Creative Summary by Nidhi Negi Modlingua 2018
Lecture on What is Citizen Journalism and Mass Media by Prof. Ravi Kumar.
In this video, Mr Kumar addresses his interns on the importance of citizen journalism. In today’s times with the help of various media tools at our disposal like the social media platforms on the internet namely, Facebook, Twitter, blogging websites, etc, it has become easy for anyone to reach the masses. It also helps sometimes to counter the TRP-driven and biased reporting of certain powerful media channels when citizen journalists report based on their own experience instead of hearsay. This experiential aspect is the core of the Indian Rasa Theory, the video for which is available on the following link-(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7f2HvjFXW4) on the Modlingua’s Youtube channel.
Prior to technological advances in the world of internet, most of the information was confined to certain privileged classes and groups and was sometimes burdened by their biases and distortions introduced to suit their audience. In today’s times, with the advent of social media platforms and efforts of citizen journalists, information gets disseminated to the masses at a much faster rate, breaking the class distinction, to some extent, between what we know as popular culture and high culture.
Citizen journalism can create a greater impact when like-minded citizen journalists come together to promote each other and make each other go viral on various social media platforms. It is also important for them to build a high following on their platforms. The collective efforts of citizen journalists and their followers not only help spread their content to the masses but also ensure success for them.
Citizen journalists have the responsibility to not let personal biases and agendas come in the way of information sharing. They must not give in to the temptation of the creation of viral and controversial content so as to draw attention and readership. They do not have to resort to such tactics if they build their higher brand value based on consistent and assertive work. Internet and media platforms are double-edged swords that have as many disadvantages as they have advantages. In light of the amount of fake and sensationalizing information that is churned out today, it is a citizen journalist’s moral responsibility to double-check the information in order to establish its credibility before sharing it through various media platforms.
Mr Kumar ends this video by assigning an activity to his interns, wherein they are supposed to write a paragraph on their aspirations of becoming a citizen journalist and how Modlingua helps them in it.
Video Links on Citizen Journalism http://www.modlingua.com/videos.html
