Hivos perspective on digital media and citizen journalism

Posted March 11th, 2008 by Margreet

`The news is what we make of it, in more ways than one'

(Dan Gillmor, We the media)

1. Introduction

We are living in a media dominated world. A small number of large media corporations are increasingly monopolizing global and national media, also in the countries where Hivos' partners are working. This holds the risk of a homogenized and often one-sided - western - perspective on news events. Also the state control on media, including the internet, is growing in many countries. Especially the governments of China and Iran are advanced in monopolizing and controlling - including censoring and filtering - television, radio, papers and the internet.

At the same time we are in the midst of a turbulent technological revolution that empowers independent media and is democratising worldwide communication in an unprecedented manner. The tools of tomorrow's participatory journalism are evolving quickly. What happens when people - living at the margins of society with little or no access to the dominant media in their country - participate in news gathering and dissemination processes?

Veteran journalist and guru of the grass roots journalism Dan Gillmor, predicts traditional journalism and mass media will transform in the next years to something profoundly more grassroots and democratic. `Tomorrow's news reporting and production will be more of a conversation, or a seminar. The lines will blur between producers and consumers, changing the role of both, in ways we are only beginning to grasp. The communication network itself will be a medium for everyone's voice, not just the few who can afford to buy multimillion-dollar printing presses, launch satellites or win the government's permission to squat on the public's airwaves.'

(We, the media, O'Reilly, 2004)

A complete new grey communication area is growing between the traditional media and other societal domains. This area is offering new and exciting opportunities to circulate information. It also gives opportunities to network and share knowledge using civil society owned communication platforms.

Although most people will remain consumers of news, the fact remains almost anyone, located in an urban area, can share his or her message globally, by posting it from an internet cafe on a free weblog. For lots of people, for instance those living in rural areas or in countries where internet connections are scarce, access to internet is a farfetched modernity. In these situations radio and mobile phone can play a similar role in exchanging information and communication. Armed with notebooks, cell phones and digital cameras, these readers-turned-reporters are transforming the news from a top-down-lecture to a dialogue.

The flexibility and interactivity offered by digital media have broadened the media palet enormously. They function as main or additional information source and at the same time can work as platform to share information. This is especially the case in regions where citizens live in repressive societies or under totalitarian regimes. In countries in the Middle East, like for example Egypt and Iran, or in Central Asian countries, the print media, radio and TV are owned by the president's relatives or an inner circle of business and political allies or are completely under state control.

Too often journalists in the South, also citizen journalists, do not use web utilities to stay informed. They do not have insight in information skills to search, how to do on line research and how to judge, and use on line information. Besides knowledge of digital tools, citizen journalists can also develop their basic journalistic skills, like fact checking, handling sources, reporting on numbers and statistics and interviewing, in order to enhance the quality of their reporting.

Journalists, also citizen journalists, need better information skills to search, do research and to interpret. So they have to understand the vastness of the deep web, have knowledge of and experience with tools and can use several web utilities to stay informed and skilled with internet sources.

2. Hivos media strategy

A strong civil society, characterized by citizen participation and public engagement, is a driving force in stimulating demand for good governance and fair democratic processes. Its capacity to challenge government and contribute to political agendas can be strengthened by harnessing the potential of the media, supported by modern information and communication technologies (ICT). Stimulating the synergies between media, civil society and individuals creates unprecedented opportunities for citizens to find, share and publish information, participate in public debate and, subsequently, turn debate into action.

The Hivos Media, Information and Communication for Development (MIC 2005-2008) programme wants to empower citizens in developing countries - especially the poor, marginalized and their organisations - to express their voices and make them heard. Consequently we support initiative that increase media diversity, open up mainstream media to citizens or their representative organisations and initiatives that build capacity of citizens and CSOs to make use of the media opportunities available to them. The Citizen Journalism in Africa programme is such an initiative.

Hivos creates space for initiatives that use ICT and digital media creatively and innovatively, and which are likely to make a contribution to reaching our objectives. This particularly applies to initiatives that increase reach or offer new reach, such as the use of SMS or smart applications of a combination of digital and analogue media. They can use digital techniques such as radiocasting, weblogging, mailing, discussion fora and other interactive (web 2.0) tools. But also a print version of a newsletter or a radioprogramme distributed on a cassette give access to information. An important criterion for support is the possibility of using the application on larger scale, on and/or off line.

The combination of citizen and professional journalism should be a synergetic one. Both citizens and journalists who are active on and off the Internet in, among others, communities or peer-to-peer networks contribute to increased media diversity and press freedom. In this way the work by citizens can contribute to the widespread dissemination of (otherwise unknown) information and independent opinions in developing countries. Such dynamic interplay is urgently needed in local development activities. With reinforcing alternative and independent media, Hivos supports media initiatives that combine the democratic and open character of digital media with the professional standards of traditional journalism.

Some examples of Hivos supported initiatives: