Monday, March 2, 2009

Can "citizen journalists" really fill the news gap?

We need trained journalists - but who is going to pay for them?

read more | digg story

4 comments:

Vecoliraptor said...

Mind if I ask about your general work in Azerbaijan? I've been surfing the blogosphere for insights into public opinion in the country and you seem to be pretty immersed in that.

Eric said...

I worked there for a year - teaching journalists. Most of the time - these were comparatively young people. We tried teaching old Soviet-style journalists once- and it was a waste of time for us & them.
I don't know about public opinion per se - I mean in any scientific way - but I certainly talked to a lot of people while I was in the country. You're interested in public opinion in the country or public opinion about Azerbaijan?

Vecoliraptor said...

Both in a way, but especially in the country. I've been following a number of Russian blogs on various political topics, and read a few articles about the expansion of blogging as a forum for political expression. I wondered whether something similar might happen in Azerbaijan, in the absence of funding/opportunities for opposition publications to thrive. Perhaps internet access would need to be more widespread before blogging even picks up steam. But maybe that's not really where your interests lie :). I would imagine teaching older journalists would be a waste-- some habits are just too ingrained to change.

Anonymous said...

We did quite a bit of training students on blogging & "new media." It was one of the main parts of the program - part of a plan to establish a network of blogs in the country.