Behind the Headlines

Hello out there. In the world of “citizen journalism” I thought it might be helpful to post some information for people who want to become more involved in reporting on their community.

The first is an interactive list on citizen journalism brought to you by the International Journalists’ Network. The link is http://ijnet.org/interactive/blog_guide/1/module.html
or click here for a direct link.

This one is brought to you by the Knight Citizen News Network at www.kcnn.org/ or click here.

Or, if you’re interested, you can sign up to be part of News University at www.newsu.org or by clicking here. Once your signed up you can try out the “Be a reporter game” and other courses that use interactive teaching methods.
Disclaimer: While the game might have the overtones of what it’s like to be a reporter in the field and it’s kind of fun to play, it is highly unrealistic. There is no way on earth an ER doctor would hand over a list of kids who were brought from the school with suspected food poisoning. He or she may give some hints, but it would never be in the open, and, by the way, a reporter would not even be allowed on the floor unless it were special circumstances.
Also, good luck trying to get past any kind of school administrator/PR person to speak with a lunch lady. Not going to happen, unless you know how to finesse someone you have a long-standing relationship with (even then, probably not), sneak into the school through an open door or happen to be related to the person.
The reason this irks me so much is because it implies it’s easy to capture information when in real life we have to fight for every nugget we get. But it does provide an accurate idea of how many places we have to go and how many people we have to talk to, just to confirm the information we already have.

Is this something you are interested in? Let me know what you think.