Citizen Journalism

 　　NB: This is not a word for word transcript¹

　　Stephen: Hello, I'm Stephen.

　　Rob: And I'm Rob.

　　Stephen: And this is 6 Minute English! This week we’re talking about citizen

　　journalism².

　　Rob: Citizen journalism – that’s when people who aren’t trained journalists write or

　　report about their experiences or use social media, like Facebook or Twitter, to

　　broadcast their messages.

　　Stephen: Over the last few weeks, media companies have published a large number of

　　videos, photos, phone calls and blogs from citizen journalists in countries

　　where protests³ have been taking place, and there aren’t many – or any -

　　traditional journalists. But as usual, I’m going to start with a question for you,

　　Rob.

　　Rob: OK, I’m ready.

　　Stephen: Which of these six countries, according to figures from internet world stats, has

　　the largest percentage of people using the internet?

　　Rob: The largest percentage of people who use the internet. OK. Have got you any

　　clues?

　　Stephen: Well, your six countries are South Korea, Japan, the US, the UK, India or

　　China.

　　Rob: Hmm…let me think. I would say South Korea.

　　Stephen: Well, I won’t tell you the answer just yet. We can find out at the end of the

　　programme. So let’s talk about citizen journalism. Could citizen journalists

　　ever replace traditional journalists? Peter Barron, the Director of External⁴

　　Relations at Google, says there has been a massive⁵ democratisation in access

　　to information.

　　Rob: A massive democratisation – that's when people all over the world can access

　　information on the internet, and use the same tools to publish information

　　themselves.

　　Insert 1: Peter Barron, Director of External Relations, Google

　　The point here is that there has been a massive democratisation in access to information

　　and the ability to publish information – so everybody these days can be a publisher.

　　What you’ve seen time and time again, is that the very high quality material rises to the

　　top and becomes a trusted brand, alongside⁶ the trusted brands that already exist.

　　Stephen: Peter Barron from Google believes that the best quality blogs will become as

　　trusted as media companies - media brands - which already have a good

　　reputation.

　　Rob: Very high quality material rises to the top – the best blogs will become as

　　popular as traditional broadcasters or newspapers.

　　Stephen: Alan Rusbridger is the editor of the Guardian⁷ newspaper in the UK. He says

　　that traditional journalists will always be needed to make sense of large

　　amounts of information, something which citizen journalists might not be able

　　to do. He uses the example of Wikileaks.

　　Insert 1: Alan Rusbridger, Editor, The Guardian

　　The case of Wikilieaks was an excellent one; 300 million words would have been

　　completely meaningless if it had been dumped⁸ on the internet, as well as being

　　completely unsafe. It took months of Guardian, New York Times, Der Spiegel

　　journalists going through and finding⁹ the stories, redacting them and making sense of

　　them. So the journalist still has a valuable role as mediator¹⁰, analyser and finder and

　　verifier¹¹ of stories.

　　Stephen: Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian newspaper, who gives the example of

　　Wikileaks, where he says 300 million words, dumped on the internet, would

　　have been completely meaningless if journalists hadn’t been able to go

　　through them.

　　Rob: To go through them – finding stories and checking them. He says the journalist

　　has a valuable role as mediator, analyser, finder and verifier of stories.

　　Stephen: Journalists need to check stories – to verify¹² them, to check they are safe to

　　publish and that they are true. Anne McElvoy from the Economist¹³ magazine

　　says that citizen journalism hasn’t really been tested yet. It’s a very valuable

　　source when the story is on the street, but not when we, the readers, listeners or

　　viewers, aren’t sure which side we should be on.

　　Rob: Whose side we should be on - who we support. When it is clear whose side

　　we should be on, citizen journalists are very valuable, but when we don’t

　　really know what’s going on, we need the traditional skills of journalists to

　　analyse material to help us understand. She says ‘we rely on the trade’ -

　　meaning the trade of the traditional journalist.

　　Insert 3: Anne McElvoy

　　Citizen journalism hasn’t really been tested yet; we’re writing a lot about it and

　　reflecting on it. But really, what we’ve seen is it being very active and also being a very

　　valuable source, I should say, but in situations where we kind of know, generally, which

　　side we are on. We know that the story is on the street. I think citizen journalism will

　　have a much tougher time when we have situations - which will arise - when we’re really

　　not sure which side should have the upper hand, or, indeed, what’s really going on. And

　　that’s an area where I think you do rely a bit on the old trade to have analysis skills and

　　to help you out there.

　　Stephen: Anne McElvoy talking about citizen journalists. So, before we go today, Rob –

　　which of those six countries did you guess has the highest internet penetration¹⁴?

　　That’s the highest percentage of population who are online.

　　Rob: OK. Well, I said South Korea. Am I right?

　　Stephen: Actually it’s the UK – followed by South Korea, then Germany, Japan, the US,

　　China and finally India.

　　Rob: Well I never!

　　Stephen: And a chance to hear some of the words and phrases we heard in the

　　programme today. Would you mind, Rob?

　　Rob: OK, we heard:

　　citizen journalism

　　trained

　　social media

　　democratisation

　　to publish

　　media brands

　　to go through them

　　verify

　　hasn’t really been tested yet

　　valuable source

　　Stephen: Thanks for that, Rob.

　　Rob: You’re welcome.

　　Stephen: Well, that’s all we have time for today - we’ll have more "6 Minute English"

　　next time.

　　Rob: Bye for now!

　　Stephen: Bye!

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

3 protests   

n.[体]抗议；抗议，反对( protest的名词复数 )v.声明( protest的第三人称单数 )；坚决地表示；申辩

参考例句：

• The protests have forced the government to back-pedal on the new tax. 抗议活动已迫使政府撤销新的税目。
• Plans to build a new mall were deep-sixed after protests from local residents. 修建新室内购物中心的计划由于当地居民反对而搁浅。

4 external   

adj.外部的，外面的，外来的；与外国有关的

参考例句：

• External causes become operative through internal causes.外因通过内因而起作用。
• The external features of the building are very attractive.这座建筑物的外观是很吸引人的。

5 massive   

adj.巨大的，大规模的，大量的，大范围的

参考例句：

• A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
• He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。

6 alongside   

adv.在旁边；prep.和...在一起，在...旁边

参考例句：

• There was a butcher's shop alongside the theatre.剧院旁边有一家肉店。
• Alongside of him stood his uncle.他的身旁站着他叔叔。

7 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

8 dumped   

adj.废弃的v.倾倒( dump的过去式和过去分词 )；丢下；随便堆放；释放

参考例句：

• Too much toxic waste is being dumped at sea. 太多的有毒废料在向大海里倾倒。
• They dumped his belongings unceremoniously on the floor. 他们粗暴地把他的物品摔到地板上。

9 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

10 mediator   

n.调解人，中介人

参考例句：

• He always takes the role of a mediator in any dispute.他总是在争论中充当调停人的角色。
• He will appear in the role of mediator.他将出演调停者。

11 verifier   

n.证实者，核验者，证明者

参考例句：

• Is there a verifier anywhere near here? Let's go test it together. 那附近有验钞机吗？我们一起去验。 来自互联网
• A new designated verifier proxy signature scheme with message recovery was proposed. 提出了一种具有消息恢复的指定验证者的代理签名方案。 来自互联网

12 verify   

vt.核实，查对；证明，证实

参考例句：

• Men were sent out to verify whether it was true. 几个人被派去查清事实。
• We will verify this with a copy of payment schedule.我们将按付款程序的副本进行核实。

13 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

14 penetration   

n.穿透，穿人，渗透

参考例句：

• He is a man of penetration.他是一个富有洞察力的人。
• Our aim is to achieve greater market penetration.我们的目标是进一步打入市场。