The Rise Of UGC

1. What is meant by the term 'Citizen Journalist'? 
   The term 'Citizen Journalist' means when non-professionals collect, analyse, present news on blogs, wikis and websites that allow them to share information using tablets, laptops, smartphones, etc. It is also known as Public Journalism.
    
2. What was one of the first examples of news being generated by 'Ordinary People'? 
   One of the first examples of news being generated by ordinary people was the home-video footage which made prime-time news globally and had become a sensation internationally. The video showed 4 LA police officers taser and beating Rodney King with clubs after finally capturing him after a high speed car chase om 1991.  Which in turn lead to riots due that had taken the lives of 53 people and left 4000 people injured.
    
3. List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations. 
             ·      Blogs
             ·      Forums
             ·      Comments
             ·      Opinion Polls
     
4. What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)? 
   Professionally shot footage always is seen to be in some form bias as it only shows what the news institution wants the audience to see, whereas first-hand footage always normally portrays a different view to the story. Also, first-hand footage shows how truly bad something is as it isn't edited or cut short and people trust others more than news institutions with power.
     
5. What is a gatekeeper? 
   A gatekeeper is someone who controls access to something and in terms of news it would be the editor who selects stories for publication based on their organizations criteria or remit as such.
     
6. How has the role of a gatekeeper changed? 
   In some ways the role of a gatekeeper has changed as there is less control from these professionals who used to dictate what is presented and what isn't. Traditionally if a citizen had a story to tell or a piece of news they would have had to go through these news organizations, however UGC and sites that encourage that such as Twitter and Facebook allow citizens and ordinary people with a story to be heard.
     
7. What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
   One of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC is that there will be fewer trained professionals in news organisations leaving a small amount of staff to be in control and manage UGC from citizen journalists, also known as 'crowd sourcing'. Also, another concern is that there would be less mediators moderators and they would eventually disappear which would leave the media unmediated, which allows people to present information that could be false or very negative towards groups of people and much more.