Allan Aley
Dimapur
One evening I tried an app to measure the internet speed of my cellular network and also my phone. The result was -“Download speed- 20.1 Mbps, upload speed 6.96 Mbps.” I learned that internet speed depends on placement matters and consumer device capabilities. My inner thoughts, “Hmmm... Interesting! Giant leap taken by technology or mankind taking a giant leap with technology?” I preserved the thoughts to write this article.
We are living in an era of speed and instant services. With the advent of internet, news media has changed forever. It offers a kind of convenience and immediacy. People only follow what is trending in news. No doubt internet has become a necessity. The millennial may consider a person who is social-media-savvy to be cool. The opposite will be considered awkward (most probably an outcaste). If we analyse the content in different platforms of social media, it is appalling. On a positive note Citizen Journalism has taken the forefront. What is citizen journalism? Let me quote the words of Quinn and Lamble, “Citizen Journalism occurs in two forms. The first is when members of the public, who are not professional journalist, contributes content that is published on traditional media. The second form of citizen journalism occurs when members of the public produce blogs or community websites or publications for a specific purpose. In other words, citizens assume the role of journalists.” Almost everyone owns a smart phone and that has catapulted our ability to share and create contents. Internet gives us the opportunity to share, express, listen, read and discuss multi-cellular and multicultural issues at hand. Whether we have become vigilant citizens or citizens-simply-succumbed-by-trend, time will tell. For now, we have embraced both.
What has changed?
Although news channel and other media outlets may not regard citizen journalism as ‘The most' reliable source of news, it has started to reconsider the value of citizen journalism.
1. News gathering is not easy. Ask the journalist about it. The experience is similar- swim and catch a fish from the ocean. Out of the bombarding amount of information, few make it as news. A lot of research is invested in keeping up with accurate information. The content from the public becomes an easy source of ‘in-the-moment’ news.
2. With citizen journalism, the community is involved in collecting, analysing and dissemination of information. Although they are not professional journalist, they become a voice to address issues affecting their lives. The cause of activism starts here. All thanks to the internet! We can do more both locally and globally.
3. Internet has given an active voice to the public. They can raise questions, highlight whitewashed problems in our society and bring solution to it. No matter how small or slow the process may be.
4. Citizen Journalism has a different appeal because of the common belief that traditional media are mostly biased, out of touch, ignore small but important issues or offer irrelevant news. The voice of the people is transparent though it may not be the accurate all the time.
5. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter allow the news to find people and vice versa. The hashtag factorial so increases viewership: Similar to keywords used for search optimization, they help people discover your content in social.
What needs to change?
“In the age of technology there is constant access to vast amounts of information. The basket overflows; people get overwhelmed, the eye of the storm is not so much what goes around in the world, it is confusion to think, feel, digest, and react to what goes on.”- Chris James.
We have become very shallow. We tend to react more and think less. It is dangerous to breed our mind with blurred perception. Sadly we have started to misuse this platform.
1. We have increasing number of content creators who use blogs and websites to address issues relevant to our lives. We need to appreciate the platform and utilize it for constructive purposes. Despite the popularity of citizen journalism, it raises questions on certain ethical issues. What if the news from these sources is not authentic or accurate and driven by wrong motives? As administrators of blogs in Facebook or other independent websites, we must carefully question ourselves whether the content we are sharing will do more harm than good. Are we sharing a post based on our political alliance to a particular party? Biased reporting should be avoided at every cause. We must educate ourselves more on Media Laws and ethics and avoid unnecessary legal issues and consistently maintain the credibility of being unbiased and accurate.
2. Social media has become a pond of ‘Negativity’. We have many patriotic but stupid citizens in the internet. What needs to change is your role from keypad warriors into a person who will encourage growth and support it in real life. We can all take part in citizen journalism. Learn more, think more and react less. Internet is not the best place to be if you reconsider all the garbage people put into it. Let’s maintain a positive environment both online and offline.
3. Let us stop the rat race for capturing videos or sharing pictures just for the sake of making it viral. We take pictures of victims (dead bodies) and if one shares it, surely 10-15 updates will follow in countless Facebook groups and different mediums of social media. We do not care for the sentiments of the family members who will be haunted and hurt by those pictures. While quick reporting sounds like a good idea, the emphasis of being first to break a story presents yet another ethical concern because accuracy and verification is sacrificed in place of speedy reporting. Please stop this practise.
4. We can become ignorant towards the consequences that our online actions can have. Whenever we get a controversial message or video we do not verify or check the source of it. In the month of June we have witnessed the effects of spreading rumours via the internet. Two men were mob lynched in Karbi Anglong as they were suspected to be child kidnappers (all thanks to the WhatsApp messages which were intensely circulated). Rumours can cause distress, unrest and cultural conflicts. It can even take away precious lives. Always filter the content. Remember, rumours run rampant on the web.
We should all be grateful for what we have now. Internet has helped us in many ways. Entrepreneurs flourish in the market due to smart marketing with internet, artist are able to reach a larger audience here, online banking, online orders have made life easier and no doubt, it has given birth to many important movements worldwide. What we seek to learn is one click away from our phone. We can share our opinions and ideas freely and we can also expect an audience to read/hear it. We can generate discussion, connect with like-minded people for important causes and this is how internet should be used. As bloggers and leaders we must always adhere to ethical values and issues. Even good things can give bad outcome if we misuse it. Misuse of social media can cause more damage than what could be used to heal it. Let us all use our God given wisdom to distinguish fake news and use internet wisely.
“You are what you share,” - Charles Leadbeater.
