YouTube or TheirTube?

Before I start on the response to the YouTube article I would just like to point out that Trolls have replaced the term Haters. I realize that this article was written 4 years ago and that the author isn’t at fault, but I couldn’t help but cringe when I read Haters. To me it is a term that my mother would use when talking about YouTube or the Internet. On that note let me dive into this article and share my opinion with the Internet community. When I started to read this article and learned about all the restrictions that YouTube has I thought a more appropriate term for the site would be TheirTube. Now I am not sure if this an original term coined by me but for the sake of this response I will assume that it is. With all the restrictions that YouTube puts on its videos it’s hard to imagine how people even put up with it. I used to post my own videos up until they were taken off for copyright infringements. My account was never shutdown, which is a good thing because I would have lost other information I had posted. This issue is also discussed in the article and shows how YouTube controls everything you put up, even original works. The other major topic is that of the Haters or Trolls, these people make it their mission to discourage people from posting on YouTube. They do this by postings comments such as “you’re a faggot” or “get some exercise you fat fuck.” Both of these comments I have personally seen on various videos in the response section. The Haters of YouTube go on to reinforce the term TheirTube because these anonymous posters are making it about them not you. Lucky there are ways to fight this group and as said in the article just ignore them or dislike their posts. Eventually they will stop because Haters thrive on reactions, so if you don’t react they move on.

iJournalism

I found the iJournalism article to be interesting but felt as though I was being spoon-feed information. The article breaks down journalism into several different categories, the most interesting being Citizen Journalism. The first is Traditional Journalism think Walter Cronkite the face of American news during the 1960’s. Here we have a news anchor or a gatekeeper that keeps the public on a need to know basis. Public Journalism is a hybrid between traditional and citizen journalism. This would be a reporter engaging the public on certain events. For example there is a town hall meeting and it is documented by a visiting reporter then relayed back to the public. While it can be more informative then Traditional Journalism it still uses the idea of the gatekeepers to control information. Finally there is Citizen Journalism for me this is the most interesting. This is people taking it upon themselves to report on the happenings of news. One of the best examples is the current situation is Egypt, where Citizen Journalism has given the people a voice against the government. Another example would be the video shot by protesters during the G20, which has lead to charges against the police. However like most forms of media you must account for bias and the twisting of facts. With Traditional Journalism there is still accountability on the part of the reporter. Think back to the President Bush Air Force scandal that was reported by Dan Rather. Rather ended up having to give an apology to the U.S. people for misreporting on the topic. Citizen Journalism is not held in the same fashion but how can it be? It would be impossible to hold any Citizen Journalist to set standards because there is no governing body. Citizen Journalism can be an amazing tool for challenging traditional media outlets, but remember to question everything you are told.