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As long as citizen journalism proponents have been pumping its merits, skeptics have been bothered by one question: Where will the funds come from? NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen thinks he has an answer, and is launching a website to test it. He tells Bob how NewAssignment.net will attempt to harness the experience of ordinary people to mount investigative projects that mainstream media just aren’t up to.
Last spring, blogger Ze Frank decided to try his hand at video blogging. He launched “The Show,” a two-minute daily webcast in which he riffs on whatever happens to be on his mind. And people are tuning in –at the tune of more than 100 thousand of them a day. Frank tells Bob that it’s not necessarily because of what they see there, but rather what they can do there.
For the uninitiated, lonelygirl15 is the summer’s internet superstar. YouTube users have been riveted as her story has unfolded over the course of twenty+ episodes. Fans are investigating lonelygirl15 and conspiracy theories abound but after a summer of investigation all the big questions remain unanswered. Virginia Heffernan is a TV critic for the New York Times but she’s been watching the small small screen too and she joins Brooke for a tour of the lonelygirl15 saga.
A recent gaffe by Virginia Senator George Allen suggested the ubiquity of YouTube may be a campaign liability, but to what extent can it be an asset? Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is trying to find out. He’s been posting videos of his speeches on the video-sharing site. And he’s created a Facebook profile, all in an attempt to woo younger voters. WFIU’s Adam Ragusea reports.
When the New York Times ran a series this week about the dark corners of online child pornography, the paper made a point of telling readers that it alerted authorities to illegal websites Kurt Eichenwald discovered in the process of reporting. It wasn’t the first time a child porn story forced Eichenwald, and the paper, to re-examine traditional source-reporter guidelines. Bob talks to him about the ethics of journalistic intervention.
Want an all-expense-paid two-night stay at a luxury hotel, with free round-trip airfare, spending cash, and a private screening of the latest Hollywood movie? Get invited to a press junket. Last month, freelance film critic Eric Snider did just that for Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center,” and then blogged about it on his website. He talks with Bob about the experience and the fallout.
As pundits and columnists debate the Middle East conflict, ordinary “netizens” are debating the war online. And new technology is allowing participants themselves to share their impressions not only through blogs, but also vlogs and video-sharing sites like YouTube. Bob logs on and finds out that the conversation reveals more about online social dynamics than the conflict itself.
The hope of the internet to usher in free expression is being realized to some extent in Saudi Arabia where bloggers are openly debating the issues of the day. Rasheed Abou-Alsamh has a keen understanding of degrees of free expression – he blogs, is senior editor for Arab News, and writes for foreign papers including the Christian Science Monitor. He joins Brooke to discuss his recent piece about Saudi women bloggers.
