over the last couple days we have seen a number of posts contemplating the current sorry state of our media and what we should
do to fix it. we need a fundamental shift away from profit driven media and towards the goals of civic journalism. the model we should all be working towards is what the South Koreans have in OhMyNews. this is news by the people for the people: "every citizen can be a reporter."
here is the model:
OhmyNews is in fact little more than a Web site, edited by Oh and his fellow editors, and filled by ordinary members of the public--what the left-leaning Oh calls "citizen reporters"--who submit stories, comments, pictures and sometimes video by e-mail and from their cell phones. More than 35,000 of them regularly post pieces, and many more add their comments. A team of editors sift through the material, weeding out potential legal problems and rewriting for readability, while a handful of full-time reporters add their own stories on the top events of the day. Many of those full-time reporters come from the ranks of contributors, usually after their talents have been spotted by the founder Oh Yeon-Ho and his team. Kim Young Kyun, for example, attracted the attention of Oh after, as an unemployed history graduate in the southeastern city of Pusan, covering local stories ignored by the mainstream press.
the editors sometimes will have their own stories published, but the vast majority of what is posted is by citizen reporters who receive a small token of money, about $20 per piece published. recently they instituted a tipping system where readers can reward good writing. in its early stages on philosophy professor earned $22,000 in two days.
all posts can be commented on, in this way it is like a very large version of a blog. posts turn into stories, which inspire new stories. it is an intensely organic living site.
"Maybe about 70% of citizen reports are about everyday life. The others are about social issues, political issues, sometimes economic issues," says Oh. "They write what they can write," adds Min. "There has been some misunderstanding among western journalists who say 'How can citizen reporters write professional stories, reporting style?' Not many people can do that, actually!"
Fortunately, they do not have to. It is not what OhmyNews wants. "Our main concept is the citizen reporter," says Oh. "Our second concept is: demolish the news-writing formula. We say: 'Please communicate in your style: if it is convenient for you, that's fine. Don't just follow the professional reporters'."
OhMyNews is the brainchild of Oh Yeon-Ho a 38-year-old former writer for progressive magazines. he became frustraited by conservative papers limited points of view, who he believed did not represent the vast majority of S. Korean citizens. he set up the website for $150,000 and it is starting to turn a profit. more importantly it has become an amazing political force.
When popular anger against the parliament simmered over earlier this year over its attempt to impeach the president, for example, millions of people used their cellphones to access OhmyNews. Many of them, already part of the thousands of demonstrators cramming the streets of the capital, added content and comments: One item alone attracted 85,000 responses.
some actually credit OhMyNews with being the biggest reason why the president still remains in office.
this type of behavior is exactly what Howard Reingold is talking about in "Smart Mobs". citizens used their cell phones to film footage and take pictures of the demonstration. they write or comment on an evolving story that gets published on a mainstream news site within minutes. this encourages more people to come out to the public square. hundreds turn into thousands in hours.
unfortunately our country is not quite there yet in terms of the technology we need to make this successful in this country. S. Korea is completely wired, most people have broadband and there are numerous wireless hotspots. in addition their mobile devices are several generations more advanced than what we have in this country. however, this will not always be true.
Oh has already come to the US trying to encourage people involved with the people who were profiled in the NY mag piece about retaking the Democratic party (The Phoenix Group). Oh sees enormous potential for his model to be used in this country and i agree.