Week 3: Journalism as a Public Conversation

According to author Zaidi (2005), journalism was first introduced way back in the 17th century. At that time, newspapers were the only platform available used to reach out to members of the public. This form of traditional journalism was often seen as objective and balance. In other words, traditional journalism can often be trusted without a doubt.

However, over the centuries, a new form of journalism known as citizen journalism is undoubtedly thought to be the latest trend in media today. With the inception of local blogs such as Temasek Review and The Online Citizen, such form of writings has taken a new take on journalism.

As these bloggers are not considered to be professional reporters or journalists, this questions the credibility of the information that is put up in their websites. Citizen journalism usually puts people first, thus, capturing readers' hearts through its biased reportings. As mentioned by Allan (2009), citizen journalists have no responsibilities and that they can opt out anytime they want unlike professional ones.

Therefore, as much as we might want to take in and believe every single word put up by such 'irresponsible' journalists, it is of utmost important to not entirely rely on their reports solely. Perhaps what we can do is to read from multiple sources, inclusive of those from professional ones before coming to a conclusion and allowing those reports to shape our mindsets.

References

Allan S. 2009, Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives. Available from: Google Books [Accessed: May 21, 2011]

Zaidi S. M. 2005, History of Journalism. Available form: Google Books [Accessed: May 21, 2011]