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The citizen comes calling

Citizen journalism, an established trend in the West, is seeping into Indian television as a viable tool of interactive newsgathering, notes SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

MY STORY IS IMPORTANT TOO Ashutosh, Managing Editor, IBN7, and Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, CNN-IBN,have given a big platform to citizen journalists PHOTO: ANU PUSHKARNA

Friday afternoon. Bomb blast at a mosque in Maharashtra's Malegaon town. That the Muslim community was so blatantly targeted is news, and enough to make the national media rush to this sleepy town. But the news channels were running out of time. Without images to flash, they were left with mere words and more words after breaking the news.

THE TREND IS STILL LARGELY CONFINED TO THE URBAN AREAS ABHIJIT BASARKOD

Then came calling a `citizen journalist' from Malegaon, with a few stills of the hapless Friday prayer-goers scurrying out of the mosque, blood-soaked. Splashed on NDTV 24/7, the pictures were of no great quality but were the envy of the rest of the brigade. They were the first images of the tragedy for the whole country to see.

In the age of cutthroat competition in news gathering, citizen journalism has become a novel trend on our news channels, reinforced by the search for `something different'. While CNN-IBN and IBN 7 categorically seek citizen journalist reports, other channels use them as and when their network is found lacking. That bomb blasts, flash floods, violence, kidnappings and murders are common happenings, that there is no single platform for the public to speak its mind on vital issues, that our television media is often so metro-centric, seems to have contributed healthily to the rise of the phenomenon.

Says Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, CNN-IBN, "That our media for the last few years have largely not been focussing so much beyond the metros could be a factor for people coming out to contribute to newsgathering, but I feel the main reason behind it is, people now feel `my story is important too and it needs to be told'."

I SAW THE BLAST AND QUICKLY BROUGHT MY VIDEO CAMERA AND STARTED SHOOTING AJIT JAYEKAR

Sardesai says the time is now of two-way journalism. "People now want to be an active participant in the daily news," he states.

A trend worldwide

Leaving far behind the unseen contributor to the letters-to-the-editor column of newspapers, this new age citizen has now got a face in the era of television news. In fact, he is more prominent in the West already. The first images of the fall of the Twin Towers were by amateurs, the first videos of hurricane Katrina, of the London blasts and the Madrid train blast were also by citizen journalists. There are now many blogs and websites for the willing citizen to contribute news images. The annual CNN Young journalist Award has introduced the Citizen Journalist category this year for India and Pakistan.

In India, though still at a young stage, we already have quite a few instances of citizen journalism. Be it the tsunami, Mumbai rains, Mumbai blasts, Delhi blasts, or actress Kareena Kapoor kissing a friend at a night club, citizen journalists have continuously been found at the right place, ready with their first person accounts, armed with images. And in the scramble for `exclusive' reports, they have found a prominent place, quickly.

The thrill of the man on the street to be on television too has contributed. The phenomenal development of telecommunications has also helped the cause. These overnight journos shoot their images not just with hand-held video cameras and digital still cameras but even with mobile phones and then send them electronically to the channels.

One such instance is that of Ajit Jayaker. He turned a citizen journalist by contributing his images to CNN-IBN during the Mumbai blasts. "I was on the terrace of my house and saw the blast. I quickly brought my video camera and started shooting. Just then a friend called and I told him about my footage and he suggested I give it to a news channel. CNN-IBN was just flashing numbers seeking amateur images of the blast and I contacted them," he relates.

A LOT STILL DEPENDS ON WHAT THE CHANNELS THINK IS NEWS GAUHAR RAZA

Yet another example is Abhijit Basarkod. This Mulund college-goer says he loves to shoot videos, and this helped CNN-IBN to get exclusive images of the flooded railway tracks and the Mulund-Thane Eastern Express Highway.

Says Ravi Kant Mittal, Output Editor, Zee News, "We too took help from citizen journalists during the Mumbai blasts and the flash floods, because no reporters could reach the spots so fast. There are limitations of our media and the canvas is growing bigger, and so I see the trend growing." Verification of these images, he adds, is however, an important task.

One big question is, do citizen journalist reports bring in high ratings? Do TRPs not depend more on the time spent by a viewer on a channel and its wider distribution? A Star News spokesperson says, "Ratings are important for us but finally, we should not forget that if a story impacts a life, it is news."

Simply for that reason, he says, "In 2003, before the term `citizen journalist' became popular, we had a slot for people's reporting."

So is this the benchmark then? Gauhar Raza, who turned a citizen journalist this past week on CNN-IBN by reporting on a disaster that struck his team when they were filming a documentary on global warming in Uttarkashi, says, "A lot still depends on what the channels think is news, who would take it first and also whom you know."

Citizen journalist Abhijit has the clincher, "The trend is still largely confined to the urban areas. I would say it is a success here only when it spills to the rural areas. Only then will it be a full fledged people's platform."

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