lunes, 28 de marzo de 2011

You are not journalists, and I’m not an architect for building a cabin

Anyone can inform, but not everyone knows how to do a piece of news. In the recent years has been a huge increase of the tools that Internet offers us to inform instantly of what is going on in our environment.  What is called civic journalism is an excellent tool for professional journalists to get deeper information and other points a view of the news they are covering. Earthquakes and Tsunami’s videos broadcasted by an average Joe helps a lot to complete journalist’s information. Civic journalism has been essential in the Arabian and Saharan uprisings, since in many cases no journalists were allowed to get to the centre of the revolts. News are about people, so what they contribute with will be always helpful. Testimonies are what makes something news. But, watch out! Giving a testimony is not making a piece of news.

Many people, who surely aren’t much familiarized with the Journalism’s field, say that nowadays anyone can be a journalist, and the University degree on it isn’t necessary anymore. Well, as I said before, anyone can inform, but not everyone knows what is important and worth informing about, in order to make the public agenda or to analyze the environment in which something is taking place. The average Joe doesn’t know the background of what he is informing. Of course there are many journalist who limit to write a piece of news taking only the agencies’ information, but even to write a new in that way a technique must be learned to know how inform clearly and objectively. Not anyone knows how to write a headline, or an nformative sms, it’s difficult to get the proper words. Nevertheless, the good journalist will be the one who, apart from writing a good piece of news knows how to do a good report of it, since he will know perfectly the subject he is talking about. 



So not everyone can be a journalist. Journalism degree is important, journalist won’t die, because if so the information’s agenda and organization will die with them, and we need it. We need information to be organized and analyzed, and that only can be done by journalists, the good ones. What have already died are gatekeepers, since information isn’t filtered by the media anymore, we can know almost everything we want to know thanks to the Internet, but we need a captain in to sale trough this vast ocean of information.  Let’s ask for the better one.

lunes, 21 de marzo de 2011

Sinde Law, everything for people but without people


Other measures could have been taken. Sinde Law is a radical one. For years we have been used to download anything we wanted to, and now we will have to pay for everything with copyright content.

In one hand, it is true that the music and cinema industry are suffering quite much the illegal downloads, but other alternatives can be searched. People don’t buy music or films because it is too expensive and they can get free. The EU Justice Tribunal on October 21th last year declared illegal the digital canon established by the SGAE.  A cinema ticket can cost even 8 €. If the industry doesn’t want free downloads they aren’t making things easier. They have ended up making a radical measure, without taking into account citizens. Alex de la Iglesia resignation should have made them think in they are taking the right way. A democracy is based on the citizens’ will, and we haven’t been taken into account. 


 
I think that  anyone of us doesn't want the cinema and music industry  stop producing because they have gone bankrupt, is not in our benefit. But there are more ways to avoid this situation.  There are web pages as www.filmotech.com where downloads can be made by paying a little bit more than 1€. If there was an initiative in which downloads could be made by paying a very small quantity we won’t be so upset and we be willing to pay it. Even the industry will benefit.  I don’t defend unlimited free downloads, but neither measures which are against my consumer’s rights. What they will get with Sinde Law is the “Top manta” and piracy return, and the creation of social networks and platforms which will evade Sinde Law. It isn’t a good measure even for the industry.

domingo, 13 de marzo de 2011

We, people or citizens?

We tend to divide society into “we” and “they”. We are the people, they are the powerful guys. They are the big enterprisers and media owners and the politicians. For centuries, they have controlled the public opinion and our information agenda. The powerful guys were the gatekeepers; we knew what they wanted us to know. However they didn’t have into account Internet, which has made people more citizens than ever.

Now, gatekeepers aren’t the elite. I even dare to say they won’t exist anymore. Internet is an open window to any information we want to get. It’s an open book in which everyone’s opinions are written. It’s a new kind of glasses which see all the points of view. It’s a gallery in which we can explore deeper and deeper. It’s democracy’s mirror. It’s freedom over all.


Therefore, we are more citizens than ever because we have more freedom than ever. Internet brings us the opportunity to express our ideas, to share them and made them be heard.  Internet has brought with it the most important tool to make this possible, feedback. Thanks to feedback, the media and politicians have the duty to listen citizens. In, fact, they have always had that duty, but now they can’t avoid it. We are concerned more than ever that we have to make us heard, and we want more than ever to be heard. Besides, we want also to be answered and be connected, creating a closer relation in which we and they are peers. Now we know what we really want to now, powerful elites will be controlled by citizens, to make sure they are as transparent as they should be. The roles start to change.

However, we have to be concerned in this change’s era how important citizens can get to be as individuals, not as only people ruled by the government. All of us have to take part on it. We have to make the powerful guys feel were are over them, that we are strong and concerned and nevermore manipulated. Then, no divisions within society will be made; we’ll all be peers, working for the benefit of all of us. That’s democracy aim.