New media is not just for 25-year-old computer geeks who grew up playing Nintendo, but those who attended Thursday night’s Hearst New Media Lecture at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism already know that. The lecture, delivered by citizen-media pioneer Dan Gillmor, attracted people from different professions and various ages. But make no mistake, new media is not your grandmother’s news, and Gillmor made that crystal clear as he spoke of trends in today’s media.
One of the most visible trends is the move from the “voice of God to the voice of many,” as Gillmor puts it. He says the oracle image is going away, and media is becoming more interactive and conversational in the form of blogs, vlogs, podcasts, vodcasts, etc. The “former audience,” as he refers to the new wave of citizen journalists, has been liberated from its prior restraints. Gillmor says this democratization of media ultimately allows the public to be better informed, and that is one of the reasons he has dedicated himself to the phenomenon of citizen journalism.
Gillmor is the founder and director of the Center for Citizen Media, a new initiative that encourages - you guessed it - citizen media. Through the center, which is affiliated with U.C. Berkely’s Graduate School of Journalism and Harvard University Law School, Gillmor hopes to help people learn about citizen journalism and how they can participate. The tools of journalism are widely available, according to Gillmor, and anyone with a microphone and a computer can participate in this “conversation.”
There is skepticism toward new media, and Gillmor admits that readers must “turn up their B.S. meters” when turning to citizen journalism sites and blogs. This, he says, plays to the strengths of traditional media. But, just as readers know what is in The National Enquirer is not necessarily as trustworthy as what is in The New York Times, Gillmor believes readers will be able to do so in the new media world as well.
“Amid all that noise out there on the net,” said Gillmor, “there’s a lot of signal.” By signal, he means newsworthy and trustworthy information, and he says thoroughness, fairness, accuracy, independence and most importantly, transparency will be crucial principles in boosting the authority of new media. The inclusion of links to other sources and full disclosure by the author, he says, are a few examples of best practices.
Gillmor, who worked at the San Jose Mercury News for more than a decade, makes it clear that he does not wish traditional media’s demise. He called traditional journalism “essential to the welfare of a self-governed people,” and pointed out its adoption of new media tools to make its product better. After all, two of the most well-known faces of television news, Anderson Cooper and Brian Williams, have their own blogs.
Despite its growth, new media is not without obstacles. Gillmor dedicated a portion of his lecture to the topic of “creative destruction,” which in his words describes the way that “the blend of innovation, free markets and individual liberty are inevitably disruptive to business models.” This has caused traditional media and cable companies, both of which have been affected by the emergence of new media, to want to keep some type of control over its increasing presence.
According to Gillmor, if society welcomes innovation, free markets and liberty with fairness and social responsibility, it will be better off and better informed. He is confident that new media, despite its obstacles will prevail. “We’re moving at light speed,” says Gillmor, “to when we can drop the new from new media."
Brooke Sopelsa is a graduate journalism student at Columbia University and works part-time as a media consultant at The NewsMarket.
