Citizen journalism is becoming more and more prevalent, especially thanks to the ease of technologies such as the Internet, mobile devices, and Wifi. Not only does it allow consumers to interact with the media, it now allows them to help produce content. The greatest example of how widespread and popular citizen journalism has become is CNN’s iReport, which gives viewers the opportunity to participate in the news by sharing their stories online.
iReport has come a long way since it launched in April 2006. Today, it has more than 750,000 users, and this number significantly surpasses those of its competitors. This is proof that iReporting will continue to grow and change the face of journalism. Citizens are becoming real journalists who are respected and valued by the industry, as opposed to in the past when they were simply consumers and audiences for advertisers to target. CNN shares this sentiment, for they will soon be sending a citizen journalist across the globe to cover a high-profile story.
After winning a contest, Jason Sauter will be traveling to London to witness and report on the British Royal Wedding this week. Sauter does not work in the news industry. He said he gained some experience with broadcast news while in college, but today he works at Walt Disney World, where he is a guest service manager. Sauter joined iReport in April and has uploaded seven iReports so far.
As Sauter covers the wedding this weekend, his content will appear together with CNN’s professional coverage on a newly launched interface called Open Story. Open Story maps out selected stories about a particular event and places them on a timeline to form an accurate account. It is living proof that citizen journalists are now collaborating with the professionals, and will continue to do so in the future.
Source: "Royal Wedding ticket the latest benchmark of citizen journalism's ascendancy at CNN" Poynter.
To view Sauter’s video submission, visit: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-586976
Stray Thought (from BJB): I wonder if CNN thought the 400 folks they sent to cover the wedding weren't enough?
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