In a previous post, entitled, “The New Journalism,” I wrote about how citizen journalists empowered by online tools are changing the way in which news is collected, edited, disseminated and consumed.
As a follow up, I’d like to give some more examples — some as recent as the past few days — of how citizen journalists are using these same tools to influence important political and policy debates.
Sleepy Time
First, let me go way back in time (sic) to 2006, when an irate customer posted this YouTube video of a Comcast cable technician who had fallen asleep on the customer’s couch. As you can see, that video has been viewed more than one million times, created a big discussion about Comcast’s customer service efforts, and forced Comcast to engage in what has become a quality online communications program.
This customer — a citizen journalist — brought about real change with this simple video. Just imagine the difference if this customer had simply written a complaint letter to Comcast or even wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million. It’s citizen empowerment at its best.
Cell Phone Diplomacy?
Fast forward to the month of August, as members of Congress faced heated constituents at health care town hall meetings across the country. Hundreds (thousands?) of YouTube videos of these events posted by constituents throughout the country allowed everybody a glimpse at these local events — some of which included questionable and silly responses and actions by members of Congress.
Perhaps the most striking example is the video of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) rudely taking a cell phone call while a cancer survivor attempted to ask a question on health care. The video of this outrageous act was posted on YouTube and, as you can see, has garnered more than a half-million views to date. It was also picked up by numerous blogs and mainstream media outlets.
Without the video, it’s unlikely that any mainstream media outlets would’ve reported on the situation based solely on word of mouth. This video posted by a citizen journalist forced the media to cover it — and went viral to hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
ACORN, Pimps and Prostitutes
Now, during just the past few days, two citizen journalists armed with a small camera have impacted the national policy debate in a big way by uncovering some extremely troubling activities at the Washington, DC, Baltimore, MD and New York City offices of ACORN.
In this undercover “sting” operation, two young activists, disguised as a pimp and prostitute, received advice and assistance from local ACORN officials on how to game federal tax and sex trafficking laws.
If you haven’t already seen it, please click here to watch the video of the Baltimore operation here
As a brief background, ACORN is a national “community organizing” organization that has been accused of voter fraud (11 Florida ACORN officials were arrested just last week), that is eligible to receive a reported $8.5 billion in federal “stimulus” dollars — and had a federal contract to help with next year’s U.S. Census.
What is interesting here is how the “mainstream media” (other than Fox News) has largely ignored this important story. However, the power of this online video going viral across the country — as well as the Fox News segments — has resulted in the U.S. Census bureau terminating its taxpayer-funded contract with ACORN, the firing of the local ACORN officials who “starred” in the videos, and a national debate on whether or not taxpayer funds should be going to this troubled organization.
This is a story that the mainstream media did not uncover (and, in fact, is still refusing to cover.) However, two young, citizen journalists uncovered the story and are bringing about real change.
This is yet another powerful example of how The New Journalism is transforming not only our media culture — but our political process. It’s empowering individual citizens, driving mainstream news cycles, forcing accountability from corporations and politicians, and providing us another important, candid, real source of news.