Putting the "Me" In Media

You hear about the rise of “citizen journalism” and it might occur to some as a distinctly American idea. The empowerment, the democratization, the individuality and (yes) the whole ‘American Idol’-maybe-this’ll-get-me-on-TV angle.

Like what Jose Antonio Vargas wrote in the Washington Post the other day:

Fact is, independent of the candidates, voters -- you -- are interacting with the 2008 presidential election at an unprecedented level because of the Internet, YouTubing, Facebooking, Wikipedia-ing, et al. So why not call yourself a journalist and cover the campaign, too? Whether or not we MSMers like it, the loose, undefined, evolving cadre of CJs are here to stay.

All this pounds home the thought that Citizen Journalism is as American as apple pie, right?

Well, yes, but there's more to it than that, as evidenced by the fact that Agence France Press has jumped into the movement:

Agence France Presse has announced that it has taken a 30% stake in Scooplive, a French company that runs a citizen journalism platform for films and photos.

The site was started in 2006 as a way to allow citizen journalists to sell their videos and photos to media organizations around the world.

The move by AFP is meant to help its clients in the media field by getting them closing to readers and finding videos and content from citizen journalists to compliment their own production.

What’s going on in media today isn’t just limited to the goings-on within America’s borders. And it’s bigger than just our Americentric culture. There’s truly a global upheaval in terms of information, news-gathering, and technology.

Where’s it all headed? Tough to tell. It’s not going to be easy. At times, it’ll be downright messy. And it won’t necessarily permeate every corner of the world. But it’s changing things. Like in Cairo this week, where an Egyptian activist’s YouTube videos were pulled from the site. And with blogs like Abu Aardvark are out there, trying to open up lines of communication in the Arab world.

It’s the butterfly effect gone online, where a point-and-click on the other side of the world can incite a debate at your kitchen table. It’s the international information age, and there’s no going back.