Citizen Journalism, through mechanisms such as blogging, has forever changed the media landscape (Sambrook, 2007). Politian’s are no longer held solely accountable by official media outlets, but also by members of the general public, who can now communicate on a international level. Not only is this giving individual voice more leverage, but it is acting as a watchdog for traditional media institution (Ward and Stewart, 2007). However whilst a change in the political landscape because of citezen jouralism is obvious, changes in the business and advertising sectors has also been significant.
Recently I have been required to conduct in-depth research into the advertising strategies of the Lynx deodorant company, from an advertising and promotional viewpoint. Whilst assessing current opinion on their campaign a great amount of community outrage was uncovered in regards to its use of an overtly sexual approach, and its blatant objectification of women. Whilst this received a lot of "traditional" media coverage during their Lynx Jet campaign, “Get On and Get Off” it quickly disappeared, without a resulting change in Lynx’s direction of advertising. However the outrage has lived on in the blogging community. Traditional media outlets have abandoned the issue, whilst citizen journalists continue to criticise Lynx’s campaign. One can hope such continued scrutiny and voiced public outrage will result in a more ethical advertising practise from Lynx. General perusal of their website would suggests this as necessary as the ability to undress and view raunchy clips of online characters is disturbing from a company that identifies its target market as 13-15 year old boys in the advertising brief I was presented with.
But Lynx is not the only company being held accountable. Bloggers have commented upon the practises of business as large as BHP Billiton to the local deli in their small town. What this mean for business, specifically advertising and PR faucets, is that their behaviour is being monitored by the wider community, not simply a concentrated selection of national media moguls (Lasica, 2006). Yes this requires more transparent and ethically sound business practises, but it also means direct communication with the businesses stakeholders. Public Relations and Advertising personal can conduct a simple web search to identify the opinions and grievances of customers and stakeholders, concerning the businesses actions and advertising campaigns (Ord, 2004). Such direct and easy feedback can be invaluable in accessing the strengths and weakness of an advertising campaign or business action. Strategies can be created to correct problems are head off potential crisis’s. The constructive criticism can also induce changes which will lead to better future action.
Citizen Journalism may not yet hold the credibility of traditional media coverage, but this does not make it any less significant or influential (Cunningham and Turner, 2006). Individual can now affect and communicate directly with businesses or institution, without filtration through a third party (the media). Collectively these voices have the potential to enact real change in the business environment. And assuming that the communication can be two way there is an opportunity that citizen journalism can be a mutually beneficial relationship for both business and bloggers alike (Cunningham and Turner, 2006).
Bibliography
- Cunningham, S and G. Turner. (2006). The Media and Communications in Australia. Allen and Unwin: Crows Nest.
- Ward, I and R. Stewart. (2006). Politics One. Palgrave Macmillian: South Yarra.
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5 comments:
Melinda, I think you raise an exceptionally valid point. It is amazing how quickly something will be reported in the "news" services provided by the Courier Mail, Channel Nine, Seven & Ten etc, but disappear just as quickly as they appeared without another mention (until another story similar might make another good story (i.e. maximum hype & viewer numbers) and they will cover it again..)
Online Communities that band together around a certain issue are having their voices and opinions heard through their establishment online and ability to "round up" people with a similar frame of mind. Big corporations now have to investigate and listen these communities that are cropping up. Failure to “listen” to their consumers who use online forums and blogs to completely hack into the company and its objectives was Auran. Its computer game Fury was torn to shreds by the online community and consequently the company went into liquidation. Auran failed to listen to the consumers of the program and fans than hit blogs and forums voicing their dismay to other consumers (Banks, 2002).
Today, whilst the long-tail might be extending, we are still mass-consumers, which is evident through Amazon where “Items You Might Like” or the “Best Seller” and are willing to listen to our fellow peers in their judgments and choice. Thus, the rise of citizen journalism will only grow, as experience first hand is regarded with higher creditability than that of a broadsheet journalist.
Banks. J. 2002. “Gamers as Co-Creators: Enlisting the Virtual Audience – A Report From the Net Face”, In KCB 301 Media Audiences Readings, Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology, 161-185.
Melinda,
Your comments on citizen journalism struck some real chords with me. Firstly I cannot agree with you more. Businesses and the media alike must both stand up and take due notice of the online community’s opinions. However after reading the article by James Farmer (read my Blog too), I think there are many other situations we must also consider (such is the diversity of citizen journalism). Farmer (2006) abhors the idea that normal citizen commentary is journalism, and like him I tend to agree. But the point we make is that it is not unworthy of being called as such, instead the term media citizen would be more appropriate. And as a media citizen the power of the people (as you put it), is immense. Bruns (2008) is right, the more people watching, checking and adding to information, as we now can in the virtual world, the better. Journalists, business, advertisers and every other media bound body MUST be willing to accept citizen input and scrutiny. It is the “power of eyeballs”, or, the examination and re-conceptualisation of our own thought and information which makes citizen media-ship so powerful (Bruns 2008). Indeed this act alone, at least I hope, will provide the transparency that the media industry has long needed. Perhaps this is why professional journalists (including Farmer) are so sceptical of the concept, their work is about to become much harder and much more open, a tangent that I had not previously considered.
My Blog:
http://bloggerbrendam.blogspot.com/2008/05/are-we-all-pulitzer-prize-journalists.html
Bruns, A. 2008c. KCB201 Citizen Journalism. Week 10 Podcast. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_29175_1 (accessed May 8, 2008).
Farmer, J. 2006. Citizen journalism sucks. http://blogs.theage.com.au/media/archives/2006/10/citizen_journal.html (accessed May 10, 2008).
Melinda, I agree that the forum of blogging and citizen journalism has allowed the opinions of society to surface in a manner that is becoming more recognised by opinion leaders, such as politicans and organisations.
Your example of the Lynx advertising campaign expresses a niche in the blogging community. Sure, people were upset about the exploitation of women, so much so that they still continue to comment of their dislike. As Clement stated, “We are ‘lulled by the entertainment values which often replace news values’(Clement, 1986). This constant bad publicity inherited by the blogging community has in fact drawn further attention to the company and its future advertising campaigns.
Recently, in Australia there was outrage over the TV ad for U tampons which showed a lady with pet Beaver. The online blogging community was in outrage, and so the campaign was pulled from television. Highlighting what Bruns (2008) describes as the power of the participatory culture. However, if you go to YouTube and type in "The Beaver Ad" you will see that it has been watched by a large user base, raising the question - is all publicity good publicity? And are citizen journalists in fact aiding a new forum for advertising?
The problem is not the citizens covering the news from any particular ideological, political or religious vantage point, but the citizens distorting the news they're supposed to be reporting upon objectively (Jennings, 2002). But objectivity does not seem to be apparent in the blogging community which is ruled by opinion based journalism.
References
Bruns, A. (2008)KCB201 Citizen Journalism. Week 10 Podcast. accessed May 10, 2008, http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_29175_1
Clements,I.(1986) The ravenous half shut eye manufacturing bad news from nowhere, Media Information Australia, 39.
Jennings, D.(2002) Media Distorting Reality, accessed May 10, 2008, http://www.freecongress.org/commentaries/2002/020823DJ.asp
Melinda, I found your article about citizen journalism very interesting and very valid. As a journalism student myself, I am often frustrated by the conflicting perspectives I receive about the benefits and credibility of citizen journalism. From the CI faculty, citizen journalism, allows for individuals to create and recreate work, as illustrated through produsage. From the Journalism faculty however, citizen journalism is simply freedom of speech in action, personal opinions on various topics of no more importance than the next.
I agree further with your statement that citizen journalism is no less significant or influential compared to credited media sources (Cunningham and Turner 2006, pg 57) as so clearly demonstrated with Lynx’s advertising campaign. This is further demonstrated through BASE, a Canadian branch of the Body Shop makeup company, declaring bankruptcy in 2005 due to backlash resulting from citizen journalism in the form of online blogs.
This company, similar to the Coke Zero advertising strategy, created a website and blog for collaborative discussion about their products. Unlike in Coke Zero’s case, which revealed Coca Cola employees posing as ‘fans’ to promote their product, BASE’s blog was used as a forum to discuss rumours that a particular product was created using unnatural ingredients. As more details were revealed and the rumour proven to be valid, the company was forced to publicly acknowledge its mistake, which cost the company millions followed by millions more in lawsuits from stakeholders and competitors. Whilst this is only one example, it clearly illustrates the influence that citizen journalism can have in society.
References
Cunningham, S and G. Turner. 2006. The Media and Communications in Australia. Allen and Unwin: Crows Nest.
While I agree that Citizen Journalism may prove to be a powerful tool in improving and making business practices more ethical, I must confess that I remain skeptical about its potential to rival traditional forms of media. Though modern media sources, such as TV and radio, are often being criticized for political and social bias, they remain our primary source of news and information…for now anyway. I think objectivity and honesty are often lost in any unmonitored forum especially due to the lack of regulation in Citizen Journalism, where people vent their grievances and objections directly.
The internet is overflowing with articles and speculations put out and reviewed by unqualified and incredibly biased sources. Surely everyone is entitled to an opinion, but in this new age of Citizen Journalism I wonder whether these opinions will be given more credit than they are due. Will this change business? More than likely, but it remains to be seen if it’s for the better.
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