Life as a Catalyst » mainstream media

Of journalism and abolishing ‘citizen journalists’

Joey Alarilla — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:09:26 +0000

Check out my latest CNET Asia blog post.

Here’s an excerpt.

The editorial Let’s Abolish ‘Citizen Journalists’ on The Digital Journalist caught my attention, thanks to a tweet from @gangbadoy retweeting the link from @glossmania.

While I don’t agree with the article entirely, it does raise good points on the need to vet stories posted and spread through social networks, and the kind of dedication and courage it takes for journalists to actually cover news events.

Read the full story.

Nationwide protests vs. ConAss Charter Change in the Philippines: Live blog and live audio stream

Joey Alarilla — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:42:48 +0000

Here’s an excerpt from my latest CNET Asia blog post.

Makati City, the financial capital of the Philippines, is the venue for today’s main rally against the moves of pro-administration lawmakers to turn Congress into a constituent assembly (ConAss) that will amend the Philippine Constitution.

If you’re outside the Philippines and would like to participate in the rallies online, or keep yourself updated on developments, you may check out the live blog and live audio stream of alternative Philippine news site Bulatlat.com.

Read the full story.

After Ashton Kutcher vs CNN, how about HappySlip vs Philippine media giants?

Joey Alarilla — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:35:48 +0000

Now that we’ve Punk’d CNN and helped TV and movie Ashton Kutcher reach a million followers first on Twitter, maybe it’s time for a purely online celebrity to do something like this.

See, people can always say Ashton’s case is different because, well, he’s a celebrity, though it amazes me how some people can’t see how big a victory this is for the Web. We’re talking New Media going toe-to-toe with Old Media, because the final stretch saw CNN pulling all the stops with its TV appeals, which Ashton countered via live video streaming on UStream.TV. It doesn’t get more dramatic than that.

So how about a Filipino online celebrity doing something like this? I’d root for HappySlip against Philippine media giants

The problem with Old Media is that they want to turn New Media into old news. Whatever you might personally feel about Ashton, this is the day New Media took on Old Media — and won.