Week 5: Assignment and Student Response to Discussion One and Two

ThursdayNov 2 at 8:15pm

Manage Discussion Entry

“Widespread communication technology and diversified human networks have culminated in the rapid diffusion of information on a variety of scales" (Korson, 2015). CNN ireport is a section on CNN's website for citizen journalist to share short news stories and visual/ audio content which is linked to an Instagram page. There is also a section that contains prompts for people to share stories on different topics proposed by CNN.

One story in particular that stood out was a celebratory video shot right as “Catalan independence was announced in #Barcelona” (CNN ireport, 2017) on Friday the 27th. Adrià Mateus shot the video. Mateus' Instagram does not have details on whether or not he has submitted reports or videos to the news before.

A pure moment in time is captured from the standpoint of a citizen, although brief carries a huge impact. No details are leading up to the issue of Catalan’s independence nor after. It is a raw moment. Not to say that all articles/ photos/ videos by citizen journalists would experience the same brevity, however, in the name of politics on mainstream outlets I found this to be the trend. As stated in the textbook by W. Russell Neuman Political scientist, “Technology does not determine, but it can make a difference.” More topics are coming to the forefront of news because there is numerous citizen journalist providing information on events that would have otherwise been lost in the shuffle. In particular, politics abroad.

The same story is written on CNN.com by experienced journalists Laura Smith-Spark and Claudia Rebaza. This article is full bodied stating that Catalan’s independence was from Spain and shows video of Parliament voting. The report also contained a quote from Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, which debatably would not have been acquired by a citizen journalist.

-Mallory Murray

Resources

CNN iReport. (2015, November 02). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from

http://www.cnn.com/specials/opinions/cnnireport (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Graber, D. A., & Dunaway, J. (2015). Mass Media and American Politics (Ninth ed.). Thousand Oaks,

California: Sage Publications.

Korson, C. (2015). Political Agency and Citizen Journalism: Twitter as a Tool of Evaluation. Professional

Geographer, 67(3), 364-373. doi:10.1080/00330124.2014.970839

Smith-Spark, L. (2017, October 28). Catalonia government dissolved after declaring split from Spain.

Retrieved November 02, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/27/europe/catalonia-independence-spain/index.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.