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 As if dictates from governments, media owners and advertisers weren’t enough. Now journalists face a new enemy - those pesky mobile phone carrying people, with their instant reports and commentaries. Where are journalists going to go? Here is one scenario...
Blood pours from his scalp as he reaches into his hip pocket, just above his trapped legs. Grabbing his handphone, he clicks on the quick-dial button, giving him a direct connection to a blog server. He clicks on "video" and starts pumping live action online. "This is Nakasuri Hirito, trapped in the train that has just derailed in Amagasaki, Osaka, Japan. There are bodies all over," he says, as he pans over the inside of the wreckage.
Within seconds, JapanTV gets a SMS to check out nakasuri.blogspot.com. The picture of the tragedy unfolding shocks them.
"We are receiving news of a train disaster in Amagasaki, Osaka," says the newscaster, as she interrupts the news bulletin. Within minutes, the blurry picture being generated by Nakasuri’s 3G video handphone, is broadcasted live. Control rooms in Atlanta, London and Kuala Lumpur, pick up the newsbreak and buy the broadcast.
Moments later, CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera switch over. The world holds its breath as the unknown Nakasuri Hirito beams the inside story of the battle to stay alive in carriage number 3. The world has changed.
It happened on 9/ll. Home videos captured the first of two planes flying into the World Trade Centre towers. International news reports of the Asian tsunami relied on images captured by holiday makers to provide graphic detail of the waves crashing into beaches, hotels and towns. The mobile phone camera showed us scenes of the chaos just after the London subway bombings. More recently, an army of ‘citizen journalists’ and bloggers brought home the surrealism of the devastation and desperation caused by Hurricane Katrina. However, the story of Nakasuri Hirito is merely fictional, building on the very real Amagasaki train crash on April 26th, 2005 that killed more than 100 people.
Witnesses today are increasingly equipped to tell the story. Armed with recording and communication technologies, events are captured by those on the scene, with a certain realism and voyeurism that has become addictive, matched only by reality game shows. Imagine then the power of live witness news, coupled now with interactivity: SMS Alert: "Train crashes near Osaka, Japan. Click 1 for live scenes from inside the wreckage as passengers fight for their lives."
Click 1: You are watching scenes from inside in the wreckage of a commuter train that crashed into a building, brought to you by passenger Nakasuri Hirito, trapped in carriage number 3.
Options:
Click 1 to send sms to Nakasuri Hirito to support him through his ordeal
Click 2 to be notified if Nakasuri Hirito dies.
Click 3 to donate $10 to Nakasuri Hirito’s family if he dies
Click 4 to donate to a fund for the families of all victims.
Click 5 to request your train authority to ensure all trains are safe
Click 6 to forward this news alert to friends.
News channels and websites compete to be the first to tell, even better if it serves the broadcast dictum ‘if it bleeds, it leads’. All can be sacrificed on the alter of ratings and profits.
In times of dwindling newspaper sales and fragmentation of broadcast audiences, the media seldom forgets who its pay masters are. The advertising industry knows its strength, and can often have its bidding done, without so much as a phone call.
So do media owners and political heavyweights. In democracies and authoritarian regimes alike, the collusion of business and politics is like adolescent girls and boys, they shouldn’t get in bed with each other, but they always do.
Journalists have always had a tough time fighting to keep their professional space within the media industry. They often do better in smaller set ups, those which uphold the virtues of good journalism, ahead of the bottom line.
Reality is such that many of these journalistic paradises often fold, sell, allow a mix of real and pseudo journalism, or survive off the generous philanthropy of their readers. Even in cases where profitability and good journalism stand together, the question seems to be whether both can stand the test of time.
Despite the tensions, the media business has always relied on journalists to tell the story. However, with the advance of new technology, journalists are being pushed aside a little more, like artisans being slowly displaced by machines. Media can now source news from the consumer. With a little editing and packaging, news ‘products’ appear, ripe for consumption. Call in an expert or two, have a dialogue and call that journalism.
Will the media consumer complain? Probably not. So-called journalists have long fed them truths massaged to fit foreign policy, ideology and profits. News products derived from consumers may appear much fairer and unadulterated by comparison. In fact, this is not new. In many countries, people trust whispers and rumours far more than the newspaper headlines.
Where does one go from here? Some have switched sides and declared that journalism can be found among the grassroots as suggested by the former Silicon Valley columnist Dan Gillmor. Now the leading blog evangelist, he calls for journalism by the people, for the people.
Having been in the media, and acknowledging the constraints, he suggests that perhaps journalism has as much right to exist outside the media, as it does inside. In a recent entry on Hurricane Katrina, titled ‘Wikipedia does Journalism’, he writes, "By many standards, the Wikipedia entry on Hurricane Katrina is an example of journalism. It doesn't have first-hand accounts, true. But it's the kind of background piece -- actually, a much better one -- that newspapers routinely run with their news stories. Amazing work."
Professional journalists may not see it the same way. Some see individual bloggers as a nuisance, often spreading misinformation along with whatever opinion they may have. The problem is that the chatter becomes so loud, and the distrust of the media industry so deep, that the consumer treats the blog and the media with the same level of trust. Again, this is not unusual. The overcharging qualified doctor is given the same respect as the local medicine man while Open Source is seen as an antidote to Microsoft. Journalism has been so worn down, compromised and its moral high ground taken away by the business of media, that it has little to offer to fight the intrusion of the masses, with their blogs and hand phones.
As the nexus between the media business and journalism erodes, there will of course be bastions of resistance. The loyalists and traditionalists will stand up and try to keep the masses out of the media, while others will give in all together.
But for those who recognise the need to deal with technological Darwinism, perhaps the strategy should be to gather the like-minded. And they are to be found in both the readers and producers of news, be it professional or voluntary. They are also to be found in benefactors, foundations, civil society and political movements that seek justice and solidarity.
In content creation, journalists need to reconcile themselves with the competition coming from citizens, and look instead for synergies. How can both work together, each recognising the strengths of the other, creating content that serves the goal of informing the public. For editors, the key challenge is to engineer a mental shift, a shift in content and form, coupled with a news flow that recognises the realignment of boundaries and tasks, without eroding the integrity of the journalist.
Perhaps a bigger change is required in media funding. The power of advertisers have to be reduced in tandem with an increased role of those supportive of press freedom and journalism. Revenue from sales, classifieds and other readership-based channels should be prioritised over those that come with strings attached.
Foundations and benefactors can play a role on both side of the equation. On the revenue side, sponsorship and socially responsible advertising can play an important role in reducing the reliance on corporate advertising. On the cost side, support for non-profits to produce quasi journalistic products, in-depth studies and timely reports that can feed into media will become increasingly important. Again, a shift in mindset may be required to get comfortable with working with new players.
Much of these approaches are not new. However, there is new urgency to rethink the parameters of journalism and for journalists, editors and media managers to rethink the media business. The key perhaps is to innovate and be willing to engage and learn as journalism evolves to accommodate new technologies, new beliefs and new practises. The media will always exist, but perhaps its time for journalism to extend beyond the industry, and into society for its sustenance.
Premesh Chandran is the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysiakini.com , an independent online media, struggling to fulfil its social mission, while staying afloat. He is a former journalist and perhaps a future blogger.
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