【一起听英语】你喜欢写游记吗（在线收听）

游记是什么？游记是对旅行进行记录的一种文体，现在也多指记录游览经历的文章。

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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Stephen: Hello, I'm Stephen.

Rob: And I'm Rob.

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

journalism.

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 protests 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? 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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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 External

Relations at Google, says there has been a massive 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, alongside 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. 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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Stephen: Alan Rusbridger is the editor of the Guardian 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 dumped on the internet, as well as being

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

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

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

verifier 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 verify them, to check they are safe to

publish and that they are true. Anne McElvoy from the Economist 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 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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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 penetration?

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 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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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