Citizen media

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Citizen Media, Participatory Media, or Democratic Media refers to any form of content produced by private citizens, which has as its goal to inform and empower all members of society. This includes inclusive production models such as public access, community technology centers, digital storytelling, e-democracy, citizen journalism, zines, Independent Media Centers, blogs, vlogs (video blogs), and podcasting (audio blogs).

Media democracy is a related social movement, especially in the United States, where activists are involved in

  • media reform -- increasing citizen participation, public access, and civic accountability in traditional forms of broadcast and print media,
  • media literacy education -- helping media consumers become more critical of what they see and hear, and be able to discern censorship, propaganda, and bias,
  • creating media via existing forms of public access media, e.g., community radio and public access television,
  • creating new modes and channels for citizen participation in media production and distribution.

While traditional forms of public broadcasting share a common goal, critics say[1] it fails due to corporate sponsorship, elitist or politicized governing boards[2] which control programming, centralized funding or control (such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the U.S.), and a lack of localism and public access.

Citizen Media can be in the form of news or citizen journalism, public affairs, entertainment, or diaries/blogs. It can be factual, satirical, radical, revolutionary, and challenging. It tends to serve a local audience, but can also be of a worldwide scope.

This term draws its distinction from centrally controlled/distributed media (often via communication satellites), Corporate media, exclusive media lacking public access, media created by elites, media designed to serve a propaganda role[3] or public relations purpose, or media operating under the capitalist principle of maximizing profits for investors, stockholders, and advertisers.

Contents

[edit] Modes of Citizen Media

[edit] Television

With the birth of Cable television in the 1950's came public interest movements to democratize this new booming industry. Many countries around the world developed legislated means for private citizens to access and use the local cable systems for their own community-initiated purposes.

  • Public Access Television in the United States is a government mandated model that provides citizens in a cable franchised municipality to get access to the local cable channels to produce and distribute their own television programming. Public access programming is community initiated and serves as a platform to meet local programming needs.
  • The Community channel in Canada also provides access for citizens to distribute their own programming content.
  • Community Technology Centers are private non-profit organizations found in the US that serve to increase access and training in technology for social applications.

[edit] Radio

The so-called "Public Broadcasting" service in the United States initiated by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 is really a misnomer; there is little public about it, apart from some public funding. Most NPR affiliates produce little programming of their own, or allow citizens a chance at program production.

However, the lesser known Pacifica Radio Network begun in 1946 by Lew Hill is more true to this mission. Stations like WBAI, KPFK, and KPFK have apprenticeship programs which allow citizen participation in all aspects of the station, including production.

Additionally, there are many holders of FCC non-commerical/educational licenses which are considered community radio stations (including college radio stations), with various levels of participation by the public.

[edit] Internet

Affordable consumer technology and broader access to the internet has created new electronic distribution methods. While the corporate media market enjoyed a long period of monopoly on media distribution, the internet gave birth to countless independent media producers and new avenues for delivering content to viewers.

The technological development of Content Management Systems (CMS) in the late 1990's, which allowed non-technical people to author and publish articles to the internet, spawned the birth of weblogs or blogs, Podcasting (audio blogs), Vlogs (video blogs), collaborative wikis, and web-based bulletin boards and "forums" [4].

Along with this technical advancement was the social development of the Independent Media Centers (IMCs). Based on a few simple concepts (consensus decision making, mandatory inclusion of women and minorties, non-corporate control, the ability to post anonymously), the IMCs have spread to over 200 cities all over the world and provide a forum of political dissent even in countries where dissent is officially censored or even repressed with violence.

New conceptual methods of making media have been developed alongside this shift in technology:

  • Digital storytelling, a curriculum developed by the Center for Digital Storytelling, is an approach to creating shared meda organized around common topics. Content is deeply personal and transformative and final forms are distributed widely on many electronic plat forms.

Commercial models that use these new methods are being born and acquired by media corporations on a daily basis.

[edit] References

  1. ^ citation needed
  2. ^ Such as the conservative appointments made by President George W. Bush to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
  3. ^ See Propaganda Model
  4. ^ The more proper "fora" is rarely used in this context.

[edit] See also

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