Citizen Journalism: OhmyNews als Paradebeispiel

--- Ronda Hauben besch�ftigt sich in Telepolis mit dem Paradebeispiel f�r die Einbeziehung von Citizen Journalism in Redaktionsalltag beim koreanischen Online-Magazin OhmyNews sowie mit dessen Gr�nder Oh Yeon Ho:

The first edition of OhmyNews was December 21, 1999. At the time OhmyNews had a staff of four and received twenty articles from citizen reporters. By the official launch date, February 22, 2002 at 2:22 p.m., when the incorporation papers were signed, there were 727 citizen reporters. His goal, Oh explains, was to create a media culture where "the quality of news determined whether it won or lost" not the power and prestige of the media organization that printed the article. Fortunately, Oh was embarking on an undertaking that would depend upon the nature of the Internet, which provides an online environment created to be plastic, malleable, interactive, general purpose, and which supports collaborative efforts. ... According to Oh, there are currently 75 paid staff, which includes 45 reporters. Among the reporters, 12 are editors for the submissions received from citizen reporters. Min estimates that there are currently 39,000 citizen reporters. Describing the thinking which led him to the concept of the citizen reporter, Oh writes: Every citizen is a reporter. Journalists aren't some exotic species, they're everyone who seeks to take new developments, put them into writing, and share them with others. This common truth has been trampled on in a culture where being a reporter is seen as something of a privilege to be enjoyed. Privileged reporters who come together to form massive news media wielded power over the whole process of news production, distribution, and consumption. The seriousness of the problem is that the massive media power is the final gutter of Korean capitalist society. There is a lot about those media that is dirty, and yet they have packaged themselves as clean and acted self-righteously towards the rest of society. We therefore stand up to them raising high the flag of guerrilla warfare. Our weapon is the proposition that 'Every citizen is a reporter.' We intend to achieve a'News alliance of the news guerrillas'. ... If a citizen reporter's article is used, the citizen reporter earns W2000 (W1000 = approx .80 euro), W10,000, or W20,000. Articles that appear on the main page earn W2000, those that appear at the top of one of the sections, earn W10,000, and those that appear somewhere else in the online publication earn W2,000. OhmyNews reports that when citizen reporters are asked why they submit their articles to OhmyNews even though they are paid so little, they respond that they want to contribute to creating a better world. ... Oh explains that OhmyNews has now entered its second stage. The objective of this stage is to "go beyond criticism of the existing social establishment to propose alternatives for a new society."

Wir sind gespannt.

Und sonst: Die Londoner Times warnt vor den Wirtschaftsrezepten der m�glichen neuen "eisernen Lady" Angie Merkel.

Ups, zeigt sich da langsam ein anderes Gesicht beim strahlenden Revolutionsf�hrer in der Ukraine? Ukrainische Regierung nach Korruptionsvorw�rfen aufgel�st. Der ukrainische Pr�sident Wiktor Juschtschenko hat die wegen Korruptionsvorw�rfen unter Druck geratene Regierung seines Landes entlassen. Juschtschenko beauftragte den Regionalgouverneur bereits mit der Bildung einer neuen Regierung. ... Ausgel�st wurde der Skandal von Stabschef Oleksandr Sintschenkok, der Korruptionsvorw�rfe gegen f�hrende Juschtschenko-Vertraute erhoben und sein Amt aufgegeben hatte.

Ohne Worte: 25.000 Leichens�cke f�r Louisiana.

Michael Albert, Vordenker eines "nach-kapitalistischen Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmodell" unter dem Namen Parecon, ist morgen in Berlin.

citizen, journalism, wahlkampf