New media spawn ‘citizen journalists’ in Seychelles |21 January 2011

People with digital cameras and access to emails are forwarding photos of events, along with write-ups to accompany them, almost every day.

Facebook is a common platform for such material, which gives anybody online a chance not only to view but also to comment on these events and add any extra material they may have.

These individuals, mostly untrained at international level, have been able to share and even sell their photos – taken with either a mobile or home video camera – to major media outlets.

Seychelles is no exception, as people are more than willing to take it on themselves to bring any digital photos of a particular incident they have got on camera.

When big events happen, much of the footage media outlets have is from citizen journalists because they are first on the scene.

Most media outlets, including the CNN and the BBC, encourage people to send in any footage and photos of events of anything they have seen. They sometimes even protect the identity of the individuals.

During the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in the United States of America, most accounts of the events came from eyewitnesses.

The stories and photos as well as video footage of citizen journalists helped media channels get content with major roles to play in the main story.

This also happened in 2004 when the 9.1 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia caused the big tsunami that affected Seychelles.

The fire at the Dhanjees’ property in Victoria last week and the looting of the former Mahe Beach Hotel, as well as major road accidents and crimes in Seychelles have been reported almost instantly on Facebook and through write-ups in emails.

These events are known to people who have access to the internet even before they are published in local newspapers and screened on national television.

Before, the gathering and publishing of newsworthy information was done by professional journalists only.

Today, as the interactive internet becomes more and more important, anyone is able to publish anything instantly.

This allows citizen journalism to become more prevalent and far more visible to everyone.
The media sometimes cover events in a more superficial way, and citizen journalism gives people the chance to give their opinions on such happenings.

Citizen journalists may give details of one side of a story that has not been stressed at all by a journalist.
A problem arises because these amateurs have no boundaries, and they do not really know what is ethical or not in journalism. However, it cannot be disputed that they provide newsworthy documents and events at anytime and anywhere to anyone, thanks to the new media.

The local and international media outlets are here to stay, but in this century they have to compete with our rising news stars – the citizen journalists.

Jean Ladouceur