The rise of Social Media and UGS has given power to citizens to capture content and tell stories as they unfold. The key underlining aspect of Social Media is its ability to deliver information quickly, hence removing the borders of ‘time and space’ as described by McLuhan in the digital age[1].
With this in mind UGS are beneficial to an extent. Take the devastating Japan 2011 earthquake for example. There were no warning signs for reporters to simply be there covering the disaster. In addition access to the site was dangerous and restricted as immediate health and wellbeing and aid work was given prevalence. Today looking at firsthand accounts of the devastation we are subject to user generated content in documentaries that has been taken from citizens phones to portray a complete and objective view of the disaster.
On the other hand Social Media can misinterpret, deceive and potentially be harmful. The medium which bears no borders, speed and ease of access can also serve journalism to a low quality. The case of Murdered Melbourne woman Jill Meagher and killer Adrian Bailey made its way onto the social media platforms. Face book pages inciting hatred towards Bailey at the time he was charged with murder ultimately delayed the course of justice because the pages and comments impacted his right to a fair trial.
UGC while timely and easy to develop its not subject to the professional realms of journalistic practise, that is its not fact checked and can potentially be defamatory and subject to copyright infringement. However when a measured approach is taken to UGC and social media it can be beneficial according to Shaw[2]; “First there are places like Syria where journalists haven’t been able to go and second there is an extraordinary resource on social networks for current affairs, even though we have to take extraordinary caution to verify what we use.” Today citizens are creating more content and journalism is adopting it; however its quality and validity needs to be reinforced by journalists to reflect the best of journalism like its print/linear form.
[1] The Hot and Coll Interview in: McLuhan, M. Media Research: Technology, Art and Communication, Available at: http://encore.deakin.edu.au/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2971220) pp 89
[2] Shaw, Chris 2012 in Bulkley, Kate ‘The rise of citizen journalism’ http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jun/11/rise-of-citizen-journalism
ALJ301 MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM, RESPONSES & THOUGHTS 