Community Journalism

There are those times in life when you find something that engages your interest, holds your attention without work, and makes you sit forward in your chair to catch every word. That is the way I felt tonight as I sat through a Journalism Seminar. I must admit, I went with all of the wrong ideas about what I would learn. I expected to hear the formula on how to organize a news story. I thought I would be regaled with editor stories and deadline headaches. Instead, we learned that the new Journalism is now online. We were given the tools for that, instead of the newsprint exercises I expected.

Ross Williams and David McDonald, both of Grand Rapids, gave a free class on Community Journalism on Feb. 7, 2008 at the computer commons of CLC in Brainerd, to teach students about the KAXE Radio's idea of creating a community sharing of ideas, news, community services, opinions and local happenings.

Ross Williams started us off by explaining Community Journalism to us. KAXE Radio is creating the forum for a community of blogs, local services and local experts. It includes stories about the impact on local events and emergency services. A collective effort of the community would be the basis of the website. We now live with a worldwide view of life, and often our local events are lost by the sheer magnitude of Internet content. This coalescing of local information can find a local audience. You would be able to go online to see that the small store down the road actually has a website, or the church down the road is having a lunch that you are invited to if you bring a hotdish.

Since content would need to be updated daily, a variety of input would be most welcome. The audience is quickly bored and wants new information. If each person adds one thing per week, then the newest stories could be put at the top and there would always be fresh reading.

Ross did give us the old basic of journalistic writing: the 5 W's. We all know them from elementary school, Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Try to cover all of these questions in one sentence. My second paragraph covers the five W's in this story.

We were given wristbands with the website www.kaxecommons.org on the side. We were encouraged to go to the website and see for ourselves what was offered there. The website is still growing as more find out about it and add their own flavor of comments or contents.

We were challenged to create a blog and write a story. I dusted off this older blog that I had started and abandoned. I think I am going to enjoy renewing my interest in this.

While Ross kept us on task and was quick to explain any questions, David McDonald leapt back and forth on subjects, but was also very engaging with his enthusiasm for the subject. He expounded on Multi-Media presentations of our stories, which can include: text, photos, audio, video and animation. First get to know your software, then edit and present. Just writing a story is so last century. We live in the age of You Tube which communicates effectively to society without text.

He broke us down into two groups, Native and immigrant. The younger population has grown up with technology at their fingertips and are much more native in their response. It is a normal part of their lives. Immigrants, or those of us who came to it later in life, may not be quite so nimble.

David entertained us with stories of his time working for Reuters as a reporter for the BBC. His point was about ethics. We must be aware of how our stories will affect those involved. Could someone get fired for telling us something, and then we report it? He gave us an example of a doctor he interviewed in Sudan during a coupe. There was demonstrations in the streets and upheaval with the government. David interviewed the doctor, who blasted the current leaders. David submitted his story to the BBC. The story went out over the wires and later David heard that the doctor was arrested.

He reminded us that anything on the Internet is public domain. Anyone can read it and anyone can have an opinion of it. Ross spoke up and said the phrase, "Security by obscurity." Together they brought home the lesson that if you put it out there, it is out there for all to see. Just because you are one small person, you may become suddenly famous for something you thought no one would read or see. Employers have learned to check My Space websites of prospective employees.

David also gave us a lesson on journalism by telling us to decide which direction we want our stories to take. We can go the "objective" route, and give both sides of an issue. We can do the "PR" route, and give a one-sided view of a subject. Usually you would do that when you are being paid to show the good side of something. The third option was to do the Art, or subjective view.

David talked a bit about using consent forms. It is a good way to protect yourself from future litigation, and may be required by some medias that you might work with. David says to use your good judgment about anything you write. Gain access to your information in an ethical way. When you write you are responsible for your words.

The entire night we learned quite a bit about Citizen Journalism. We each belong to a local community and it is ours to talk about, blog about, take pictures of and share with others who belong to our same community and are as interested as we are. The point was made that in five years the media will be far advanced from what we see now. Look how far we have come already. David predicted that there would be no static websites in the future.

David said to only go down three levels into the story, or you run the risk of the story going all over the place. State clearly if you are being objective or subjective.

Ross told us we are all publishers.

In the future KAXE will bring other great free seminars for us. Doug McGill of Rochester may come to teach us how to write a great story. He has written for the New York Times and Blomberg News Service Bureau Chief. Scott Hall may give a seminar on how to write and produce for radio. So stay tuned for those. While you are waiting check out www.kaxecommons.org website and start sharing your local fare.

After the seminar I heard comments that proved others enjoyed it as much as I had. E. Hoskins said, " I am so glad that I made the decision to take part in the meeting. It was very informative and interesting. I had a lot of fun. "

G. Hoskins said, "This was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed learning the new skills. You never know when you will need them in the future."

Al Martin said, "It wasn't what I expected, but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot of unexpected things."

In conclusion I would like to repeat a line you will find at the top of the website. "Community Internet is like Community Radio. It takes a medium that can reach the world and focuses it on building local communities."

Hope to see you in the blogs.