The concept of citizen journalism and its part in the media ‘ecosystem’ is still misconstrued by those who believe that sites like the UK 's pioneering The-Latest.Com and the successful South Korean based OhmyNews have been constructed as an alternative to mainstream news outlets. At The-Latest our brave challenge has been to give representation to a wider set of views, opinions and comments that the mainstream media would rather not address because of timidity and in the case of some newspapers, the narrow political agenda set by their powerful proprietors. Critics of this new frontier in journalism question the commitment of citizen journalism to the principles of accuracy, fairness and transparency. These ideals are all important in citizen journalisms pursuit of the peoples truth behind the issues that matter.
At a recent international forum on citizen journalism in Incheon, South Korea, the future path of open source journalism was enthusiastically discussed.
Craig Newmark, founder of Craiglist (which features free classified advertisements) invests in projects like citizen-edited sites that ‘root out corruption and bring transparency to the system’ in the US. He said “The technology part is quite easy, what really matters is to talk truth to power". Although I want to change the world, I am tremendously lazy. So I see my participation more in helping other people help other people change the world”.
At a recent international forum on citizen journalism in Incheon, South Korea, the future path of open source journalism was enthusiastically discussed.
Craig Newmark, founder of Craiglist (which features free classified advertisements) invests in projects like citizen-edited sites that ‘root out corruption and bring transparency to the system’ in the US. He said “The technology part is quite easy, what really matters is to talk truth to power". Although I want to change the world, I am tremendously lazy. So I see my participation more in helping other people help other people change the world”.
Thomas L. Blair is a sociologist and political blogger on the Chronicleworld 'for creative renewal in Black Britain and Afro-Europe'. His work is honoured in the British Library's archive of "social, historic and culturally significant web-based material from the UK domain". He won top prize in the blogging competition on The-Latest.
Sumantra Maitra is a freelance journalist from Mumbai, India. He is a correspondent for All Sports magazine, and a foreign affairs blogger for the Washington Examiner. He has written articles for news website Merinews.com and other regional publications. Sumantra runs a blog at DailyWorldWatch.wordpress.com. He provided exclusive eyewitness reports for The-Latest on the Mumbai bombings of 2008.
Brian Usher is photography consultant for The-Latest.Com. He is a highly experienced editorial and commercial photographer whose work has been published throughout the world, appearing in many well known magazines and newspapers. Brian has featured in several books and has been a writer for the Royal Photographic Society magazine.
Heidi Kingstone has spent time in Afghanistan reporting for a number of publications. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Sunday Times and other international journals. She has also reported from places like Iraq, Rwanda, Lebanon, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. Heidi is The-Latest's Editor at large.
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