Citizen Journalism

Technology has always played an important part in the news gathering and production process, and one of the "products" of technology is the internet. Apparently, the internet is a new communication tool to disseminate information through online information service.

The success of Ohmynews, a South Korean online newspaper with the motto 'Every Citizen is a Reporter" which was founded by Oh Yeon Ho on February 22, 2000, lent credence to this notion.

The Ohmynews promotes citizen journalism whereby it accepts, edits and publishes articles from the readers, and its concept as far as journalism is concerned is worth exploring.

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -- citizen journalism, as known as "participatory journalism", is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysizing and disseminating news and information.

In my view, the Ohmynews' policy of giving public access to open and free dialogue is a good move towards the media freedom. However, we must bear in mind that although "citizen journalist" is a good source of information, his or her inputs might be tainted with worthless or intentional misleading information.

As such, it is essential that editors of online newspapers (that promote citizen journalism) critically evaluate the information they obtain online. To me, it is also important to verify online information from off-line sources and never to rely exclusively on online information for a story, just as one should avoid relying on a single source for a story.

Unlike public journalism which is practised by professional journalists, citizen
journalists may be activists within the communities they write about. They may have "personal agenda" to pursue in the name of citizen journalism.

As for Ohmynews, article contributors always subscribe to a code of ethics and eschew racism or ponography. By doing so, Ohmynews maintains its credibility and based on record in last four years, Ohmynews has had to publish only four retractions and has never had any significant legal issues.

No wonder, Ohmynews has become one of the most influential news and information sites in Korea. Another contributing factor to the success of Ohmynews that I can think of is the good penetration of Internet access in South Korea, and its decision to launch Ohmynews International in English is a plus point for the online newspaper.

What is important here is that Ohmynews promotes democracy not only in South Korea but also in other parts of the world. By giving the chance to people around the globe to speak up freely, Ohmynews is indirectly promoting one of the principes of democracy, that is -- the right to freedom of expression.