Why citizen journalism sounds much better in theory

Citizen journalism has had a great press recently and from reading some of the breathless commentary you might be forgiven for thinking that the future news landscape will consist solely of press releases and netizen comments in 140 characters or less.

One of the catalysts for thinking that micro blogs are taking over the media space occupied by papers, TV screens and websites is the role it played in July's Wenzhou train crash. Even China Daily got onboard and noted in a cover story how micro blogs "broke the news, joined the rescue work, helped survivors and families of victims and monitored the authorities".

As if micro blogs hadn't done enough already, they also "took on the mantle of the fourth estate" - leaving us poor hacks out in the cold, presumably.

But hold on a minute. Many of the micro blog reports turned out to be by journalists working in traditional fashion, just publishing their work on the micro blog platform. They were read and believed in the first place because they worked for respected organizations or were trusted individually because they had built a track record.

As we know, there's so much dross and dissimulation out there, it's necessary to go to respected sources that check their facts. Quoting a netizen (or citizen) doesn't necessarily make it true. In fact, since they do not publish their real names, are not held accountable for what they say and have no credentials to prove they know what they are talking about, they can be suspect sources.

While citizen journalism certainly has its place it's easy to get carried away. People always want to have their say and a new medium of expression doesn't change this. Whistle-blowers, those who write letters to papers, paste posters on trees or broadcast their views on radio are doing the same thing.

The transformation in citizen journalism is down to speed and readership. Tweets are composed and sent in a minute to become part of the public domain forever. Lest we forget, however, they are transmitted by organizations that control the flow of information in much the same way as any other traditional media organization, whether it's government backed or a private company.

Someone who seems to have just woken up to this fact is "Stone Man" or Song Shinan, a university lecturer and "commentator" who trumpeted the cause of Sina Weibo after the train crash with some shrill notes:

"The nature of Weibo's communication empowers the voice of Internet users. It has pressured authorities to investigate further and answer questions raised by Internet users," he opined in South China Morning Post. "No one can afford to ignore Weibo now as it facilitates information flow and directly reflects public opinion."

Fast forward a few weeks and Song has performed a spectacular volte face. He is now ignoring Sina Weibo and in a statement dripping with bitterness said, "never again will I post on this service".

He claims he fell out with Sina after he retweeted a Xinhua news report about artist Ai Weiwei's release and since then has been on the watch list. He says he used all his powers of persuasion to get onside with Sina management but has given up because the organization is "thug-like shrewd and immoral" and is "muting" his voice.

Basically, he thinks it's not fair because it won't do what he wants. And that's the end of his citizen journalism on Sina Weibo, because it's not "the only choice, let alone the best one".

Micro blogs are exactly what they say they are - very small blogs. Their novelty has people like Song getting carried away and imagining citizen journalists like himself will seize media power, rather than being just another voice in the firmament. He was in need of a reality adjustment. If only he hadn't got so carried away with kiddy fervor in the first place, I don't think he would be throwing such a tantrum now.

(China Daily 08/10/2011 page19)