizen journalists have.
For example, Robert Taylor opinion piece for the West Australian newspaper ‘Libs can’t take Grylls support for granted’ (Taylor, 2008) was published on the 8th September 2008. Taylor’s article reflected on the relationship between the Liberal and National Parties. Taylor reflected on the changes within the National party over the past three years and speculated that the ‘WA Liberal Party was getting ahead of itself at the weekend, believing that Brendon Grylls and the resurgent Nationals might huff and puff for a while but in the end would inevitably pick it as their date for the Premier’s Ball’. This article is an example of interpretive journalism as it tends towards analysis and commentary rather than straightforward factual reporting (Mahar, 2006, p. 3).
Glaser (2004, p. 2) argues that citizen journalists have had minimal impact on the media environment because traditional journalists break news and therefore have greater initial impact. However, it is not the role of citizen journalism to break news. Instead, citizen journalists analyse, debate and synthesise news and information. They may take on a reporting function when they feel a need to act as a corrective to traditional journalism. For example, after the Shadow Labor Party Ministry was posted online on 24th September 2008 at 1pm on the PerthNow website, bloggers on the Crikey website noted Mark McGowan was not included in the Shadow Ministry at 4.39pm on the same day (Bowe, 2008). Within half an hour the incorrect news article on PerthNow was modified to include Mark McGowan on the Shadow Ministry. Bloggers on Crikey also provided weblinks to the original and revised news articles for readers’ reference.
Viewing citizen journalism as a corrective to traditional journalism invokes a sense of communality and a shared sense of purpose. Lasica (2003a, p.70) argues that citizen journalists are not competing with the work of the traditional journalist establishment; rather they are complementing it. Furthermore, Lasica (2003a, p. 72) argues that much of the ammunition used against citizen journalism is formed when critics view them in isolation. Lasica (2003a, p.72) argues ‘no one should expect a complete, unvarnished, encapsulation of a story or idea at any one weblog’. Rather, Lasica argues that citizen journalism should be seen as a part of an emerging new media ecosystem and as a linked network of ideas.
Gill (2006, p. 3) supports Lasica (2003a, p. 72) argument that citizen journalism should not be viewed in isolation, and argues that participatory journalism embraces two-way communication between established media and readers. This relationship allows readers to interact with journalists and news organizations. Blogging embodies these concepts of journalism by providing many view points on shared experiences, but also serving as a collective databank. Gill (2006, p. 3) argues that citizen journalism and print media are in a circular system, forming both a system and an ecosystem. Lasica (2003a, p. 74) does not believe that citizen journalism will supplant traditional methods of journalism. When a major news story breaks, citizen journalism provides analysis, insight, alternative perspectives and foreign views to complement the mainstream press.
In this essay I have critically compared a number of examples of traditional journalism sourced from the West Australian newspaper with Antony Green’s website on the Western Australian State Government election and commentary on the election on Crikey website. My analysis revealed a substantial cross-fertilisation and cross-referencing of issues. I have demonstrated a networked ecosystem where citizen journalism draws on traditional journalism as a point of reference and critique. I have not argued that citizen journalism is superior to traditional journalism, nor have I argued that the two forms of journalism are mutually exclusive. Rather, I have argued that the two forms of journalism have a symbiotic relationship, and both forms of journalism benefit from the presence of the other.
References
Australian Associated Press (AAP) (2008a). ‘Carpenter says he’s trying to build a solid government.’ West Australian, 9 September 2008, http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=96994
Australian Associated Press (AAP) (2008b). ‘Chair sniffer becomes state treasurer.’ The Australian. 18 September 2008. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24366022-12377,00.html
Australian Associated Press (AAP) (2008c). ‘Nelson hails Liberal comeback’. West Australian, 7 September 2008. http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=96554
Australian Associated Press (AAP) (2008d). ‘WA polls show people fed up with Labor: Hockey.’ West Australian, 7 September 2008. http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/people-sick-of-wa-labor-hockey-20080907-4b8q.html
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