N o t h i n g a b o u t m e

Friday, March 30, 2007

QotW9: Step & Stomp


QotW9: Step & Stomp

?What is Citizen Journalism?
Citizen Journalism is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information" ("Citizen Journalism", 2006). Everyone can be a citizen journalist; it is not just exclusive to certain members of the public. Citizen Journalism represents the voices of the public sphere which sometimes fails to catch the attention of the media. To be a Citizen Journalist I believe all you need is just free time, and a natural ‘kay poh’ attitude.

?Stomp ideal form of Citizen Journalism in Singapore?
STOMP with stands for ‘Straits Times Online Mobile Print’ integrates content and activities in the three platforms of print, online and mobile. It delivers content which helps develop new communities of local Singaporean that bond together with similar interests.
It is a great way to offer the community better and deeper coverage than is possible with a lone professional reporter. It creates vigilance among the public and also acts as a social interaction tool, as news is captured and compiled on a website where various members of the pubic are able to view. As Singapore’s culture differs differently from the western cultures where Singaporeans tend to be more old fashioned and conservative, Citizen journalism in Singapore just might be classified an invasion of privacy.
A car crash, illegal parking, couples fighting in the open, public displays of affections (PDA) or even a cat stuck in a tree, these are all different kinds of news but often professional journalist do not always capture it. Professional journalist have to pick their news smartly as not everyone is Singapore would like to see PDA, or a cat stuck in a tree. They want ratings and all this trivial news would not get the ratings they desire. It shows you everything and anything that the other media companies fail to capture.
However, not all the news captured Citizen Journalist is made public. Often political and sexual content will be filtered and left out. Whether or not it is ideal for Singapore remains in the voices of the public eyes, what they intend to use it for and the purpose. Citizen journalism isn't one simple concept that can be applied universally by all news organizations (Outing 2005). I for one believe that news should remain objective without any interference from anyone.

Improvements to be made
Apart from its multi colored and much confusing website with dozens of link and pictures that splash into your face when you go to the website, STOMP Singapore has really made a huge impact on Singaporeans. As news stories are not just covered by the media, but by every single person that walks the earth (Unless your brain dead). STOMP should show the democratic Singapore by not filtering lucid and political comments but allow a free flow of information to pass through, this would truly enable Citizen Journalism in Singapore to take a new leap for our future.

References
“Citizen Journalism” (March 28, 2006) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

Outing, S. (2005) "The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism."
Retrieved March 30, 2007 from http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=83126

STOMP. Retrieved on March 30, 2007 from http://www.stomp.com.sg/

1 comment:

Kevin said...

Cool, full grade :)