As the world gets more heavily involved in the Internet, it is apparent that whatever people do in reality is now practiced online too. That includes news write-ups or discussions about current affairs and societal issues. The freedom people get in cyberspace however, is the power to do or say things that, given their status or qualifications, they would not have been able to carry out in reality. An example of the restrictions we have in reality is the inability to exercise free speech or make known our experiences and thoughts to the public without getting ourselves into too much trouble with the press or government. Today, to counter that, we have this amazing thing called “citizen journalism”.Citizen journalism, also known as “participatory journalism” is termed as the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information" (Citizen journalism, 2007). In essence, it is about normal people like you and me playing journalists and reporting the latest happenings that could be of interest to the public. According to Gillmor (2004), this is only possible “because of new publishing tools available on the Internet”. Today, we have access to the Internet from our desktops at home, laptops when we are outdoors, and even mobile phones when we are out without a laptop. The only other thing we need for citizen journalism to take place is a platform for sharing news. With the emergence of the Internet and more social networking sites such as web logs, message boards, chat rooms, mobile computing, and Wikis, participating in citizen journalism is now made so easy that almost anyone can practice it. So much so, it has become "Every Citizen is a Reporter" (Oh, 2000).
STOMP is an example of such an online community in Singapore, which clearly shows that “[t]he Internet has enabled citizens to contribute to journalism, without professional training” (Citizen journalism, 2007). Stomp is like a chatroom and a forum as well as announcement centre merged into one. It caters to the local population and even have different sections for people with different interest areas. Some examples are “the gym” for people interested in fitness, “vain pots” for people interested in beauty and fashion, and “foodie groupie” for food lovers. With this in place, people can then report on anything at all and and have others responding or adding on to their reports or comments. Because STOMP is highly interactive, people find themselves getting involved at a higher level and start having the desire to contribute too.In addition to getting involved, since these citizens are normal people like you and I, the reported news tend to be crafted in a more personal style taking the perspective of the witness. This makes the news very different from the “crafted” news from official organizations in the media. According to Edward M. Fouhy (1996) of the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, "It is an effort to reconnect with the real concerns that viewers and readers have about the things in their lives they care most about -- not in a way that panders to them, but in a way that treats them as citizens with the responsibilities of self-government, rather than as consumers to whom goods and services are sold. It takes the traditional five w's of journalism -- who, what, when, where, why -- and expands them -- to ask why is this story important to me and to the community in which I live?"; the news becomes less intimidating and more friendly, it becomes something we as citizens can relate to better.
Although STOMP appears to be quite an ideal form of citizen journalism for Singapore, it has potential for growth and further development. I have discovered that people talk about anything at all and sometimes, there can be not much of a focus and that read becomes a mere waste of time. Thus, I feel that perhaps moderators could monitor the reports more closely and more often to ensure smoother and more satisfying discussions as well as information update. In addition to that, more exposure could also be given to other bloggers with interesting reads instead of just focusing on the same old handful of bloggers like XiaXue and Dawn Yang. Perhaps normal citizens could have their blogs published for others to read and find out more too. The lack of freedom within STOMP prevents it from being more than what it could be.
References
“Citizen Journalism” (March 29, 2006) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism
Gillmor, D. “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People” (July, 2004). Retrieved March 29, 2007 from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tip
STOMP (2006) From Singapore Press Holdings
Retrieved March 29, 2007 from
http://www.stomp.com.sg/
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