The Rise of Citizen Journalism and its State of Affairs in Singapore. With the advent of technology and an uprising of sorts from an audience previously thought as dormant, it is undisputable that the face of traditional journalism has undergone an immense change. “Citizen Journalism”, a new catch phrase in both the real and the virtual world, has been viewed as a threat by some to what is generally considered as traditional journalism. The global trend towards Citizen Journalism is observed not only in the West, but also in the East, with countries such as Korea and India, boasting of respectable sites where Citizen Journalism flourishes. This paper will trace how the rise of technology has served as a catalyst in the transformation of traditional journalism in today’s age, changing the perception and position of audiences from passive recipients to active contributors to the media, birthing a new form of news production, Citizen Journalism. This paper also aims to show how effectively Citizen Journalism is thriving in Singapore and the future for this new avenue of expression. The Challenge to Traditional Journalism Prior to the production of mass media, information was always limited to the elite, with the underprivileged not being able to obtain these types of information. In 300 B.C., any type of news was “sent by messenger and distributed by word of mouth... information preserved in letters and books was available only to a few – there were no printing pressed to make multiple copies” (Newsom and Wollert 27). This inevitably changed with the introduction of mass media that arrived in the form of newspapers, magazines, radio, television and books. However, in the news industry, the control of information is still restricted to the dominant group. It is the dominant class and the privileged who are able to create, print and disseminate information to the masses. The masses in this sense are the recipients of the “who” in Lasswell’s model of communication. The communicator in this scenario is a “who” that is not just an individual but an institution (Newsom and Wollert 27). Through the different mediums, Newsom and Wollert contend that it is the news that stands out in importance. In the production of mass-medium news, there is always an inherent code that reflects the dominant-hegemonic ideology (Hall 485).What Hall applies to only televisual discourse can also be applied to other news mediums such as the newspapers and even online news websites. Therefore, traditional journalism can be aligned with Lasswell’s model of communication where the communication from a central source to vast audiences, ie. Mass communication, is usually one-way, where the recipients are dormant passive audiences. Traditional journalism, through mass media, is also skewed in the sense that it reflects only the hegemonic ideology of the dominant. The incredible speed at which technology has developed however has put a spanner in the works and disrupted the way journalism has thus far operated. While news was restricted to being printed and disseminated by the dominant, the masses now possess viable options to allow their views and opinions to be heard in a powerful, yet debatable, public sphere- the internet. Journalism is fast ceasing to be a one-way model of communication, with the masses now being able to actively contribute to the production and dissemination of news. The dynamics of encoding and decoding meaning through news has faced a radical transformation. Citizen Journalism What is Citizen Journalism? There have been various hotly contested definitions of the rather recent coining of the term citizen journalism. What exactly does citizen journalism entail? For the purpose of this essay, it might be useful to consider Wikipedia’s definition of citizen journalism, given that Wikipedia is an independent online platform (with moderators) where readers are able to edit and create meaning, circumventing mainstream media (which most probably reflects the ideology behind citizen journalism!). Wikipedia states: “ Citizen journalism is also known as public or participatory journalism, is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis.” Indeed, the role of the mass of citizens who were once passive recipients has changed considerably with the advent of technology. In the same article, Wikipedia cites Jay Rosen, one of public journalism’s earliest proponents, who contends that citizen journalists are "the people formerly known as the audience," who "were on the receiving end of a media system that ran one way, in a broadcasting pattern, with high entry fees and a few firms competing to speak very loudly while the rest of the population listened in isolation from one another— and who today are not in a situation like that at all”. This spells two things for traditional journalism. Firstly, mainstream media now faces competition from independent news producers who may range from institutions to single individuals. Secondly, news audiences, now with new interactive media, have “equal access to the original sources of news and can eliminate the middle-man journalist” (Hume 142). It should not be wrongly deduced, however, that citizen journalism has only come into existence as a result of the recent advancement in technology. Chris Daly, a professor of journalism at the Boston University, explains in a documentary by Cambridge Community Television (a US based electronic media public training forum), that one of the first forms of citizen journalism arrived in the 1760’s in the form of pamphlets – a form of guerrilla style journalism, giving the example of Tom Paine who was a revolutionary activist known for his perceptive commentaries. He wrote the popular pamphlet Common Sense that “appealed to a broad cross section of people, from farmers to bankers (...) invoking the democratic spirit” http://www.tompaine.com/about/. Although this could be an example of citizen journalism since it is an independent publication, it should not be neglected that Tom Paine was able to produce these pamphlets only because he could afford to and was more privileged than the common man. Thus, while the meaning that Paine created circumvented those that were conveyed in mainstream publication, the medium in which this creation of news and encoding of meaning were still available only to a privileged few. Daly explains that citizen journalism is an avenue “for people who have strong opinions that they are afraid to publish in the normal channels” and “who develop an alternative kind of press”. I would argue that while fear of publishing in mainstream channels may be a reason for seeking an alternative kind of press, present day blogs and independent online news sites show that citizens who publish their own content are not necessarily motivated by fear, but by an acute sense of representing a community or news that mainstream channels fail to cover efficiently, if they are covered at all. Thus, with an online platform that has low barrier to entry, the encoding of meaning in publication is now not limited to those that belong to a dominant-hegemonic position, as Wikipedia aptly quotes Robert Huesca, an associate professor of communication at Trinity University: “Doing citizen journalism right means crafting a crew of correspondents who are typically excluded from or misrepresented by local television news: low-income women, minorities and youth -- the very demographic and lifestyle groups who have little access to the media and that advertisers don't want.” Aided by Technology It appears that citizens have always had something to say but lacked the means to. This situation has drastically changed due to the evolution of technology and the speed at which it evolves. The emergence of technological inventions, such as the telegraph and the radio, in the late 19th and early 20th century, have accelerated the speed at which information is transmitted. The more recent development of mobile phones and the Internet has also further served the purposes of citizen journalists. Where once there was a wide audience for printed media, the Internet and its penetration into the global population, has a wider, far-reaching audience. In 2003, 66 percent of the American population were reported to receive Internet access via telephone modems at home by a Nielson/NetRatings survey. In March 2004, the figure rose to 74.9 percent of the population, about 204.3 million people or three in four American people (Quinn and Filak 9). The internet notwithstanding, other forms of technological devices, such as mobile communication devices, have also fuelled the rise of citizen journalism. Together with the online platform, an individual is able to upload and share with hundreds of millions of global Internet users pictures and thoughts on any given situation. Blogging is another term that was coined in the late 21st century. The evolution of blogging has led to individuals being able to create their own content and share it with a massive audience that transcends geographical boundaries. What started as a simple weblog that contained links to other similar sites has evolved to a public sphere that has served political and civil agendas. Again, the notion of the Internet truly being a public sphere is debatable, but the significant point to note is that today, the Internet is able to reach a wider audience of different age groups than the print media. Citizen Journalism: A Spectrum Citizen journalism seems to embrace different layers of participation and contribution from the masses. It may range from limited participation, such as individual members of the audience giving their comments via forums, augmenting what mainstream journalists have already reported to full blown contribution such as individuals setting up their own news sites with their own pictures and reports. In extreme cases, these types of reporting deviates from the traditional notion of journalism as the function of the editor is removed from the news reporting process. Steve Outing, a writer at PoynterOnline (the online platform for the Pointer Institute, a school of journalism), has theorized the eleven layers of citizen journalism. The first later is one that involves audience participation that main stream news portals received through public comment, which is something that has already been around for a while. The eleventh layer is journalism that is fully run and developed by the readers, ie. The readers are the editors. One such example is WikiNews, which “allows anyone to write and post a news story, and anyone to edit any story that's been posted (...) an experimental concept operating on the theory that the knowledge and intelligence of the group can produce credible, well-balanced news accounts”. Outing concludes by positing that going this way with journalism requires a change in thinking, “moving far down the continuum of journalist-reader interaction, allowing an unprecedented loss of control of the editorial product”. The medium aside, the messages that citizen journalistic websites carry are of equal, or if not, more importance. These sites often deal with critical issues where they can have their say on “growth, crime, jobs, schools and the environment” (Schaffer 10), or rather, issues that traditional journalists would consider as news that is either not worth publishing or goes against the dominant-hegemonic ideology. The significant point to note is that these citizen movements now have an overarching strategy of manipulating information which as a result, changes prevailing views of what is rational (Henderson 34). Even though her article was published in the early 70s, she was well aware that a movement of well-informed and proactive group of citizens would be able to determine what is rational for themselves. Beyond Mainstream There is an abundance of sites that are run by individuals who claim to be non-partisan and who simply want to provide an alternative view point that mainstream media has not covered. One remarkable example would be Alex Jones’ PrisonPlanet.com, part of InfoWars.Com that carries a byline stating, “Because there is a war on for your mind”. It is a self-reflexive statement as the sites under InfoWars are aware of the multitude of information that is at the hands of a virtual audience. Alex Jones published a report on his site regarding the controversial BBC broadcast that showed a reporter talking about the collapse of the seventh World Trade Center building while it was still standing intact in the background. The actual collapse of the building apparently had taken place a full twenty minute after this report was broadcast on television. A furore regarding conspiracy theory, honesty and the accuracy of the BBC network erupted online. However, hardly any news regarding this was reported in mainstream media. Whether the BBC had prior information to the collapse of the WTC or played a part in the conspiracy theory is immaterial. What is significant is that there now exists a medium through which a globally respected and trusted news network can be challenged and questioned by the recipients of this news channel. There is an alternative media that can be accessed by the same viewers of BBC that provides them with an alternative point of view. Alex Jones report did not go unnoticed. The report had prompted the head of BBC World News, Richard Porter himself to clarify the broadcast on BBC’s online platform, BBC.co.uk http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/02/part_of_the_conspiracy.html. However, even BBC’s explanations were not left untouched by the website. Following Porter’s explanation, PrisonPlanet.com critiqued http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/270207bbcresponds.htm BBC’s response, further challenging and questioning the ethics of mainstream media. Another interesting facet of citizen journalism surfaced here, which is not restricted to independent media like PrisonPlanet. Porter’s response on the BBC website itself received 597 comments, many of which openly questioned and critiqued its imbalanced and unsatisfactory response. A commenter quotes Porter’s explanations in quotation marks and gives his own rebuttal: "We didn't get told in advance that buildings were going to fall down. We didn't receive press releases or scripts in advance of events happening."So why then, is the reporter reporting that the Saloman Building (WTC7) has come down when it is clearly visible behind her as she speaks?"If we reported the building had collapsed before it had done so, it would have been an error"An error? That does not explain how someone knew the building was coming down before it actually had done. WTC7 stood for hours, and for someone to put out information that it would come down within 20 minutes is a little suspicious, don't you think?Not to mention it is the 3rd building in history to collapse due to fire, the first two being WTC 1 and 2.” This in itself is evident of another facet of citizen journalism at play. Audiences are no longer passive but through a public forum opened on BBC’s website, they are now able to thoughtfully question mainstream media. Alex Jones is not a media personality who is famous in print and television, the media of the masses. He is however influential in the realm of the Internet. Individuals like Alex Jones and the InfoWars community are examples of citizens who are giving a spin to traditional journalism. While the masses previous only had access to a limited number of news networks, the online platform where citizens take reporting seriously and responsibly, allows them a different perspective to what is reported in the mainstream media. The effect this has on traditional journalism is two fold. Firstly, mainstream news channels have to be now more careful and judicious in the reporting of news and secondly, there is a possibility that other alternative media be considered more important in relation to them, since it offers a wider perspective of events, instead of a restriction to one that belongs to a dominant ideology. Not all sites aim to challenge mainstream media. Many citizen journalism sites are committed in reporting events in their communities that may be left out by mainstream news channels. One example would be OhMyNews.com based in South Korea. It is considered to be one of the first respected sites of thriving citizen journalism where “ordinary citizens are paid for published articles which are edited and vetted by an editorial team, the same way as in a traditional newspaper” (Ong Soh Chin for The Straits Times). The site carries a report on how a China Earthquake was first ‘reported’ in the US by a Twitter Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that can be updated via the internet, mobile phones and blackberries. message and then by NowPublic.com, a citizen journalist website thirty minutes after the quake, followed by CNN’s report a full hour after the quake had occurred. Other exemplary examples would include how the Tsunami disaster was recorded and documented by locals and amateurs who “captured stories and remarkable video with camcorders” while “bloggers and rescue workers published online on a regular basis, establishing Internet-based missing persons’ networks” (Robinson and Robison 2006). Robinson and Robison quote the Straits Times reporter Shefali Srinivas (2005) who pointed out that most of the news surrounding the Tsunami came from hundreds of ordinary people who “produced powerful coverage of a huge news event, along with traditional media (...) This army of citizen journalists continues to grow”. Citizen Journalism in Singapore The potential for citizen journalism in Singapore and its potential impact cannot be ignored as according to the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, 71 per cent of Singaporeans have Internet access (The Straits Times, 9 June 2007). Having traced the general trends towards citizen journalism, it would be useful to study how Singapore compares with this. A good example of such journalism that challenges the sole core print can be seen in the difference in coverage of the General Elections. To being with, I would like to consider the website Stomp.com.sg, a website that prides itself on promoting citizen journalism against other Singaporean models of citizen journalism. Stomp.com.sg Run and maintained by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), the Stomp’s tagline at the upper right hand corner of the screen screams, “Singapore Seen: You’re the Reporter!” Under Singapore Seen, there is another tagline that reads, “You generate the content. You write the reports. You take the photos. You shoot the videos.” This however is not entirely true. When a user clicks on the “How can I contribute” link, a dialogue box opens up that clearly delimits a user’s contributions. One is required to give a title, his name and his e-mail address. Following that, he is allowed to upload a photo or a video (maximum size being 2MB per file At the maximum size of 2MB per video, one questions how substantial the video could be. It would either be very short in length or of very poor quality.) with a description or a caption. The general feeling that one gets is a contribution that is limited only to visual images, discouraging any sort of actual reports or an airing of views. Indeed, the contributor never writes the articles on Stomp, instead they are sieved through and the reports are written by the SPH’s reporters themselves. When one surfs on to the site, the stark contrast between The Straits Times online website and Stomp is apparent. The latter immediately strikes one as less serious and more frivolous, even though its editor Jennifer Lewis claims that “it’s hyperlocal but that’s because what’s happening around their work place and in their community is very important to them. They know that the mainstream media – with its wide agenda- may not run such stories” (The Straits Times, 9 June 2007). The irony here is that Stomp is still run by Singapore’s mainstream media. Stomp is in essence an online supplement to Singapore’s mainstream media, SPH Holdings, the sole company that is allowed to print and distribute news in the country. It appears that Stomp was formulated to ride on the influx of Internet users rather than a committed motivation of presenting journalism that circumvents what is covered in mainstream media. In an article published by The Straits Times (9 June 2007), reporter Irwin writes that it is “time to accept the future of the media” and cites Quinn’s comments on Stomp, crediting the “high level of user-generated content” and “Stomp’s insistence on accuracy and the many checks that ensure pictures are not fake”. Again, this does not seem to be accurate because one of the top stories on Stomp as of 23rd April 2008 appears to be a ghostly sighting in a Raffles Place building’s lift. The video and pictures have clearly been subject to editing and manipulation, making it seem that Stomp seems to pursue the entertainment factor rather than issues that may be closer to a citizen’s heart. Quinn also goes on to emphasise the importance of visual elements in citizen journalism saying that “People aged 18 to 24 tend to respond to visuals better, so it is good that Stomp is playing up this element by encouraging the submission of photographs and using lots of pictures and graphics on its websites”. While I would agree that this is a good example of mainstream media engaging with its readership providing a two way communication, I would also argue that the contention that pictures and graphics are of primary importance in citizen journalism is a viewpoint that is naive and even offensive to some citizen journalists who pride themselves as being truly independent of mainstream media and who discuss and report on important issues that affect the Singaporean citizen. Theonlinecitizen.com This website is run independently by an editorial team of four members who range from an undergraduate to an ex-editor of Straits Times. Theonlinecitizen.com claims to be “a non-partisan site that aims to be an internet platform for serious discussion on issues of the day”. The layout of the website is neat and professional, with a three column red and white theme, perhaps reflecting the national colours. There are no colourful graphics and distracting photographs that carry sensationalistic news. Instead, actual news, issues and policies that concern the Singaporean citizen are reported. While the site carries stories that have already been reported in the mainstream media, what sets the site apart from The Straits Times is that the perspective, the point of view and the angle from which the articles are written are refreshingly different. Apart from the main editorial team, the site also has a team of Senior Writers and Writers. However, these writers are not exclusive and there is an invitation for anyone to join their writer team. Clicking on the “Join Us” tab reveals the following: “Theonlinecitizen is always on the lookout for writers/contributors. We would therefore like to extend an invitation to you to become a writer for theonlinecitizen. Although TOC’s main focus is on socio-political issues, we would like to expand our content to include self-help/lifestyle/personal writings. Even entertainment news or commentary. If writing is not your cup of tea, and you are more inclined towards video-making or drawings or anything else, we would also like to hear from you.” The content submission therefore is very different from that of Stomp’s. There is less emphasis on pictures and tabloid-like sensational events. The site has also dedicated the side bar to the Mas Selamat escape, including blogger’s comments on potential conspiracy theorists and critical comments of the government. I am inclined to believe that this is a big step forward for Singapore where the press has always been controlled with laws enacted in order to restrict the freedom of speech. Blogger Sites and Other Websites It is intriguing to see how the mass media represents the Singaporean blogosphere. In recent times, the blogs of Xiaxue and Dawn have been promoted and hyped about in the Singaporean newspapers. These blogs are personal blogs that report on the day-to-day events of their lives and their personal, subjective views on random happenings around the island. Their blogs come across as frivolous with almost no attention on political developments. It is blogs like these that are promoted as representatives of the Singaporean blogging circle by the mainstream media. However, this can hardly be called citizen journalism. An online diary or a self-narrative may be a more appropriate term. It is then interesting to note how mainstream media draws attention away from blogs that engage in responsible and serious discourse on socio-political events or bloggers that report their own news. One example would be Yawningbread.org run by Au Waipeng. Self-described as a gay activist, he writes articles that challenge the policies and the news that are reported by the mainstream media. Some popular articles are about the regulation of speech in Singapore and his hypothesis on the mathematics of Singapore’s elections http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2008/yax-861.htm where he argues and produces a graph to show how “Singapore's use of Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) is anti-democratic as this electoral scheme tends to disenfranchise those of minority political persuasions”. A more significant example would be when YawningBread published pictures of the Workers’ Party Rally on his blog that showed a massive turn out as compared to the one published in The Straits Times. The article http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2006/yax-591.htm exposed how the paper had misrepresented the election crowds. Because of this fiasco, there were many other non-partisan blogs that sprouted up in relation to the election, committed to reporting and capturing speeches on video as they are. Some examples would be Electionrally.blogspot.com and SGrally.blogspot.com. They follow the coverage of the elections from the mainstream video and also upload their own video coverage. There seems to be little editing process going on in this website. Websites like these also give alternate coverage and perspective to what the “agenda biased” mainstream media covers, exposing inaccuracies and possible misrepresentation in Singapore’s sole newspaper press. Bloggers such as Waipeng are often voluntarily left out of discourse on the blogosphere that surface in mainstream media, and when discussed, its accuracy is brought into question. Ong Soh Chin wrote an article in The Straits Times, questioning the “new breed of citizen journalism” and the accuracy of their reports, questioning the “issues of truth (and) responsibility”. The article ends off with the promotion of Stomp, as an example of mass media embracing citizen journalism. Coupled together with Stomp, I am inclined to believe that the mainstream media seems to want to represent the blogosphere as being concerned only with frivolous events, which is a misrepresentation, judging by the abundance of socio-politically engaged websites. The question remains, can bloggers be considered journalists? This question begets deeper questions such as what defines a journalist in the first place. However, it cannot be ignored that traditional definitions of journalism, if they have existed, are inevitably being redefined with the changing media and audience landscape. Both bloggers and journalists “value truth highly but take different paths toward it” (Singer 133). Singer also believes that “bloggers are more dedicated in their adherence to a number of journalistic norms than are many journalists themselves” and that they are more committed to the idea of transparency and accountability. This can be seen in sites like YawningBread and TheCitizenOnline who are receptive to readers’ comments and committed to reporting what they see from the point of view of a citizen. What is also important is that these bloggers give voice to the voiceless “more consistently than do journalists, who rely heavily on those in power for their information” (Singer 134). The Future of Citizen Journalism in Singapore The model of the press in Singapore can be aligned with that of Japan’s that is posited by Schudson. He explains how in Japan there was no golden age, no burst of energies of a press critical of state power and how “the press was fully complicit with power from the beginning, part of an elite modernizing movement” (Schudson 492). Because of the restriction of independent broadcasting and publication in Singapore, the Internet is a goldmine for citizens who have more than the latest HDB gossip to discuss or report on. Although socio-politically motivated Singaporean blogs are mainly ignored by the mainstream media, one cannot ignore the growing significance and importance of these blogs because of how they attract a wider and more discerning audience. However, for how much longer can the online sphere remain truly public and democratic? There is the question of how technological change tends to “gallop ahead of legal changes because regulations take time to be implemented while technology always appears to be moving forward” (Quinn and Filak 10). When will citizen bloggers or journalists be taken seriously by the mainstream media or will they always be pushed to the periphery, constantly viewed as a threat? While authorities have previously clamped down on bloggers who promoted racism and elitism on their websites, there have not been many reported cases (on mainstream media) on the control of speech online. Going by the number of political websites that exist which harshly critique the government, it appears that there has not been much active action by the government on these sites. A recent study http://opennet.net/studies/singapore/ on Internet filtering showed that “Singapore's technical filtering system is one of the most limited”. The target audience of the news sector is also an important consideration that both the mainstream media and independent citizen journalists have to be wary of, the former more wary than the latter. Citizen journalists seem here to stay, and mainstream news channels have to ensure that they do not fall into the trap of going tabloid online, like how Stomp is dangerously close to. In The New Paradigm for News, Hume cautions established news brands to stay away from “going more tabloid, blurring the lines between news, entertainment and propaganda” (Hume 144). Instead, she proposes that instead of treating people as an audience akin to passive observers and as random visitors seeking entertainment, they should treat people as citizens, “asking them about problem in their lives, the things that concern them for the future” (Hume 150). Indeed, not many seem to be convinced that citizen journalism would take off in Singapore given the “climate of caution” that Professor Chong of NUS believes would dampen participation. However, instead of simply questioning if Singapore does have the climate for serious citizen journalism to flourish (The Straits Times, 9 June 2007), mainstream media has to push its own boundaries to continue to engage an audience that is becoming increasingly Internet savvy at a younger age. As for citizen journalism, with the increasing number of Singaporean blogs and independent websites that engage in responsible socio-political discourse appearing online, I believe that the time is now, and that mainstream news channels have to be more aware and pay closer attention to the thriving blogosphere. News that is published in the mass media is coming under close watch by bloggers who are ready to critique and point out errors, acting as a supplement to standard news reporting. This changes quite a few things for previously unquestioned agendas are now up for public scrutiny in the virtual space. More importantly, readers are “increasingly choosing other gatekeepers” (Hume 142) apart from the mainstream news channels. Such trends should alert the core media in Singapore alternatives are presently available for the masses and that they have to keep up with the competition by either continuing to provide accurate and objective reports that are close to the interests of the citizens, or by embracing an uprising and unstoppable community of citizen journalists. 5175 words ___________________________________________________________________________ Bibliography: Chua Hian Hou. “News from the ground up: Citizen-generated content is a rising force in the media landscape here today. But does Singapore have the climate for serious citizen journalism to flourish?” The Straits Times (Singapore). 9 June 2007. LexisNexis Academic Universe. 23 April 2008. Singer, Jane B. “Bloggers and Other “Participatory Journalists”. Online Journalism Ethics: Traditions and Transitions. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2007. 115-150. Hall, Stuart. “Encoding, Decoding.” The Cultural Studies Reader. Ed. Simon During. 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