What will be the future?

Netizen Media or Another Form of Corporate Dominated Mainstream Media

The OhmyNews International Citizen Reporters' Forum 2005 was held in Seoul, Korea on June 23-June 26, 2005. The forum had a formal program and also abundant time for people to interact with each other. OhmyNews is an online newspaper created five years ago in South Korea. Though OhmyNews has a staff for its Korean edition, it depends on what it calls "citizen reporters" to fill its pages. Citizen reporters are people who register and write articles and submit them. If the article is selected for publication, the citizen journalist will receive a small payment and the satisfaction of seeing the publication of their article in OhmyNews.

There is a small staff of reporters writing articles for the Korean edition of the newspaper, in addition to the submissions by citizen reporters. The newly founded international edition, however, which is published in English, is wholly dependent on submissions from citizen reporters. Citizen reporters from around the world were brought to Seoul for 3 days to meet each other and to meet their Korean counterparts. Since the international edition is relatively new, a number of those who came to Seoul had written only a few articles for the paper. While others had been writing for some time and had contributed a number of articles.

The issue raised during the forum, not formally, but among the citizen journalists there, and afterwards in their comments and articles after the forum, is the issue of whether the new Internet media will end up being a new form of corporate dominated mainstream media or will it be able to be the media of netizens seeking a better world.

This issue was discussed and debated during the times inbetween sessions at the forum and on the field trips that OhmyNews organized for the participants. It was discussed and debated at late night sessions with beer and Korean specialities. But it wasn't debated or even discussed in any formal way during the forum itself.

OhmyNews itself has the potential to be a media for netizens to debate and explore how to create a new form of media that is not dominated by corporate interests. It has the potential to help contribute to a world of international solidarity, as the founder and CEO of OhmyNews, Oh Yeon Ho explained during the opening dinner of the forum. In his speech at the dinner held on Friday, June 24, 2005, he said:

The global village is facing various difficult challenges. Wars between hostile nations continue. The disparity between rich and poor nations is growing. The world's ecology is being altered in many places around the world because of climatic changes caused by environmental pollution. The earth itself is being threatened. The greater the difficulties and the harder it is to resolve them, the more the world needs the wisdom and solidarity of conscientious citizens. This gathering will be an opportunity to agonize over what role the citizen reporter can play in international solidarity for a better world.

The model Mr Oh proposes to solve the problems is to welcome the articles of citizen reporters, to encourage every citizen to be a reporter, so as to have the pages of the online newspaper open to many voices and experiences.

During the forum there were talks by some of the international citizen reporters and some of the Korean citizen reporters about their experiences as citizen reporters. Also there were talks about the business model for OhmyNews and of Wikipedia. Both OhmyNews and Wikipedia rely on volunteers for much of their content. One, OhmyNews, is a commercial model, the other, Wikipedia, a nonprofit. While the Wikipedia news model calls for "neutrality" by reporters, the OhmyNews news model calls for citizen reporters to write about their experiences. There was no time, during the formal part of the program, however, for those attending the forum to debate and discuss their visions for a netizen news media.

Will such a new form of news media make an effort to provide an "objective" view of the news? Or will it welcome contributions from a wide variety of viewpoints and thus have the news presented from a range of experiences and viewpoints? Are there other ideas of what is needed to create a netizen media? Is it possible to produce the news in a way that is different from what the mainstream corporate controlled media presents as the way to produce the news? Is it to present news that stimulates discussion and participation rather than complacency? Is it to present news that covers the experiences and problems of the common people? Is it to present news that oversees what government officials do, to keep their actions in the spotlight? The mainstream media, as in the US, more often will act like the mouthpiece of government officials, presenting their words and deeds to the public, rather than critiquing them to encourage a critical citizenry.

Such discussions did occur among those attending the forum, during the times when one on one discussion, or several people talking, was possible. One of the international citizen reporters, in frustration during the forum, wrote an article reflecting some of the issues he felt needed more attention. He writes:

In reality we came to Seoul to speak about the future of international participatory journalism. We came here to understand the problems and difficulties with this ambitious project. Instead, when we were not being pushed to give our tribute to the sponsors, we only spoke of how great OhmyNews is and how successful citizen reporting and participatory journalism has been in recent years.

I felt that very important questions had not been answered. Will OhmyNews eventually become like the other mainstream media or will it remain faithful to its original agenda? Will the pressure of the big corporations (Samsung, SK Corporation, LG) not overpower the great ideal? Are citizen reporters just another means to cut costs and sell a marketable product?

These have been the questions that were raised outside the conference room, but none really reached the main floor. … At the heart of a successful project you need to be critical with what you do.

James Fontanella: Some Criticisms

Another international citizen reporter from Canada writing his thoughts after returning home from the forum raised the question:

Now that OhmyNews is going global, the question of how to wield its awesome potential remains more relevant than ever. Will OMNI inspire like-minded netizens to transform the village hall into a conduit for a better quality of life, accountability and a peaceful future? Or will it merely become an extension of some corporate monolith, sucking victims into a vortex of banality.

David Kootnikoff, Citizen Forum Inspires Sea-Shanties, Solidarity

In his presentation at the forum, another international citizen reporter, Alex Krabbe from Germany, explained how there was a time that he had no hope, that he didn't see a way that the troubles of the world could be changed. As he learned about citizen journalism, however, he became aware that there was something he could do to contribute to a better world, something he could to to turn the power of journalism into a force to strengthen the struggle of the common people. In his talk at the forum heexplained:

Citizen journalism could furthermore end the overly mighty influence of corporate media, which tends to protect only the interests of big companies and their fractious will to increase profits at all costs. It could. Some more awareness, the right story at the right time: Journalism, especially when it comes from ordinary citizens, appearing in its natural and unfiltered form, has great power. Your power.

Those interested in exploring the world of the OhmyNews international citizen reporter can "Log On and Be Part of History" by registering to contribute articles. The model of writers submitting their articles online in a formatted form that can be put on the pages of the online newspaper, is itself, an interesting feature.

The first international citizen reporter forum sponsored by OhmyNews is now over, but the promise of a netizen news media continues as a goal for a number of those who met in Seoul for this remarkable event. The pages of the international edition of OhmyNews in the coming weeks and months will help to determine just how much the democratic vision of the netizens from around the world who attended the forum will impact the future of this new form of online Internet news media.