Funny, I spoke with a friend of mine about citizen photojournalism about a week ago, and I've seen two stories on citizen journalism since then. The last one, from Monday's Taipei Times, I'll mention first:
Wu Ping-hai (吳平海) has neither a journalism degree nor experience working for newspapers or TV news programs.
But Wu's video camera has recorded a footage from a wide range of events, documenting the personal stories of ordinary people and the issues that concern local communities.
Wu posts short documentaries on peopo.org, an online citizen news platform started recently by the Taiwan Broadcasting System.
Two of his films document the study of farmland tree frogs, a species only found in Taiwan, and the experiences of foreign spouses learning Mandarin in Meinung Township (美濃), Kaohsiung County.
Wu was one of more than 700 citizen journalists who have contributed to community news coverage since the creation of the platform in April.
They have generated more than 2,200 news stories over the past three months.
[...]
To ensure the quality of stories, the Web site's administrators have asked would-be contributers to submit a formal application before posting reports and footage.
Over at The Belmont Club, Wretchard speculates where this is headed:
Here's what I think people will see in the next decade. Big news won't go away but readers will be able to drill-down on news stories in a way impossible before. For example, suppose new riots break out in the banleius of Paris in 2017. The reader will be able to drill down into every greater detail. Was a man burned on a torched bus? Click and find the micro-journalist who is following the recovery of the victim in a hospital. Or discover how the riots have affected a particular suburb in northern Paris. Not only will you be able to drill down, but you will be able to interact with the news. With online payment systems I believe readers will be able to support micro-journalist efforts to find out more details about an story, in a miniature version of the way readers support Michael Yon in Iraq today.
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UPDATE (Jul 26/07): Might citizen journalism be a way for Taiwanese nationalists to circumvent the stranglehold that Chinese nationalists have on Taiwan's mainstream media? Apparently RCTV in Venezuela carried on in reduced form on YouTube after their license was pulled, so there is some kind of precedent.
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