Mayhill Fowler is a sixty-two-year-old woman that made an incredible impression on the world of journalism. Fowler is one of the leading contributors for OTB. OTB was a citizen-powered campaign news site, which was also co-sponsored by The Huffington Post and Jay Rosen's New Assignment, at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. OTB was interested in covering what professional journalists couldn't cover. They called this the grass roots. OTB organized thousands of unprofessional journalists to cover the Obama election. OTB was able to get people on the ground level of the election and dig out the dirt that professional journalists did not have access to.
OTB gathered 12000 people across the nation to gather stories that were happening simultaneously. The pro-am model has the potential to extend the reach of pro-journalism. Mayfowler was managed by the staff at OTB almost a year before she opened the big story know as Bittergate. Michel's brings up the important point of how pro-am journalism is a different kind of management then what is seen in a professional news room. Pro-am journalism involves working and guiding unprofessional journalists so they can report as much news as possible.
OTB grew a lot when they launched its high-profile project known as "Superdelegate Investigation." That one project included 227 contributors to find out what they could about the handpicked group of potential kingmakers. Stories were their number one instrument.
OTB was designed in a very smart way. They found citizens who not only wanted to take in news, but who also wanted to help put it together and report it. Many people like to be involved in important things, and by letting citizens put news together it most likely works so well because it gives everyday people a sense of accomplishment and purpose. OffTheBus also worked so well because of the staff members. Arianna Huffington and Jay Rosen were publishers along with many other noted staff members. OTB most likely did so well because the people that started it really cared about getting honest news, and including citizens in the process.
One example of how connected OTB is, was on November 30, 2007, when several members in Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign were taken hostage. OTB immediately contacted their nearest journalist to check out what was going on. With OTB's reporter, Bryan Bissel, they were able to advance the story beyond the Web. OTB is so extraordinary because they were able to do what The New York Times does times ten. OTB has 12,000 reporters, all unpaid volunteers, to draw information from, while a paper like The New York Times can only work with they staff they have.
OTB did not come together in a day though. They worked hard to organize dedicated writers that they could count on. OTB came up with many great conclusions from their reporters.
OTB grew more and more interested in what they could do to get honest news out. They came up with the idea of generative features. The new feature was called "Eyes and Ears." A lot of interesting stories were developed from that feature. OTB and Wikipedia both came from the principle that quantity can become quality if it is done right.
OTB writers like Mayhill Fowler and Bryan Bissell have represented one of American's greatest traditions; citizen engagement and volunteerism. OTB opened up the idea of citizens being able to participate and contribute to the news, instead of just being the audience. Citizen journalists and professionals can be allies. The more people there are to pick up inside stories, the more likely we are to hear the truth.
OTB is not the only group that has noticed the importance of citizen journalism. Jeff Bercovici wrote a piece on portfolio.com. This is another example of the importance of citizen journalism and how much it is growing.
Citizen journalism really does open up a whole new way for news to be delivered. With so many people helping out with the news, other citizens are more likely to hear stories that they wouldn't have heard if a citizen journalist had not reported it.
A few questions arise when thinking about citizen journalism and OTB:
1. With so many citizen journalists coming onto the news scene, will it ever completely wipe out professional journalism?
2. If Mayfowler Hill had not broken the Bittergate story would it have been done by another citizen journalist or would it have been a professional journalist?
3. Will more people trust the media if they know that a lot of citizen journalists have reported, or will people think that it is less credible?
4. Is citizen journalism going to continue over the next decade, or will professional journalists come together and try to end it?
5. Do you think professional journalists are threatened by citizen journalism, or do they see it as a tool that they can utilize?
6. What are some negative aspects of citizen journalism?
News is never going to go away. As human beings we like to know about the world around us and many of us enjoy discussing the news and engaging in it. Citizen journalism has grown a lot and because of that we have been able to hear stories that professional journalists were not able to cover. OffTheBus is one example of how positive citizen journalism can be. A lot more news is distributed and everyday people have the chance to feel like they are contributing to the world around them in a very important way.
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