Citizen Journalism

People used to rely on books or journals in libraries as primary sources in order to get information, but the aspects of searching information have changed dramatically since the advent of the Internet. In an Internet connected office or home, it only takes a few seconds to find information and it is also very cheap. Moreover, Internet has also allowed people more chances to speak up their voices and opinions to the world by posting articles on blogs; being a journalist becomes very easy. Yoani Sanchez takes advantages of this. She creates public opinions and tries to change Cuban society. Her blog, Generation Y, can be a good source to get information and to know the Cuba, but it doesn’t mean that people can rely on her positing completely. Blogs’ articles are not always reliable and objective as journals.

Publishing magazines or broadcasting news is very complicated and expensive process. Only people who have huge capital to support the process financially can do so; it is an impossible goal to an individual to make its own company. As Joseph Liebling said, ‘Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one’, ideas or thoughts that couldn’t be supported by mainstream media didn’t have any chance to be available in public. However, people find other methods to show their opinions in public. The advent of the Internet, especially blogging, has made it possible; people simply type their opinions on their blogs. Since blogs are available through the Internet, everybody who has an internet connection can read articles or watch videos on blogs. Individual now has a power to create online magazines or broadcasting news. Like Sanchez, already many potential citizen journalists use blogs to provide information deeper and more often than mainstream media. Sanchez uses her blog as a megaphone to speak out her opinions associated with Cuba to the world. According to the interview with Ted Henken, sociology professor, Sanchez emphasizes, “citizen journalism is especially important given the fact that the government exercises an information monopoly”. In a place where people are only exposed to the government information or propaganda, the effective way to take an action against the government is providing real stories to Cubans and last of the world. Sanchez knows that it is hard to change if Cubans don’t realize why they face so many problems. Her method to change Cuban society is simple but very effective. She describes what she feels or sees on the streets and provides reasonable reasons why they have such problems.

When people ask questions or request information on a search engine like google.com or yahoo.com, many times the search engine shows blogs’ articles as results. If all bloggers considered and disciplined themselves as professional journalists, blogs would be a reliable source as a substitute for journalism. The problem is that people sometimes use articles in blogs without verifying or criticizing opinions. Rettberg says, “journalism is expected to be objective and reliable, and the editor and the brand of the newspaper or broadcast medium itself stand as guarantees of this”. Journalism is objective and it doesn’t provide subjective opinions to their readers. In comparison, blogs are generally both subjective and objective, which means that articles in blogs contain facts and opinions. Sanchez has posted many articles regarding to reality of living in Cuba. It is hard to say that her blog is closed to journalism because her descriptions are subjective and sometimes emotional. One of her articles describes a raining day in Cuba. She said that Cubans cannot walk on streets in raining days because Cubans don’t have umbrellas. She then criticizes government policy and she asserts that Cubans do not like their current situations. However, her posting doesn’t show a neutral point of view. There are obviously other opinions towards to Cuban government policy, but she only shows negative side of situation or her own opinion.

Reliability is another factor to define journalism. Since publicly available articles on the Internet can be seen anywhere in the world, maintaining credibility and providing origins of sources are critical because passive readers usually accept information. When mainstream media companies publish newspapers or broadcasting news, there are people who responsible the contents of their news or articles. Since editors and producers supervise before people read newspaper or watch TV programs, readers are only exposed to reliable and correct information. However, we cannot fully rely on information on blogs even though blogs only contains linked articles. For example, Filterblogs usually provide links, but it doesn’t guarantee that original information is reliable. More creditability issues occur when we look at personal blogs. Unlike filterblogs, articles in personal blogs are written by individual blogger, which means that nobody checks the quality or reliability of articles before publishing. Sanchez’s blogs is a personal and topic-driven blog. Most of the articles are written by her, which means that her writings are only approved by herself. If articles are published without verification by someone else, I don’t think I can rely on them.

Blogs are one of the most powerful tools for an individual to spread its own opinion to the world. It is very cheap and simple way to do it. The number of people who use blogs now already shows how popular and powerful it is. Blogs has changed the aspect of publishing. For a long time, people perceived journalists as professional writers who had high education and professional experience. Bloggers still think that they are not journalist, but many characteristics of blogger similar to journalist. However, we cannot fully rely on blogs as a substitute for journalism because articles in blogs are not verified by others. Of course, comments or reply from others can corrent them, but articles are still subject to be verified. The blog, Generation Y, provides a good point of view about Cuba, but I don’t think that people should perceive the blog as a good source of news and information and perceive it as true. If the blog only provided subjective point of view about Cuba, it would prevent readers to perceive and think neutrally about Cuba.

Am I a loser?

Lady on top saying " Loser"

Couple of days ago, young female university student talked about general characteristics of good men in Korean TV program called “MISUDA” that is quite popular in Korea. “MISUDA” means “beautiful women’s talks” (I don’t agree with the title since I cannot check whether they have beautiful minds). The girl said that man whose height is not 180 cm (5.10 feet) is a loser. Her comment became a huge issue in Korean society. You probably don’t understand why it was a big deal. You might think that she was absurd or crazy. The problem was not the girl, but society itself.

In Korea, cosmetic surgery is very common. People want to have a big nose and eyes so that they look like Americans or Europeans. Believe it or not, many Koreans think that most Americans and Europeans are beautiful. This perception makes some Koreans who have small nose and eyes feel depressed. My sister was one of them; she thought that her nose was small. (she is quite beautiful and cute)

My grandmother always advised me, “don’t look at woman’s appearance, but find a woman who has a beautiful mind.” She knew that beautiful appearance doesn’t mean anything to me. At that time, I disagree with her, but now I know what that means. Although I am not 5.10 feet, I don’t feel like I am a loser. If we ignore who we are and where we are from, we cannot satisfy real us. Am I right?

Technology makes you happy?

We as a group of individuals usually have same cultural rule and ideas towards our world. Following the rule of society and law is one way to have a comfortable life. That’s why it is sometimes hard to stand outside of the rule. Like although you don’t like your mother-in-law, you have to pretend you like her . However, nowadays we as an individual have a weapon to against those rules and law. That’s Internet and new technology like digital camera. Of course, not all generation enjoys these things. Maybe someday in near future when new technology shows up, I will be one who cannot enjoy them.
My question is that do we have to keep following new machine or technology in order to keep up with young generation? I have to ask again, can I keep up with new generation when I am old? Do we have to teach our parents’ generation how to use smart phones or computer? I believe the answer is ‘no’. I once tried to teach my father how to search information on the internet and I soon gave up on him because it seemed like impossible to teach him. I felt sorry for him because he couldn’t follow me even though he tried very hard. I wanted him to take advantage of new technology like internet, but at the same time, I wonder how stressful it was to our parents’ generation to know totally different technology. My reason of giving up on him was that he was born in wrong time and wring place. Why I suddenly think about Outliers?

Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief

This picture was known “Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief”. When I first saw the man who was being shot, I wonder why the soldier wanted to kill him and I felt sorry for the Vietcong. Since the title was ‘murder of a Vietcong”, everyone who watches the picture probably has the same feeling that I have. However, if I knew that the Vietcong was a murder of dozens of civilians, I wouldn’t have sympathy for the Vietcong. The truth was that the Vietcong who was looked so pitiful was a captain of a Vietcong “revenge squad” that had executed dozens of civilians. Then, do I have to perceive the police chief as a justice? As far as I know, there was not a good court system in Vietnam and laws couldn’t effectively control people’s behavior. One who had a superior power could be a judge and executer. I don’t want to blame the soldier because his action probably reflected people around him.
Without know the truth about the picture, it became an icon of the war.

A picture

When I first saw this Pulitzer Prize winning picture, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was obvious that the volture was waiting the child die so that it can eat. The child in the picture has big bally and very skinny body shape, which is a sign of starvation. The child was crawling to United Nation Food camp, which was located kilometers away..
It was taken in Sudan by photographer, Kavin Carter, who later committed suicide because people accused him not help the child.
However, this one picture created a huge attention in the world. People all over the world helped children in Sudan after they saw the picture. Since people invented cameras and films, it is easier to record scenes and store data in pictures. Furthermore, now with digital camera, almost everyone can be a historian. I want to see how people perceive the world around them by studying some pictures