Week 9 - My Assignment

For my Essay I will be focusing on Question 6:


"Increasingly mobile devices are an aid to the gathering and reporting of information, both by professional journalists and “citizen journalists”. Outline the advantages and disadvantages of this sort of news gathering. How might it impact on journalistic practices and news values and ethics?"

I have chosen this question and I plan to major in journalism next year and I think I would gain using knowledge from researching and answering this question.


Luckily, I am actually quite good at writing an essay. Now I'm not saying I am a "hot-shot-essay-writer" by any means, but if I was to choose between sitting for an exam and writing a 10,000 word essay, the essay would win with flying colours. You see writing an essay gives you the chance further your knowledge and continue to research until you have the correct answer. Where sitting for an exam (when your memory resembles that of a fish aka my memory) if you do not know the answer to a question you are basically screwed and have to place all of your chances on luck.

When first begining my research I came across from interesting information in relation to the London Bombings. On the day the busy city of London stood still, it was the images sent by citizens who were affected by the attack that first indicated it was in fact, an act of terrorism.

BBC New's Website said ".. when major events occur, the public can offer us as much information as we are able to broadcast to them. From now on, new coverage is a partnership".

I am going to use the London bombings for the angle of my essay. Through focusing the on the advantages and disadvantages of citizen journalism and focusing on the ethical side, I will hopefully be able to decide whether citizens journalists are a help or a hazard to culture of journalism.