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"The past decade has seen dramatic changes in the information and communication environment. Parameters as to who has access to information gathering and dissemination have altered rapidly and irreversibly. Civil society actors such as NGOs and advocacy networks are becoming increasingly significant players as the traditional news media model is threatened by shrinking audiences, the availability of free content online, and the declining fortunes of mainstream media. To what extent do NGOs take on functions as information intermediaries, working in cooperation with, or even in the stead of, traditional news organizations? Are we witnessing a general trend, or do NGOs fulfill specific purposes in times of crisis or critical events that focus attention on a specific (international) topic? And what are the consequences of this for the fields of advocacy and journalism?

This essay series, organized by the Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) at the Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania, in cooperation with the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, seeks to examine these critical questions from a variety of perspectives, and encourage discussion and deliberation on what these changes mean for NGOs, traditional media outlets, news consumers, and society as a whole."

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"There are times when technological change catches up with an idea. Now is such a moment, as social media transform how people receive and share news and information. Just a few years back the notion of journalism being a conversation, not a lecture, wasn’t embraced widely in an industry content to transmit what reporters learned to audiences expected to consume it. Comfort with that notion grew as online comments and live chats assumed a role that Letters to the Editor once held on their own, albeit with greater anonymity and often less civility. Then, from the “audience” spilled forth blogs and photos, videos and tweets. Soon, the words “citizen” and “journalist” were joined in a marriage brokered by technology and nurtured by convenience as news organizations shed staff yet still needed to produce “content.”"

www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx - Preview

photojournalism multimedia citpj citj socialmedia journalism nieman

interesting piece on how social networks helped build an audience for multimedia

"It used to be so simple: Whether I needed to make my way through a police roadblock or explain to curious neighbors why I was taking pictures on their block, barking just two words usually did the trick: “Daily News!” In one breath, the transaction was complete. I had told them something about the authority behind my presence, and at the same time let them know exactly where they’d find my photos—in the next day’s paper.

I spent the better part of 17 years with the Philadelphia Daily News as a staff photographer and, eventually, the newsroom’s first video journalist. Then, 10 months after taking a buyout, I found myself unable to respond to a local deli clerk’s simple question: “What do you do for a living?”"

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photojournalism nieman multimedia journalism video photography photographer

Afghanistan: Pictures Not Taken
‘When the press started to feel empowered to show and tell the truth, it was only a matter of time before the military and government powers would retaliate.’
By Travis Beard


Journalist Ash Sweeting rides in a pickup with the Afghanistan National Police. Photo by ©Travis Beard/Argusphotography.

Nothing has more power to communicate the destruction and despair of our time—especially from the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan—than photography. But in the sanitized and censored environments now of government and military control, taking the picture can be as difficult as getting it published.

In coverage of these wars, freelance photojournalists are indispensible. One after another, news organizations have abandoned the task of informing the public. For editors back home, photojournalists—and the images they transmit—are problematic. But it’s not the photographers who pose the problem; it’s the truth their images tell. During the Vietnam War, there was the searing image of nine-year-old Kim Phouc running down the road with her flesh melting and fusing into her body after a napalm strike and her brother running in front of her with an expression that recalled Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” This photograph spoke to people in ways that words had failed to do. These children were ones the Americans were supposed to be saving, not bombing. Images such as this one did much to turn the tide of that war, but if they did, it was because they conveyed important truths.

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afghanistan photographer photography war beard nieman photojournalism conflict embedded