SHY TO A CAMPAIGNER

I had a different feelings about the use of social networking despite  attending  trainings and academic programmes on various occasions in the past. For me, before the training, social networking was like waste of time. In fact, I did not use social networking sites for my professional purpose. I had Facebook and Twitter accounts since these came into existence. But the use was almost zero until I participated in this training programme.

EYE OPENER

My attitude about the use of these tools completely changed with the training of the ICFJ . I now realised the importance and I  have started to use these tools regularly. With the use of facebook, twitter and other social networks, I have become like an addict in positive sense. The training helped to explore its importance, share experiences and ideas among the participants across the western and Arab World. More I use, more I become interested and more I like to dive into the depth of digital tools. It has given me new ideas. It paved the way for unlimited resources and contacts across the globe. It really opened my eyes.

DAILY USE

Thanks to the ICFJ that I have become a daily user of the social networking. I was sceptical when The Guardian newspaper , the first newspaper to embrace twitter, started to publish in twitter last year. Now I have started to use twitter and facebook on regular basis. I had to make so many calls and send emails for a brief time to discuss some issues with officials, now I  can catch people like  David Miliband, Fareed Zakaria  in twitter.  So are facebook and other social media. It has provided unlimited sources of resources with sharing ideas and professional interests and research. This will help me for my research and writing in the future. It is really exciting!

ADVANTAGEOUS

I learnt the technique of blogging. I knew the importance of links and how and what to  link.  Made links to important news media. Connected  friends in my blog. Added RSS. The ideas of adding video, image, audio and giving links to other sites was an exciting experience.  I renewed my Facebook and Twitter accounts.  I started to use Twitter and Facebook regularly. All these tools have different values and importance. They are fruitful. The importance of RSS cannot be compared with  Facebook or Twitter   as they have different features and value. These tools are better than the others for me.

Over 150 people  are connected with me in Facebook and Twitter within a short span of time- within a few days. This is amazing!

After watching the devastating scene of Haiti earthquake , we have campaigned for Haiti help. There is positive response from people. Some have donated through Oxfam  and  various other  UK organisations. It is powerful, instantaneous, effective and links us  all together. The links and interconnections is so strong that connects the whole world therefore Facebook is very effective.

BETTER USE

The beauty of online is the combination of  text , video , images and various other tools. We should utilise these tools appropriately following journalistic ethics, norms and values. These are also effective for campaign and research in addition to journalistic works. In addition to my regular professional works, I will also utilise these tools for the research of my book on immigrants, social networking and campaigning for freedom of the expression.

COMMENT OR CULVERT

Allowing readers to make comments is one of the beauty of the digital media. Comments not only increase the popularity of your media but also engage them and help make it possible for direct communications between the media  organisation and readers.  Allow to make comments but do not  allow to misuse it.

DEMOCRATIC DEBATE

One of the objectives of the comments is to make a civil and democratic debate on the issue. Make it more interactive and effective two way communications. That helps make society more democratic and exercise freedom. Comments help to proide instant feedback from the readers so the news organsiation can ammend the way they are presenting news and articles, add some new features in accordance with the interests of readers that increases page views  and generate additional revenue for the news organsiation. It is the ornament of the media and society where debates are discussed in an open, lively, free and democratic manner.

" CESSPOOL"

However, there are many drawback of comments. Readers post offensive and unsolicitated comments. They violate journalistic rules and ethics. Abusive words and languages are used in the comments. Comments are posted unanimously. The comments are unrelated to the topic. Ethnic, racial, religious and politically motivated  hatred comments are posted.  Look this Nepali news site where more than 75 comments are posted within a few hours time.  This is about the speech of a Communist (Maoists) leader's speech against the prime minister of Nepal. Almost all the comments are politically motivated and abusive languages are used. It is not only against the journalistic ethics, norms and values but also against social norms and law. Though the readers need registration (at least name and email), the comments are real "cesspool."

I have worked in news agencies and newspapers  most of the time so comments were  not allowed except letter to the editor column. This is published after editing. However,  I worked for one of the news site http://www.outlooknepal.com/, a very popular site among the Nepalese and South Asian diaspora in the UK, which is now closed, used to be full of unsolicited comments with adverts of viagra and so on. The founders of the news site later decided not to allow comments.

WHAT MEASURES?

It is essential to make sure that comments are made in accordance with the ethics and norms. Flagging, filtering, limiting and making registration compulsory for comments is appropriate to control "cesspool " comments like this Guardian newspaper  does. However, I prefer moderation of comments if the news site can afford.

RESTRICTING FREEDOM?

Not allowing comment is not restricting freedom. Comment is an extra feature and it is the choice of the news organisation to allow or not. It is better to restrict comments than allow freely without following any ethics, norms and guidelines. Comments must be related to the topic and should be free from hatredness, insult and abusive words and language.

MY NEW REPORT

BOGUS COLLEGES

I am planning to write about bogus coleges  in London. As you know there are some  bogus colleges which are known as visa colleges. The Nigerian man who was arrested in the bomb plot in the USA recently was also trying to get visa through such college. Some of the colleges do not have necessary infrastructure and do not teach students  but just provide visa letter and attendance certificate to present  to the Home Office for visa.

MULTIMEDIA ELEMENTS

 I want to add multimedia elements in the report with voice, video and image. This a serious issue so there will certainly be an ethical concern as people will not be ready to be shown on video or image without which my report will not be credible.

ETHICAL ISSUES?

I know some students who are ready to record their voice. So there will be no any problem and no ethical issue will raise. Some present and former teachers and employees or those who are familiar with such bogus works will be ready to speak on video. But their faces will not be shown because they will not be ready to face difficulties. With the positive manipulation of digital images, their face will not be shown but all details will be revealed.

I think, the officials will be ready to provide information without hesitation and there will be no any problem of taking their images or record their voice or show their face on video.

Some students are ready to provide photos of the class where very few students present. I have to make sure whether the photos taken by students is real or not. So I will check myself before using it in my blog. For copywrights of the photos, I will seek permission before I use.

WHY MULTIMEDIA?

We have discussed in the past about the credibility of news. One of the aspects of credible news is the use of multimedia. That makes the report more reliable and trustworthy. Combination of text, video, audio and images make online perfect. This is the beauty of the web. So it makes our blog more credible, reliable    informative and attractive.

DIGITAL MANIPULATION

SEEING IS BELIEVING

One image is more powerful than 1,000 words. In fact it is true. Reporting truth is the basic of the basic of journalistic ethics. Digital manipulation cannot be exception to this fact. We see and believe so it must remain as it is.

NO PLUS NO MINUS

There should be no any alteration, deception, manipulation and false representation of the original photos. Truth, accuracy and facts should be in tact in the images.Click here  No plus no minus is the simple rule to digital manipulation.

We can do anything with the image  being within the ethical norms but we cannot do anything to change its originality, facts, truth and accuracy.

HISTORY

We can trace the  history of photo  manipulation since the newspaper started to publish photographs.  The first incident of  photo manipulation was recorded in early 1860s. Then US President Abraham Lincoln's photo was altered  from a portrait of John C. Calhoun. It is said that the same photo became the basis of the five dollar note. View these photos.

With easy new technology, photo manipulation business is thriving. There are many instances of tampering of images in the recent years including Adnan Hajj's photos of Lebanon and several other photographers in the USA and other parts of the world.

 FAKE REDUCE DOWN

Many such photo corrupt photographers have reduced down to the dust. Susan Sontag says: "photographs, which fiddle with the scale of the world, themselves get reduced, blown up, cropped, retouched, doctored and tricked out."

GUIDELINES

According to the Reuters news agency guidelines , certain amount of editing and positive change like crop  size  and balance the tone and colour of the image  including "basic colour correction, subtle lightening darkening of zones, sharpening, removal of dust and other minor adjustments" is acceptable in manipulation.

"No excessive lightening, darkening or blurring of the image, cloning, healing or brush tools are not to be used tampering" the photos. Seeing is believing so it must not be tampered  destryong the originality and facts.

What do you think of these photos? Is it ethical and acceptable? Do the facts, accuracy and truth remain same?