Yes, Actual People Can Make a Difference

This came off the "Citizen Journalism" news ticker today. Naomi Klein is a juicy writer and analyst who appears on Democracy Now!, Alternative Radio and KBOO news and public affairs. Her newest book is "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism."

The Courier International website links to an interview with Naomi...in French. Bon chance avec ca!

Naomi Klein supports citizen journalism
Interviewed by Jade Lindgaard, the journalist and altermondialist militant Naomi Klein explains that blogs are complementary to investigative journalism. "Blogs have become real alternative journalism, places where scandals can be denounced. To a certain extent they play the same role as the radio does, by repeating and sometimes hammering home information that comes from investigative journalism in the written press. ... . Stories protect you from the shock, soften impact. There is a certain way of telling a story, not just scattering facts. It is the loss of the story, of the collective story, that puts you in a state of shock. This is what makes blogs so exciting: they put information by definition anti-narrative, into context. What citizen journalism manages so well is to take facts and turn them into stories."

Check This Out....

I pulled this from the "Citizen Journalism" News Ticker this morning:



Innovations in Journalism - Orato.com
Posted on February 27, 2008 by Oliver Luft - Filed Under Innovations in Journalism, online communities, Citizen journalism, Online Journalism |
Each week we give technology developers the opportunity to tell us journalists why we should sit up and pay attention to the sites and devices they are are working on. This week it’s citizen journalism site Orato.


1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
I’m Paul Sullivan, editor-in-chief of Orato.
Orato is a citizen journalism site that features stories from 3525 (last count) citizen correspondents from around the world.
Anyone can post text, audio, video story or photo slide show and comment on the site after registering.
We encourage first-person accounts, partly for practical reasons - people are comfortable speaking in their own voice about what they encounter, what’s going on in their lives, and what they think and feel - but also because it communicates on a more intimate level.

2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
Orato is useful to journalists as a source of fascinating stories that don’t stem from the usual sources or locales.
On the home page, as I write, there’s a piece by a guy who kills baby seals for a living on the ice of Newfoundland, who is unapologetically carrying on a family tradition; there’s a story from the jackman (he jacks up the wheels) for the Nascar Red Bull team…he watches the cars go by at 198 miles an hours, then has to be ready in a split second to change the tires on his driver’s car; there’s a story about a family in Turkey who walks on all fours - their standard means of locomotion, a piece from a guy who spent more than a decade high up in Scientology’s secret army, and a piece from an astronaut on what it’s like to walk in space.
Some of these pieces we’ve solicited; others have come unbidden.
Orato is a treasure chest for journos looking for stories. It is also a place where journalists can and do post pieces that are viewed as too controversial or unpublishable at their own workplace.
3) Is this it, or is there more to come?

We’re already formulating Orato 3.0 (2.0 introduced video and interactive features such as the activity tracker).
In 3.0 we’re going to focus even more on the social media dimensions of the site…allow correspondents to instant message each other, allow them to customize their own MyOrato home page to display the subjects they’re interested in, etc.
We’re constantly thinking about new ways to expand citizen journalism - live video, versions in other languages, syndication of our best pieces using widgets, etc.

4) Why are you doing this?

For these reasons:
Because it’s important. This site has become a platform for people who otherwise may have no public voice - the sex trade workers who covered the serial killer trial in Vancouver, the Scientology refugees who have come to the site to bear witness against an oppressive cult, people who have been abused by authority and people who just love to tell stories and are looking for a safe, reputable and credible place to do it. It’s a democratic phenomenon, one we’re proud to be a part of.
Because people want it: now that the bandwidth and interactive technology exist, people are eager to participate and we give them at least one outlet.
Because it’s exciting. It’s the marketplace for a magnificent variety of voices and experiences; it’s the court of public opinion.
The wonder of it all: Strange and exotic stories appear out of nowhere. One day, the former chief executioner for Kenya decides to tell his story.
It’s great fun.
5) What does it cost to use it?
Nothing. It’s all free.
6) How will you make it pay?

We’re in the process of negotiating with online ad agencies to feature ads on the site. As traffic increases so will our CPM rate and our revenue. We have a number of other ideas in the development phase, but they’re not quite ready for prime time.

Investigative Reporting Fast-Take

Not every reporter is an investigative reporter, but any reporter CAN BE one.

Defining the term:
Wikipedia says:
"Investigative journalism is when reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest, sometimes involving crime, political corruption , or some other scandal , but also looking into systemic problems in government, business and other sectors."

Wikipedia goes on to quote Hugo De Burgh, author of the classic text, Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice: "An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession it is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available."

Some peole say all journalism is investigative in nature -- but that's an exaggeration. Loads of reporting comes from rewritten press releases or info that's otherwise spoon-fed to the writer. And sometimes this is not really a problem -- the newest charity auction by the local elementary school is news, the grand-opening of a neighborhood business can be news, all of which can just as well come from a press release.

But with an investigative project, a tenacious reporter will take the press releases from their local Congressional representatives about US Department of Defense contracts being awarded in Oregon, make a few phone calls -- okay, a lot of phone calls -- to find out who's getting those contracts and for what. And then track down experts, reports and background information about the fact that Oregon has no military bases, yet has apparently become a vortex for war dollars. Some of those dollars have been spent on experiments using primates with microchips embedded in their brains, with the goal of finding out whether pain receptors in soldiers can be short-circuited by remote control. And voila -- details of the studies, conducted at the University of Oregon, are all hiding in plain sight right on a UO website.

A group of citizen journalists at KBOO Community Radio put this project together two years ago, producing a five-part radio news series and a 30-minute documentary entitled "Oregon's War Economy." And it all started with a fistfull of press releases.

YES, YOU CAN DO THIS!
Resources:

Net Tour of the National Institute of Computer Assisted Reporting
– a superfantastic resource – THIS IS REQUIRED READING FOR ANYONE WHO WANT TO KNOW WHERE INFO COMES FROM.

Being a better watchdog - the Net Tour allows you to click on links to jump to each section

Making effective use of the Internet
(Telephone directories, search engines and the Invisible Web)

Finding and cultivating sources
(Listservs and source finders)

The public's right to records
(FOI help)

Paper trails, documents and data you need
(Public records and data, GIS help)

Investigating government
(Federal and local)

Investigating businesses and nonprofits
(Essential data)

Help on your beat and other links for journalists
(Where to go next)

Continuing your training
(Opportunities from IRE and NICAR)

Investigative Reporters and Editors has more How-to Information, a database library, plus a Listserv.

Portland, Oregon-area reporters organization:

Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) Open Records Blog, info on where records are and how to get into them.

Open Oregon, an open media coalition, lists laws on info access and info on filing Freedom of Information Act Requests.

Radio Investigative Projects Audio:

Examples of radio and television investigative reports are also offered by IRE.

Here's a special radio and television investigative project by broadcast networks around the country looking at improper spying on US citizens by the Bush Administration – mainstream but COOL!

This text Search for a listing of investigative (and other) reports by NPR investigative reporter Daniel Zwerdling; look for Military Mental Health stories as well as Abuse of Immigrant Detainees stories (his reporting on detainee abuse has won Daniel national awards). In the search field type: Zwerdling.

Here's a round-up of recently published or aired investigative reports.

Here's a nationwide roundup using all media that’s even better.

NOW GO OUT AND GET STARTED!