You don’t have to be a journalist to produce journalism
Evan Hansen told us that pretty much everyone has the tools to be a journalist these days. Let’s see how many examples we can dig up during his plenary.
On the first day of my internship at The Oregonian, my editors asked who I believed my competitors were. I was pretty sure it was a trick question: Pamplin operates two newspapers in the three cities I’d be covering that summer.
So I answered: “Joe Schmoe and his Facebook feed?”
That’s what they were looking for. And it’s a theme that’s come up consistently since I wrapped up at The O: How do we source and curate content produced by people who are producing journalism, yet don’t consider themselves journalists?
One of the best recent examples of this question is the shooting of Walter Scott in South Carolina, reported on by various outlets, from The New York Times to Buzzfeed.
It was another example of a national issue that’s been front and center for some time. The catalyst for the story, the entry point that led to various news articles, wasn’t produced by anyone on the NYT payroll. It was submitted by a passerby, a concerned citizen.
It’s good work. The visual account of yet another white police officer gunning down an unarmed black man is contributing to national awareness of a major issue.
Citizen journalism, of course, is nothing new. Back in 2013, various users on Reddit came together to try and find the Boston bomber as the event unfolded in the news.
Hard news isn’t the only aspect of journalism that’s enjoying this sort of contribution, that of those who may not necessarily consider themselves as traditional journalists producing what, at its core, is most definitely journalism.
Let’s go back to Reddit. There’s this wonderful subreddit called Explain Like I’m Five, which, true to its name, aims to provide a simple answer to (sometimes) complex questions.
Here’s a snapshot of the subjects on the front page of that subreddit on Friday morning:
• Why do humans have different blood types?
• Why when we have strong emotions do we feel them in our stomachs and our heart?
• When you don’t yawn “correctly”, why do you feel out of breath until you manage to fully yawn?
• The difference between Athiest, Agnostic, and Secular
• What exactly happens when a person twitches?
The best responses usually begin with “Actual doctor here,” and you get a breakdown of scientific phenomena from a true professional in that field.
It’s explanatory journalism at its best. But, as we all know, words aren’t always the best way to break things down.
With the looming release of the next Avengers film, one of the questions inevitably posed by somebody only vaguely familiar with Marvel’s comics properties is “Why isn’t Spider-Man in The Avengers?”
Marvel sold the film rights of its various properties long ago, only recently snatching them back in order to produce multimillion-dollar blockbusters. But some of Marvel’s most iconic characters are still owned by other studios. The Geek Twins have a great visual breakdown here:
You can’t really explain it much better than that. These bloggers are taking a convoluted web of intellectual property ownership and breaking it down simply. That’s journalism.
But would you call Maurice and Nigel Mitchell journalists? There’s no reason not to.
Periscope might be the next harbinger of reliable on-the-spot journalism provided by both citizens and reporters. Have you heard about the reporter whose camera stand hit Donald Trump’s coffee table?
The Des Moines Register’s Josh Hafner caught it all on the live streaming service, which was, of course, picked up by Jim Romenesko and Gawker.
I get a kick out of watching these stories unfold live and behind the scenes. The Register-Guard’s Rob Denton broadcast a fire in Springfield last week using the service.
Unfortunately, video on Periscope expires after 24 hours, but the feed provided his followers with a great live look at a story unfolding. It was a journalistic pursuit, but Denton wasn’t acting as a reporter for The Guard per se.
The means to produce these stories is more accessible than ever. If you have a smartphone, you can report on anything noteworthy regardless of how much training you’ve had.
It’s an exciting and, I’ll admit, sometimes scary thought. But you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
