Trust and AuthorityAnalysis on the Credibility between

Mainstream Media and Citizen Journalism in Blogosphere

Chao CHEN3400075

Outline

• Introduction—brief summary• Key concepts—three credibility-related values:

authenticity, accountability and autonomy• Main example—reporting on Yunnan earthquake

in Weibo • Comparison and analysis—traditional

mainstream media VS citizen journalism in blogosphere

• Discussion question

Introduction

• Article: ‘Shifting roles, enduring values: The credible journalist in a digital age’

• Authors: Hayes, Singer & Ceppos 2007• Brief summary: This article considers

contemporary challenges to institutional roles in a digital media environment and discusses three broad journalistic normative values, authenticity, accountability, and autonomy, which affect the credibility of journalists and the content they provide.

Key Concepts• Authenticity “Institutional authenticity as a basis for credibility

works a lot better in yesterday’s media environment than it does than today’s.”-- Hayes, Singer & Ceppos 2007

• In traditional media environment, journalists wrote news in accordance with the voice of organization they work for rather than readers.

• CNN(US), BBC(UK), ABC(AU)— “brand”• In digital age, the credibility of news organizations

declined owing to their reporting objectivity.

Key concepts

• Accountability • Online environment—unbounded and

interconnected—build credibility—information transparency.

• Bloggers—linking create credibility, personal disclosure.

• “The medium provides the capability; it’s up to humans to provide the credibility. And then it’s up to the community to say it’s so.”-- Hayes, Singer & Ceppos 2007

Key concepts

• Autonomy• “Oversight of professional behavior has become a

team sport, and journalist no longer control who gets to play.”-- Hayes, Singer & Ceppos 2007

• Independence--free and self-governing information without bias from organization.

• Large number of participants simultaneously serve as sources, audiences, and information providers.

• Journalists’ right does not challenged by government, but the responsibility and loyalty for citizens.

Main example• Yunnan earthquake, 7th, September, 2012• News reporting in Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter)• Traditional mainstream media: @ 新华视点 Xinhua Perspective & @ 人民日报

People’s Daily --government -run• Citizen- contributed news website: @ 杂谈微吧 Mini Topics& @ 头条新闻 Headline

News (semi- citizen- contributed)--private

• Background information about four media@ 头条新闻 Headline News (14638344)—2009@ 新华视点 Xinhua perspective (2772892)—2010@ 人民日报 People’s Daily (1451177)—2012@ 杂谈微吧 Mini topic (187483)—2012

PS. 67% Weibo users are young people between the ages of 18 to 30 in China. (2010)

Main example

Timeline Original version Translation

@Mini Topic: 【 Earthquake comes again! 】 Two strongest of the quakes happened at 5.6 magnitude in Yunnan province at 11:19 a.m. on 7th, Sep. The quake jolted the county at a depth of 14 kilometers. Yunnan Provincial department of civil affairs is delivering 6000 tents, quilts, and overcoats as relief materials to disaster area. repost(1699) comment(876)

@Xinhua perspective: 【 Quake in Yunnan kills 64, injures 715 】 According to the information from Yunnan Provincial department of civil affairs, 64 people have been killed and 715 have been injured till 19:20 p.m. Power supplies and traffic have been cut and the losses are under investigation at present. (He& Wang) repost(87) comment (22)

Timeline Original version Translation

@ Headline News: 【 65 killed and 715 injured in two 5 magnitude quakes in Yunnan 】 65 people have been killed and 715 have been injured till 23:30 p.m. Rescue workers had reached 90% of the quake-hit areas. Over 60 aftershocks have occurred till 16p.m. on 7th, Sep. repost(4975) comment(1041)

@People’s Daily: 【 Yunnan: Special train bounds for earthquake 】 The trains, to be served for relief work in the disaster area, left Kunming at 19:13 p.m. on 7th, Sep. 10 special trains with 35 crew members took 1.5 times the usual food and 2 times the usual water capacity to disaster area. repost(95) comment(56)

Comparison Website from Traditional media

Citizen-contributed website

Writing style Formal style or format

More links, videos, photos

Readers’ contribution

Readers are passive readers are active

Position Represents institutional authenticity and news organization, even contain political stance

Represents opinions from readers and individuals

Consider: Which one is more credible?

Conclusion• The credibility is based on the journalists’ reporting

perspective and readers’ judgment. Readers have opportunity to decide who they trust and what kind of information is credible in blogosphere.

• Although traditional media and citizen-contributed media are competing with each other, participatory journalism in blogosphere without limitation is popular, but what we need to bear in mind is that the accuracy is most important for citizen journalism, otherwise the credibility will decrease.

Video: Say Who, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB07MsE5ADY

Discussion question• Gangs in Birmingham - The Citizen Journalists Reporthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfrYQZJhIqU

• Birmingham Gangs: Fmr Home Secretary Jacqui Smith views--BBC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2pZWQHF-O4

Q: Make a comparison between these two news reports/programs, which one do you think is more credible? Please describe what features make the clips more or less credible.

(e.g. camera style, quality of image, choice of image, language, choice of interviewee, parody/comedy etc.)

Reference• Arthur H S, Singer J B& Ceppos J 2007, ‘Shifting roles, enduring values: The credible journalist in a digital

age’, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 22(4):262-279. • Gillmor D 2004, We the media: Grassroots journalism by the people, for the people, chapter 6:

Professional journalists join the conversation, Authorama, viewed on 8th, September, available online: <http://www.authorama.com/we-the-media-7.html> • Lascia J D 2003, Blogs and journalism need each other, Nieman Reports, September 22, 2003, pp. 70-74. • Rosenberg S 2009, Closing the credibility gap, Journalism and social media, Nieman Reports, No.3, pp.

44-45.

• Say Who? , Youtube. Com, viewed on 8th, September, available online: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB07MsE5ADY> • Gangs in Birmingham - The Citizen Journalists Report, Youtube. Com, viewed on 20 th, September,

available online: <http //www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfrYQZJhIqU >

• Birmingham Gangs: Fmr Home Secretary Jacqui Smith views—BBC, Youtube. Com, viewed on 20 th, September, available online:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2pZWQHF-O4 >