|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Wiadomosci24: Two Poles With Three Opinions |
| A lagging Internet infrastructure in Poland is a crucial problem |
|
Seo Jin-seok (internews)  |
 Email Article
 Print Article
|
|
|
|
Published 2007-06-26 15:10 (KST) |
|
|
|
This saying well represents the polish people's disposition. By their nature, they like to discuss things and conversations never stop at polish gatherings. Polish culture, characterized by agonies and discussions about the real world, motivated the people to end the Cold War, in which socialism and capitalism antagonized one another, and fashion new waves in the Iron Curtain of Eastern Europe.
The Polish people quickly utilized the Internet as a public space for discussions for those who like to talk. Also, the concept of citizen reporters is not unusual to the people in Poland. In small- to medium-sized cities, local Internet newspapers as a form of city blogs were introduced some years ago and have contributed to promoting citizens' activities in the media arena. With a goal to create citizen journalism, Internet newspapers are enhancing their reputations in society through their active participation.
 |
TODAY'S TOP STORIES |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
FROM THE SECTION |
|
|
|
|
| Among many Internet newspapers, one must remark on News 24 (www.wiadomosci24.pl), given its notable activities. Poliska Express (Polskapresse), which manages seven of the largest local newspapers, has created this Internet newspaper in order to build a new medium for the future.
News 24's homepage is very neatly designed and its quality may excel that of major printed newspapers in Poland. Furthermore, the names and contact information of staff reporters on duty are shown on the Web site so that people can contact the editorial bureau anytime (24 hours a day). Thanks to this "friendly" service, it was not too difficult to interview Pawel Nowacki, the chief editor of News 24.
Nowacki explained the unique characteristics and advantages of the News 24: "The content of our newspaper is created by citizen reporters and, as a result, it includes rather subjective views on real issues, compared to those of other newspapers."
According to Nowacki, the potential for citizen journalism has existed for a long time in Poland, but organized activities for citizen reporters were begun only recently and are still in the beginning stages. In fact, his description of citizen reporters in Poland is somewhat different from what readers of OhmyNews might expect. There are local newspapers managed by volunteer reporters in small- to medium-sized cities and these volunteer reporters are sometimes called citizen reporters. But the citizen reporters of News 24 share the same characteristics as those of OhmyNews because normal people (not staff or in-house reporters) write articles for the newspaper.
At present, established newspapers in Poland are not very interested in News 24 and tend to ignore it, while questioning the credibility of articles prepared by citizen reporters. However, Nowacki said that many professional reporters visit News 24 everyday to get fresh news sources or ideas for reporting.
The editing process for articles by citizen reporters is similar to that of OhmyNews. Staff reporters review, select and release them if there are no problems with the articles. On average, News 24 receives 50-100 articles a day and, sometimes, the number exceeds 100. However, 30-40 percent of these articles do not make it through the editing process.
Although citizen reporters are not paid for their articles, News 24 selects the best articles or photos every week and sends books or DVDs as gifts to those who wrote them. Currently, five staff reporters are in charge of fact checking the articles prepared by citizen reporters.
One interesting feature of News 24 is that, in articles written by citizen reporters, pencils appear next to reporters' names. The pencils indicate the level or rank of a reporter based on their experience and participation in the newspaper. New participants do not have any pencils. The most experienced citizen reporters with quality articles may have as many as four pencils. According to internal regulations, five pencils are only given to staff members of the editorial bureau; thus, no citizen reporter can receive five pencils.
The most important aspect of citizen journalism emphasized by News 24 is that people write articles based on their own environments. Sometimes citizen reporters may reach places for reporting more quickly. But more importantly, citizen reporters may be the heroes or heroines of the events they are reporting. Moreover, citizen reporters only write articles on things they are interested in.
While News 24 recommends that citizen reporters exclude their personal emotions when writing articles, including subjective feelings is unavoidable to some extent because citizen reporters usually write articles on topics that they relate to personally.
According to Nowacki, the goal of News 24 is to create a new place and category as a substitute to major Internet sites in Poland. Also, News 24 aims to promote itself as a media deeply involved in local activities.
Citizen journalism in Poland, however, faces a big challenge, although interest in citizen journalism is consistently growing. The problem concerns Internet infrastructure, which is one of the most important factors for the development of citizen journalism. Despite the fact that Internet accessibility in Poland is improving fast, only 37 percent of the total households are connected to the Internet at present and they are concentrated in large cities. Given the situation, inhabitants in smaller cities have significant disadvantages.
High-speed Internet access is still low, although there are plans to build relevant infrastructures throughout the country within a few years. Indeed, the poor state of the Internet in Poland hinders citizen reporters from actively participating. However, Nowacki expresses hope that the pool of self-constituted citizen reporters will grow as Internet conditions improve.
|
|
©2007 OhmyNews
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
How worried are you about the H1N1 influenza virus? |
|
 |
| * Vote to see the result. |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
RSS
Del.icio.us
Digg 
reddit
Y! MyWeb
.jpg)
