Video Introduction and Book Review “We’re All Journalist Now”

We’re All Journalist Now. Scott Gant. Free Press: New York, 2007. 240 pp. 

Note: Please see the video introduction for the book review before reading the review. Thank you.

Click here to see video: Video Introduction for the Book Review

-Book Review-

Today I had the opportunity to create a news report on what students here at the University of Washington like to do for fun.  I interviewed students and business owners.  This video report included footage of restaurants, movie theaters, bars, coffee shops and the University Village mall. Then, I edited and created a one minute and 30 seconds video.  This video will hopefully be shown at Palestra.net The College Network (news for students).  Does this mean that I’m a journalist now?  Do I have the same privileges that professional journalists do? Am I protected by the freedom of press? After all I did everything that a journalist supposed to do including research and interviews.

The book We’re All Journalists Now by Scott Gant addresses two very important issues throughout its pages.  The first is what a journalist is.  The second is about the reasons behind the problems and consequences that journalists have to face in regards to freedom of the press.   Gant doesn’t provide direct answers to these issues; instead he provides enough information for the reader to come up with their own conclusions and answers. 

Gant mentions that according to a 2005 poll, 40 percent of the participants indentified Bill O’Reilly as a journalist. This opens up a door with many questions about “what makes a journalist?”.  One of the definitions available by the dictionary is “activity of profession or writing for newspapers or magazines or of broadcasting news on radio or television” (2).  In addition, journalists have the role to alert and inform the public about important issues and to serve as a “watchdog”.  This brings up a good point about “non-professional journalists” like bloggers who fit the definition of a journalist by the dictionary and who alert and inform the public as well.  According to Benkler in The Wealth of Networks; bloggers are individuals who use the Web as a medium to broadcast and sometimes bloggers had revealed certain news information in the Web before journalist from the mainstream media does.  However, Gant mentions that the definition and aspects about what makes a journalist are not being as simple it sounds.  He states that there are other implications, in which, only professional journalists have “preferential treatment” (88) such as given certain rights and privileges that are not available to non-professional journalists like bloggers. For example, professional journalists are provided with a press pass to have access to places for which non-professional journalist don’t have access to, like war zones, crime scenes, disaster areas and government buildings like the White House, Congress and the Supreme court.  Permission to access official records, the right to visit foreign countries to which regular citizen and non-professional journalist may not travel, like Cuba.   In addition, he states that there is not a specific law that defines what makes a journalist.  Consequently, is not very clear what makes a journalist, there is only a distinction about professional journalists and non-professionals journalist base on “privileges granted by state and local governments” (94).

Gant, also, brings another question about the reasons why journalists sometimes (professional and non-professional) are not fully protected by the freedom of the press.  According to Gant “in the view of some Court watchers, the justices have gone out of their way in recent decades to avoid addressing the Press Clause” and “Court will continue to evade hard questions concerning the nature of press freedom and the meaning of the Press Clause” (72).  This is a concern for journalists because they are being forced to reveal their sources’ names.  Gant mentions that there are certain States that have created laws that protect journalist from having to reveal their sources, but when the issue is brought to a federal court, journalists have no protection “the absence of federal shield statute leaves an enormous gap in protection for journalist” (151).  For example, two San Francisco Chronicle reporters were sentenced to as long as 18 months in prison for not revealing the information to prosecutors in the investigation of an alleged steroid use of athletes.   This creates confusion because the First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; of abridging the freedom of the press (American Library Association: First Amendment of the Bill of Rights).  If journalists have to face the law and sometimes find themselves in jail for refusing to provide the information of their sources, then this means that there is a law that conflicts with what the First Amendment, in regards to the freedom of the press, says.

In conclusion, there is not a definite answer on what makes a journalist other than the distinction of professional journalists who have certain privileges that non-professional journalists like bloggers or I don’t have.  It is also true that neither professional journalist nor non-professional journalists are fully protected by the First Amendment under the Freedom of the Press and both can face the law in a Federal Court. This brings me back to the question of whether I am a journalist on not.  I think that I am a non-professional journalist without all the privileges that professional journalists have, but at least I have the same protection that professional journalists do under the Freedom of Press which sometimes is not any at all.

The Wealth of Networks: Peer Production and Distribution

Not many years ago, distance and time were barriers to keep humans around the world connected with each other.   Global community was only a part of a fiction book or a fairy tale. However, now thanks to the internet and the creation of social networks, humans are part of a global community. The Wealth of Networks provides an overview about how new technology has overcome not only distance and time, but has permitted peer participation as well.  Peer participation has created social production and distribution (part of a new non-market model).  In this new model, peers have the opportunity to create, participate and freely share their ideas, this way; it raises cultural diversity and justice delivery around the world.  In addition, the author offers information about some of the motives behind the reason of peer participation in this non-market model.  However, the author doesn’t spend enough time elaborating about the negative impacts of peer production and distribution. Especially because peers are the main participants of this new non-market model, hence why it is important for the reader to be aware that some peers will use technology to create and others to destroy or cause problems.

The Wealth of Networks talks about a transformation in the redistribution of power and money by providing more opportunities for individuals (peers) to create and become part of a global community by creating social networks. These social relations have democratized culture by building social ties with friends, family and people around the world.  As a result, a non-market model was born, in which, peer to peer production and distribution was vital.  However, this peer participation can affect the way that humans interact with technology, “One should treat the role of technology in the development of human affairs” (16).  For example, the author mentioned that different technologies can make different kinds of human action and interaction easier or harder to perform.  Even though, it is true that technology doesn’t work for everyone and some take advantage of it and some don’t, the negative impact that this technology is causing goes beyond this.  Now it is about using this new technology to destroy others.  The author neglects to mention that some of the risks of peer production and distribution are that some peers use social networks for other purposes (harassments, bullying, stalking, child pornography, identity theft and the creation of computer virus).  This misuse is a very important point to mention since peers are the main participants of it. 

 Peer production and distribution has created a process of social communication where they share information and exchange their points of view about social issues. This is described by the author as a public sphere phenomenon, in which, peers can debate and advocate on events happening around the world, like social justice. He explains how mass media has played a very important role in building the public sphere in liberal democracies in history.  Throughout most of chapter 6, the author provides some historical examples like Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette during the revolution era or Radio Broadcast that proposed a national endowed fund to fund broadcaster.  He also mentions that nonmarket producers (peers) can complement commercial mass media and contribute to improve the public sphere, especially in authoritarian countries as he points out on most of chapter 7.  It is true that peer production has allowed many around the world to participate in the improvement of public sphere by advocating through e-mail, blogs, videos and news. However, he states that this new way of exchanging information and points of view can create too many observations, making it very difficult to filter all these observations.  Another problem, not mentioned in the book, is that sometimes this information created by peers can be manipulated or based on pure peer speculations and creating a sense of a false reality in the world.  For example, during the 911 tragedy many peers sent speculated information to peers living in Mexico about the 911 event and the future of many immigrants living in the United States.  This created fear for many families living in Mexico whose relatives were living in this country at that time.   

Lastly, peer production and distribution created a free and open software model, like the Linux system or Mozilla Firefox. This can create and incentive for peers to create and participate. Some of the motives of peer production and distribution can be monetary rewards and nonmonetary.   Some peers are looking for immortality rather than money and others will use this as a way of introducing their work to later charge for it through consulting or service contracts. However, the author mentions that this non-market exchange system requires fix costs and these costs are not possible to be paid by everybody in the world, especially for peers living in poor countries “peer-to-peer file-sharing systems build on the fact that individual users own vast quantities of excess capacity embedded in their personal computers” (83).  This provides awareness that this technology is not available to everyone in the world.  However, the author forgot to mention another very important subject about the possibility of these digital networks increasing copyright violations, which also makes rights holders to argue for increased copyright protection [Cheverie J. (2002) Managing Technology].  In this same article, Cheverie mentions that copyrights increase both quantity and quality of creative work.

In conclusion, The Wealth of Networks provides an opportunity for the reader to learn more about how the internet and social production and distribution has changed the market industry.  It created a new non-market model, in which, peers are the main participants and the motives for this peer contribution.  Although, the author neglected to provide more information in regards to some of the consequences created by pure peer participation and motivation, overall, it is a good book for someone who wants to learn more about social production and distribution, peer participation and contribution, and how this has allowed humans to be more connected than ever before in human history.

 

 

The Long Tail Book Review By Rubi Romero

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More. Chris Anderson. New York: Hyperion, 2006. 226 pp.

During my first visit as a tourist from Mexico to the City of Seattle back in 1991, I noticed that there were no Latino products nor Spanish channels, newspapers, books or radio stations.  Eventually as the Latino population increased over the years in the city, Latino products became available.  And thanks to the internet, Spanish media content and other Latino products were even more accessible for Latinos living in Seattle, but only to those who had access to internet and knew how to use it (not to mention the lack of having a credit card or the fear of using a credit card due to identity theft or credit card fraud). I think that being part of the Latino community in United States, I have been benefited from the growth of the Long Tail as a result of the demand for Latino products in this city.

This experience very much relates to The Long Tail book, in which, the author presents the reader with an overview of the Long Tail framework throughout the years and the benefits that technology has provided for its growth. First, the author introduces the reader to space limitations that the bricks and mortar industry has to face due to limited shelf space. Then, the author switches the attention of the reader to the on-line industry. He mentions that thanks to the new technology and the digitalization of media content, physical space is no longer a problem. He also makes references to the importance of web based companies like Amazon, Google, e-Bay, Craigslist, Wikipedia and social networks as a way to facilitate this new on-line business model for consumers. However, the author neglects to mention that this new technology is not available to everyone, including those with non-mainstream taste. Therefore if the growth of the Long Tail in the on-line business depends on this new technology, then it is important to mention that the lack of internet accessibility for everyone is also a constraint in the growth of the Long Tail.

According to the author this technology has changed the way of doing business and he quotes “The Web simply unified the elements of a supply-chain revolution that had been brewing for decades” (41).  Furthermore, in chapter three, the author provides a brief overview that shows how this Long Tail has been fed throughout the years. First, with the creation of the Sears-Roebuck and Company’s catalogue, this allowed the rural community to purchase their products without having to travel long distances.  Then the arrival of a food chain “supermarket” model that offered more choices, more products and low prices for the consumer.  After that, the toll free 800 number came into the picture facilitating the catalogue purchasing industry to a new level.  Finally, the internet era was born creating the on-line business industry with an ultimate and unlimited on-line catalogue that opened the door to more choices for consumers.

In chapter four, the author states “The true shape of demand is revealed only when consumers are offered infinite choice” (52). Then he continues by adding that more stuff lengthens the tail by democratizing the tools of production like personal computers, cutting the cost of consumption by democratizing distribution, and connecting supply and demand.  Making everyone a producer or publisher and everyone a distributor (thanks to the internet) facilitates the creation of more niches.  This allows the tail not to only grow longer, but thicker as well. Moreover, throughout the rest of the book the author supports his theory by providing examples that apply to the different industries: music (iTunes, Rhapsody), books (BookQuest, Amazon, Wikipedia), broadcasting (YouTube, Podcasting), Marketing (Google, My Space), movies (Nextflix), news (Bloggs) and non-media content products (e-Bay, Craiglist).  He also adds that with all these industries using this on-line model a new era of unlimited products has been born, but that in order to make it easier for consumers to find what they’re looking for, the use of filters through search engines and recommendations through social networks are essential.

There is no doubt that the evidence provided by the author is valid; however, the books argument is based on the on-line market business which requires accessibility to internet. As Anita Elberse states on her “Should you invest in the long-tail?” article, there is more money to be made through the niche offerings than in blockbusters, but only in the digitized world. This means only on business made on-line and not on the bricks and mortar industry. Therefore, the tail’s growth is limited to the on-line industry, which creates constraints based on technology accessibility for everyone.  According to Internet World Stats, the internet users on-line around the world are 1,401,724,920 against 6,676,120,288 billions of people around the world. This means that only about 21% of the world population has access to internet.  In addition, the United States has 246,402,574 internet users versus a population of 337,167,248, this means that only 73% of the US population are internet users. As a side note this doesn’t mean that every internet user make purchases on-line.  Therefore the growth of the Long Tail on-line is limited by the accessibility of internet to everyone.

In conclusion, the author did an amazing job in introducing the Long Tail subject to the reader followed by extraordinary examples that make it very easy for the reader to understand what the author is talking about. However, he neglected to provide vital information in regards to internet accessibility in order for the reader to fully understand the Long Tail framework and constraints. Clearly, the author only focuses on the physical space constraint and how the internet has served as a medium to overcome this factor, but he forgot to mention that not everyone has access to internet.  This limits the growth of the tail, based on limited access to technology for everyone to be able to access the on-line business.