Welcome to Layalina Productions

The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 3, January 16-January 29, 2009

Citizen Journalism Online

In today's society, the public is becoming increasingly able to participate in the media and, more specifically, in journalism. Arvind Nair of the Gulf Times writes that "journalism has evolved rapidly and will change immensely over the coming years with the public increasingly participating in providing news because of technology."

Blogs, citizen journalism and social networking are known as "new media," and in a panel hosted by the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology, Dean Richard Roth of Northwestern University in Qatar said that "the future of journalism will involve the audience much more, as sources of information and as participants in the news-gathering operations."

When professional journalism is intermixed with citizen blogging, finding trustworthy news stories may prove to be difficult. According to Gulf News, Mohammad Yousuf, secretary general of the UAE’s Journalists’ Association, said that "unless special steps are taken to improve the credibility and the contents of reports on the [internet], human community will soon lose an efficient way of communicating news."

Therefore, the Journalists’ Association has chosen to provide legal support to bloggers as long as they adhere to the "ethical and professional rules of the profession," such as "offering a level playing field for different parties related to the issue" and maintaining the integrity of an individual or institution unless evidence suggests otherwise. This initiative taken by the UAE to grant legal support for bloggers is the first of its kind in the world.

According to Martin Manurung of Global Voices Online, bloggers in Indonesia offer a more mature, knowledgeable account of current events, such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, than the Indonesian mainstream media. He states that the Indonesian media defines the struggle in the Gaza strip as "the enemy of Islam" subduing fellow Muslims.

However, Manurung believes that Indonesian bloggers see the conflict from a different, more informed perspective. The bloggers he cites, such as Anindito Baskoro Satrianto and Gantyo Koespradono, write that the conflict is not so much one of religion as it is of humanity, and that in Palestine there are both Muslims and Christians fighting together for the country’s freedom.

He concludes with the statement that "the struggle of Palestinians is a fight for freedom and the war is not a religious conflict. Indonesian bloggers seem to be more informed and mature than most of the Indonesian media."

Meanwhile, Dean Wright of Reuters provides examples of readers accusing Reuters of taking pro-Israeli stances in articles concerning the struggle in Gaza. They claim that "Israel [must have] some control over Reuters" and that its "pro-Israel news coverage of Gaza is shockingly evil."

Others blame Reuters for having a "pro-Palestinian slant," and none applaud the journalists for providing information regarding both sides of the issue. Reuters editor-in-chief David Schlesinger states that "getting it right and giving a true picture of the situation is fundamental" to the mission of Reuters. Reuters Jerusalem bureau chief Alastair Macdonald claims that, for the most part, reporters in the area have the freedom to report independently and without external pressure or influence.

Conversely, not everyone agrees that journalism needs to be impartial. John Press, as stated in the American Chronicle, believes quite the opposite. To him, neutral reporting is not a necessity but the problem. Press argues that journalists need to be "culturist;" they need to "have a side and stick up for it." He claims, "Culturism affirms that we have a core culture and need to protect it." Since, according to Press, the Islamic side is already culturist, the United States must be culturist as well in order to survive.