Work(In) Progress

In school, we have always been taught to keep our eyes on our own paper — my, how times have changed, for journalists that is.

Journalists have always collected, wrote and distributed news. The only thing that changed is how they do it and most of the time they don’t just look at their neighbors paper, but they have them write on their own too! — Yes, our elementary school teachers would’ve been very pleased.

“New reporting methods such as crowdsourcing, open-source reporting and pro-am journalism are becoming the focus for more and more news operations in the United States” according to Mark Briggs.

So, you may be wondering what the heck is open-source reporting, pro-am journalism and crowdsourcing — don’t worry, spell check doesn’t recognize it either.

Another way of saying crowdsourcing is distributed reporting. This is a powerful tool when covering an investigation for a particular organization, for example. Data collection becomes effortless when you can ask thousands of people for specific information on the matter.

Next on our vocab list is open-source reporting. Think twitter. Think blogs! The point is to bring journalists closer to their readers by allowing those readers to give writers occasional feedback.

Last, pro-am journalism or do-it-yourself journalism. Most people have access to digital technology and people are everywhere, and news is happenning everywhere, therefore everyone is a media outlet.

Basically, just because you are the journalist, does not mean you are the expert or have the ability to be everywhere at once. It makes perfect sense to get the right information from more experienced readers on issues you’re covering and, with countless digital technologies and social media outlets, it has never been easier. This collaborative journalism is the new how to. And it is here to stay.