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Up until the early 2000’s, consumers (The audience) were totally dependent on the media for information regarding current news and political affairs. “User Empowerment” was virtually non-existent. However September 11, 2001 saw the first real example of user empowerment. The first footage of the devastating events that occurred on this day were taken on mobile phones. Simultaneously, text messages were rocketed to all corners of the nation, informing friends and loved ones of the tragedy that was taking place. Ultimately 9/11 spawned the “Citizen Journalist”, who from here on, would contribute equally, if not more than the media, towards the public sphere.
Rather than rival the new class of “Citizen Journalists”, the mainstream media of the Western World encouraged the use of mobile footage to be submitted to undergo the editorial process, i.e publishers, government censors, in order to effectively produce a collection of amateur and professional footage in order to reach out to the modern audiences. However, The Peoples Republic of China views the “Citizen Journalist” in quite a different light when compared to Western Nations. The “Sars Epidemic” of 2003 proves to be a fine example of China’s Communist ideals towards Citizen journalism. In an attempt to suppress the seriousness and of the epidemic, the government intercepted text messages and phone calls through a censorship policy known as the “Golden Shield”. As the epidemic began to fade, it was revealed that the Chinese Government were under reporting Sars cases by 90%.
With the vast majority of the worlds population having access to mobile phones, the news can only get better in both quality and entertainment, right?
WRONG!
Now, everyone has access to the internet; multitudes of pictures, videos and reports can be thrown online and bypass the Gatekeepers, (Professional Media) due to the sheer mass of content.
In saying that, nearly any piece of content, regarding any topic can reach the internet, i.e. “Kony 2012”….
And we all know how that turned out, don’t we….
Presently, the news relies on mobile devices to cover ground breaking incidents. However with the vast majority of people owning mobile devices, will the quality in news decrease?
I think it just might.
Cheers