Perhaps it is fortuitous that I overlooked our We the Media blog entry until now — the very end of this course. In the beginning, I would have told you that no matter what bloggers and other social media users produce, they aren’t the media.
Although I read Dan Gillmor’s book, I was reticent to accept new media; it didn’t have the credibility and credentials of the real thing. I subscribed to the idea that traditional journalists are superior to people who blog because they are more committed.
What I wouldn’t have been able to do was understand how being a part of the process of reporting on life around me has made me feel more connected to, responsible for, and committed to the information I disseminate.
Journalists benefit society by providing information and perspective about new things that are happening and sometimes supplementing that with thoughtful analysis.
Social media tools have put that capability in the hands of us all. We are all journalists. And as hard as that has been for me to accept, it’s one of the things I feel most empowered by now.
This course has shown me how I can amplify my voice to a point where it actually makes a difference in society’s discourse. I can learn, form opinions, share my thoughts, learn some more, and take action — in each step being a participant instead of a passive recipient.
The rules have changed because of social media. Truth and objectivity are no longer trumped up calling cards of the elite class; instead, they are the real lifelong pursuits of all of us.
Rosie, it seems like you are one or two days ahead of me – I have been thinking about writing an entry with exactly the same message. I did not get it either that we had to blog about We the Media. I really enjoyed reading the book – but I guess I did not really capture the true essence until NOW.
[...] Really Are The Media I seem to be tracking my fellow classmate Rosie in that I didn’t know I was missing a blog post on the book We the Media by Dan Gilmor. And [...]
Mucho Bueno, Yu trabajos es bueno!
[...] journalists, journalism, RosietheThird, Washington Post, We the Media | Like blogger RosietheThird and others from my class, we didn’t know that we had to write a blog entry about “We [...]