Mixed Media Culture (redux)J. Richard Stevens

What is a “blog”?

• Technical perspective

• Social perspective

• Political perspective

Warblogs and Weblogs

• History of blog popularity – 2003

• Iraqi Al

• Soldiers in Iraq

• Hundreds of thousands of blogs currently exist

• www.wibsite.com/wiblog/dull/

• The war on terrorism has caused an increase in the popularity of political blogs

• Chris Albritton’s foray into Iraq

• Examples

• Back to Iraq 3.0

• The Agonist

• Wikipedia

““Mixed Media Mixed Media CultureCulture””

• Sources gaining power over journalists

• Decline of gatekeeping function

• The news of the day as it reaches the newspaper office is an incredible medley of fact, propaganda, rumor suspicion, clues, hopes, and fears, and the task of selecting and ordering that news is one of the truly sacred and priestly offices in a democracy. - Walter Lippmann, Liberty and the News, 1920

• Reporting culture is being overrun by argument culture

• http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2009/01/12/pn.teacher.accused.rape.cnn

New Producers

Rise of blogs, YouTube, Discussion forums, Social Networking

New forms of creation

New forms of dissemination

Amateurs in the media sphere

new relationships

Professional Codes of 1920s

• Walter Williams, “The Journalist’s Creed,” 1914

• American Society of Newspaper Editors, Canon of Ethics, 1923

• The Society of Professional Journalists, 1926

• The professional debate

The 1999 Bonfire Collapse

Austin360 coverage

Blogger-led scandals

• 2003 – Trent Lott (R-Miss)

• 2004 – Dan Rather, CBS

• 2004 - Washingtonette

• 2005 – Eason Jordan, CNN

Amateur Amateur Journalism?Journalism?

• Knights for Free Water

• http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5818109257

• Bright House stadium debut

• Big event, tons of media coverage

• No water fountains

• Bottled water sold out, concessions sold $3 for a cup of tap water

• Several fans went to hospital for dehydration/heat exhaustion

• 2 students started a Facebook group from the stands

• 2 days later, 10 drinking fountains announced with 40 more to come

Weblogging and Journalism

• Weblogging is not synonymous with journalism

• Like journalism of the 19th Century, blogging will need a compelling reason to adopt ethical/professional standards.

• Blogging fills an important niche between consumers and professional media.

• Those bloggers who desire a heightened level of credibility can learn from the examples of professional journalism outlets.

Weblogging for Journalists?

• Can journalists be bloggers?

• Is the journalist acting as a journalist when he or she blogs?

• Is the journalist’s media organization responsible for what he or she writes?

OhMyNews.com

2000 site launch

"Every Citizen is a Reporter"

http://english.ohmynews.com/index.asp

New models, effects, problems

New Blends

The Results

The world of content creators and distributors is now more democratic

Audiences, even though fragmented, are better known to those who produce and distribute content

Media literate people are positioned to best decide how to benefit from their potential and limit their peril

Social NetworkingSocial Networking

• 72% of Americans (72% of Internet users) belong to a social networking platform

• average age increased from 33 to 38 in 2011

• half SNS users are over 35

• 70% of men, 74% of women are SNS users

• 92% of SNS users are on Facebook

• 29% use MySpace (2011, and falling)

• 18% use LinkedIn (2011, and growing)

• 13% use Twitter (2011, and growing)