As it still has to prove the necessity of its existence.

Last year was one of the most turbulent – abundance of the crucial events. This one also started with hot news. Again protests, clashes, civil wars, unavoidable natural disasters and everyday challenges. Enough material for newspaper, Internet and Television. In addition, new blogs, websites and new media occur almost every day. So, it has never been easier to spread the news, upload a video or cover an event. Nevertheless, that’s not enough to secure a free position of the media and its workers, whether we talk about mainstream or citizen media.

This is a delicate question. As many years ago and today journalists are killed, banned from working, their security is threatened. Same treatment have citizen and online journalists, bloggers too. There is no certainty neither for a professional reporter on a task, nor for a citizen journalist who happened to be on the scene.

Constant reminder that the press freedom must always be loudly advocated.

In today really strong competition among online, digital, printed, citizen, broadcast media, it should be very easy to do that, present the news, find your audience, simply be the representative and participant of free speech. But it’s not all like that. There is still no absolute media freedom as it should be.

Big question. After all, democracy and freedom of a country is measured by the freedom of its media ( in this case many countries have to ask themselves are they really free and democratic ).

Independent, free media is everyone’s right !

Worldwide countries have their blogging community representatives which proves developed online media and importance of spreading online words.

This year’s theme is World Bloggers’ Day 2012 – It’s more FUN in Blogging and Social Media, so every blogger who wants to celebrate this day should try his/her writing skills and check out what’s going on World Bloggers Day

Blogging is a lifestyle, changes the media in a country, leaves the mark, and as such phenomenon deserves its movement. Started at Cebu, Philippines, WBD as global movement tries to connect as many blogging communities from all around the world as possible. It is spreading and invites all the bloggers to join, celebrate and promote WBD further through social media as one of the best bloggers friend.

Involvement in this project is both online and offline and for those who like blogging and connecting it is a perfect way to join this year’s contest and support it on social media.

Today is the day. Celebrate World Bloggers Day 2012 !

We have a great pleasure to share our exclusive interview with Sarah Wali – Founder and Products and Operations manager at CitJo and Mahamad El Tanahy – Managing Director of CitJo :

Q: What is CitJo?

A: CitJo is a platform that aims to connect citizen journalists with media agencies worldwide and get paid for their content. Citizen Journalists, or CitJos, can upload their content through the web platform, a mobile app or uniquely through Twitter and other social media sites. These are then sold to media agencies and the best posts are placed on our homepage, making us a source of localized news for normal users.

Q: CitJo – name easy to remember. Tell us more about it.

A: We spent a long time searching for a name that is easy to say for an international audience, and also ignites recognition for what we do at the same time. At first we thought of using an Arabic name, to connect better with our Middle East citjos. However, our platform is one that can be used all over the world, and we didn’t want to alienate anyone. After many brainstorming sessions, mind maps and suggestions from friends and family, CitJo was the name that stood out the most. It was easy to say, even in Arabic, and it explained what we were trying to do.

Q: What encouraged you to launch CitJo?

A: Mahamad and Sarah realized the potential of citizen journalism during the Arab uprising last year. Sarah was in New York at the time working as a journalist with ABC News where she frequently utilized YouTube, Facebook and Twitter for news coverage. Mahamad was in Tahrir Square during the revolution and saw firsthand how important Twitter and other social media networks were during Egypt’s historic 18 days.

So, when Sarah and Mahamad met they discussed the idea of creating a platform that monetizes citizen journalism, and added the unique integration to Twitter. The goal is to give CitJos a way to sustain their efforts, without obstructing their normal process of posting and sharing.

Q: What are your expectations from the CitJo project?

A: CitJo’s platform aims to break barriers in journalism and in online commerce. Our goal is to spread the principles of media literacy and give people the opportunity to share their lives with the people responsible for the news cycle.

We expect that it will take some time to polish the talent of citjos, train them in journalistic practice and help them create content that media buyers will want to purchase. However, we are ambitious in our goals, and feel that this is a project that has come at the right time in the right place.

Q: Considering the Arab Spring and all the following events, how would you describe media in Egypt before and after?

A: Egypt has the highest number of publications in the region, the largest number of television channels and the biggest cinema industry. But, we have yet to realize the true potential of all these tools. Media censorship by the government has always held back the news industry in Egypt, with grave impacts. We saw this in the ’67 war when state media refused to report Egypt’s loss, and BBC radio instead became the country’s source of reliable news media. Over the 20th century there are thousands of examples like this one. The biggest impact has been on journalists and media people themselves, where a culture of self-censorship has become rampant.

The events of January and February last year changed little in the government’s role in suppressing the media. However, Egyptians found their voice in early 2011. With the help of social media, and bolder journalists our media landscape is changing to a more open and honest media. However, there remain remnants of the old media that will take years, if not decades to overhaul.

Q: Some say that the Arab Spring has grown with the help of the citizen journalists and social media. What would you say?

A: Social media tools greatly assisted the Arab Spring by forcing the world to take notice not only of the current happenings in areas like Tahrir Square in Egypt, Freedom Square in Syria or Pearl Square in Bahrain. They were instrumental in explaining why the revolution began and how the protestors were rallying together to make their voices heard.

The Arab Spring would not have spread like wildfire in 2005, when Twitter had yet to make its appearance and Facebook was still a social media tool for students. Media tools at the time were still limited in reach, and few people in the Middle East were utilizing the internet for more than chatting and forum participation.

But, by 2011 everyone with a social media account had the potential to reach millions of readers. Protestors in Tunisia could connect with those in Egypt to give them tips on dealing with tear gas, state security and to offer words of encouragement. It was obvious to all that the internet was becoming the main source of communication and news in Egypt, and by the second day (January 26) all internet and mobile services were cut off.

It isn’t the tools, it’s the ability to share what is going on as it happens, and keep people connected with the cause protestors are fighting for. It’s a way for citizens to take the news conversation into their own hands, and spread information quickly and efficiently.

Q: What is the position of social media and citizen journalism is Egypt today?

A: Internet penetration in Egypt is growing exponentially. However, according to the World Bank, only a little over a quarter of the country’s population has access to internet. While activists, the elite and many of the younger generation are utilizing social media tools in their day to day lives, there remains a huge portion of the population that isn’t aware of all the status updates and tweets showing up on the internet.

Q: Do you see citizen journalism as an opponent or a collaborator of traditional journalism in your country?

A: Citizen journalism is definitely a collaboration of traditional journalism in Egypt. There is a strong sense of disappointment in the media and many distrust the major news networks. This is a an excellent way for them to set the record straight.

It’s also great for news organizations in the country that are looking for a broader range of stories. They no longer have to rely on hired staff to find sources and stories. They can rely on people who are not only on the ground, but have an intricate understanding of their local area. The journalist today has to be able to not only pick out the story, but to be able to connect it with the larger picture, giving a clear understanding of the way the world works today.

The citizen journalist is definitely helping Egyptian media do just that.

Q: How do you see citizen journalism in Egypt in the future?

A: We believe it is only the beginning of citizen journalism in Egypt. We see the insatiable need for people to share and discuss what is happening on the streets of their country. While not much has changed, the little shift in attitudes about sharing and voicing our concerns will most definitely fuel efforts of citizen journalists everywhere. Just as Oh My News! changed reporting on South Korea with their citizen journalism site, we feel that the industry as a whole will take off in Egypt.

Q: What are your plans for the future ?

A: CitJo hopes to become the citizen journalism newswire for the MENA region within five years. During that time we are focusing our efforts on building a community of citizen journalists that can share their experiences and work with each other. We will also continue building our site to be able to present such media in the most professional manner possible.

In the end, the goal is to give the power of the media back to the people, allow them to have their voices heard and give them the opportunity to represent their home town.

NewsMeBack wants to thank again to the CitJo team and Sarah Wali for sharing their time, opinion and work with all of us.

We offer you our interview with David Mutua, Community Manager at Pawa254 :

Q: Present us the Sauti Project.

A: Sauti project is a programme by Al Jazeera Kiswahili and Pawa254 to train and empower citizen journalists in the region with an aim of encouraging them to tell the stories of their community that are important to them but may have been sidelined by the mainstream media.

Q: Tell us more about the name – Sauti, what is the meaning.

A: Sauti is a Swahili word for voice. We hope that the name will be an inspirational point for the journalists to enable them have a voice and tell their story.

Q: What is your goal?

A: The goal of the project is to empower the citizen journalists to always be aware and be ready to tell their story.

Q: Who is your partner in Sauti Project?

A: Sauti Project is a collaboration between Al Jazeera Kiswahili and Pawa254

Q: Is this the first citizen journalism project that Pawa254 is organizing?

A: Yes, this is the first citizen journalism training program that Pawa254 is organizing and we are hoping to do many more. Through our masterclasses and master talks, we seek to empower not only journalists but also freelance photographers and videographers to learn more about the industries they are in.

Q: In general, are there numerous citizen journalism workshops throughout Africa?

A: There are a couple citizen journalism projects undertaken by different media houses and information networks.

Q: Considering the increased presence of Internet, mobile phones and digitalization itself, do you manage to improve media and information system in East Africa today?

A: With the increase in modes of disseminating news, this has really worked to the advantage of citizen journalists as they are now able to show case their content to a large audience. The increased internet presence ensures that now citizen journalists can have a platform to show their work raw without mainstream media influences.

Q: Do traditional media accept citizen media in East Africa?

A: Some do but most will not unless it is exclusive content.

Q: How citizens of East Africa react to new media such as social media and Citizen journalism, are they happy to accept them or with caution?

A: Social media is big in East Africa especially in Kenya where many times Kenyans have set worldwide trending topics on Twitter. Social media enables citizen journalists to inform their followers of new stories. Social media also, sometimes, breaks news before it even reaches mainstream media. This has many times served as a point of information for many and as such, citizen journalists have an opportunity to break news with solid facts fast.

Q: Are you satisfied with the results of training?

A: The training is still on going. After the first training we now await for the trained journalists to start submitting stories, from the stories, then we are able to communicate back to them and advice them on ways they can improve on them. This second phase will be more targeted and assist the individual citizen journalist and we hope form this then a new crop of high quality citizen journalist.

Q: Do you plan to spread Sauti Project throughout Africa in the future?

A: Right now its on a pilot phase of three months to see the extent, reach and impact that it will have but plans are there to strengthen and consolidate it in East Africa.

Q: How do you see citizen journalism future in East Africa?

A: Citizen journalism will grow and strengthen in East Africa and become an alternative source of information by the community.

This is our interview with Mark Malkoun:

Q: What inspired you to create Signal?

A: a personal desire to get a simple way of seeing what’s happening around you straight from the people. Users are already using their cell phones to take pictures of interesting things they encounter and posting them to social networks, or sending them to traditional news corporation like CNN IReport… However, traditional news are centralized and can be slow or biased… And existing social networks tend to be news about friends, people, or brands and not suitable for on-the-ground events.


Q: How it works?

A: Signal is an iPhone application that allows users to create mini-stories by capturing real-world events through camera, Geo-location, and have the community vote for these mini-stories to derive the top ones. The final result is an app that shows you the top stories of any country of the world, completely created and voted by the users in a systematic decentralized way.

Q: Is Signal local or global project ?

A: It is definitely a global project.

Q: What is Signal’s specialty ?

A: Being a complete decentralized citizen journalism solution.

Q: Since you launched a citizen journalism app, does that mean that you have enough confidence in citizen journalists and their ethics ?

A: Citizen journalism works, and we are seeing its tremendous effect on existing social networks. That being said, verification and quality control is very important and one of the things we do is that we rely on images more than texts, and all images are less than 72 hrs old and geo-tagged, which means that this information is being taken directly from the device to avoid any human error.

Q: How do you see citizen journalism comparing to traditional media ?

A: Citizen journalism can be present all over the world and in much greater number than traditional media… In our case, it is much easier to convince a user to download our free and useful app, than it is for Reuters to hire a new journalist. With Signal, we let the community decide which story is important versus a few key people like in traditional media. Signal relies more on footage than opinions, that can also be biased.

Q: Is citizen journalism developed in Lebanon?

A: There are quite a few citizen journalism initiatives in Lebanon, and it is growing thanks to the internet as it is in any other place in the world.

Q: Your opinion about social media and citizen journalism as new media.

A: Social media is largely being used for citizen journalism… However, most larger existing social networks were not initially designed for citizen journalism but instead for delivering news about a celebrity, friend, or brand; With Signal, we focus on events happening in every country more than stories about a particular person or brand.

Q: The way you see citizen journalism in the future.

A: Citizen journalism will continue to grow thanks to the internet, and with the proper system many challenges like trust and reliability can be solved.

Q: Signal – expectations and plans for the future.

A: We plan to release on iPhone at first, followed by Android. The buzz is out and people are loving the concept, we plan to continue innovating and delivering a complete platform that allows real news by the people, for the people.

Thanks to Mark for the interview and we wish him huge success with Signal citizen journalism app !

Thanks to the Chair of #media2012, Professor Andy Miah, we can share more details related to #media2012 and invite everyone interested to join this citizen journalism community and cover one really amazing project in the heart of London.

This is our interview with Professor Andy Miah, Chair of #media2012 :

Q: What is #media2012 ?

A: #media2012 is a citizen news wire for the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games, promoting interactions between citizen and professional journalism.

Q: How it works, who are the organizators ?

A: It is really a crowd sourced project, but was born out of a collaboration between artists, curators and academics in Scotland, the North West and South West of England. Today, we have 6 regions within the UK that are working for #media2012 and in each we have leadership within at least one university or college and one cultural or arts organization. The regional leaders are driving their agenda within their locale and coordination resides with a core team of people who are also around the UK.

Q: When was idea of using citizen journalists for reporting such huge sports event born ?

A: My research into the rise of citizen journalists at the Olympic Games goes back to Sydney 2000 when I gained accreditation to one of their Olympic media centres by presenting myself as a reporter. At the time, I had very little experience, but I had a good website and, back then, this was still an impressive thing, as not many people had their own. My experience in Sydney led to a research programme to track how media change was occurring at the Olympic Games and I”ve been to each one – Summer and Winter – since to follow what’s been happening. When London won the Games, this created some obligation to try to do something here in the UK, but a real turning point for us was Vancouver 2010, as we helped produce two citizen-led media centres.

Q: Olympics is important worldwide event, but many think that citizen journalists are not trustworthy. Do you think that this project can help citizen journalists in earning trust ?

A: I think today many people consider professional journalists not trustworthy and this may be a bigger problem, particularlly in the context of the Olympics, as the media are paying for the privilege to cover the Games. This seems like a conflict of interest to me. I’d rather rely on someone who has no such ties. Still, I accept that there is a big question over how citizen journalists operate. There is no ethical code to underpin their work. We have tried to help here by creating the #media2012 Charter, which proposes some fundamental ethical principles for citizen
journalists to follow. We understand that it is not simple, since ethical views differ from one country to the next, but we want to start a dialogue about it. If we can accredit some foreign citizen reporters, this will be a great way to advance the conversation about whether we can derive a universal code of ethics for citizen journalists.

Q: Do you expect only local community citizen journalists from UK or also global citizen journalists ?

A: I expect we will have a mixture. We have some people to whom we are close internationally and we expect them to join in the Games time plan for #media2012, but like all citizen journalism, it starts locally and we especially want to create media centres in different regions of the UK during the Games.

Q: Covering Olympic and Paralympic Games is huge honor and privilege, once only reserved for traditional media. Does this even more separates traditional and citizen media? Or makes possible future partnership ?

A: I am not sure it is an honour, but it’s definitely a privilege. Acting as a journalist at all is a privilege, but it should be a right that is shared by all. I think what we are doing with #media2012 raises questions about how media coverage around the Games should be organized – less corporations and more citizens.

Q: Today technology together with social media offers unimagined possibilities. Do you hope to achieve a more detailed coverage, thanks to engagement of citizens ?

A: We do. Presently, the accredited media focus mainly on the sports, but sport is only one dimension of the Olympic Games time period. We want to cover everything else that happens, from peace marches to protests and from the national cultural olympiad to local street festivals.

Q: Your expectations of both – project and Olympics coverage.

A: I think all of the surprises that wlll arise from the accredited media coverage will have happened at previous Games, whereas what #media2012 covers will create a conversation about how the media relates to society at large, particularly within the most controlled media event in history.

In anticipation of the Olympics, we want success to #media2012 and many good events for the coverage !

Q: Postulate One is really unique type of citizen journalism. Tell us the basics, how and when did you get the idea for it?

A: Postulate One is citizen journalism turned reality TV. Over the course of two years, the project will document 5-7 visionaries, all under 30, who are working on a unique solution to the global issues of microfinance, education, and the environment. As the stories unfold, they will bring perspective on these issues to our viewers through the context of their individual struggles.

What makes our coverage unique is the level of depth and involvement it will allow users – providing a continuing story over the course of two to three months that viewers have the power to influence. It’s an idea that stems of our desire to create comprehensive coverage that could still be consumed in bite-sized quantities.

Q: Who makes the Postulate One team?

A: Postulate One is Chris Walker and Morgan Hartley, two recent American graduates from UCLA and the University of Chicago.

Q: Name of the project is interesting – Postulate One. Explain us its meaning.

A: It’s a math term that describes the most fundamental assumption from which to derive a solution. Each of our visionaries will have their own postulate one, that core truth that motivates their push for change. Our own postulate one: good stories can change the world.

Q: What is the main connection between your idea and citizen journalism?

A: The two of us look to deliver coverage from the viewpoints of two young, untrained journalists. Using this sort of raw, unscripted lens will allow us to really delve into the personalities of the visionaries we’re going after in a way that is relate-able for our audience.

Q: You are dealing with three very important global issues in a very unusual way. Do you expect more attention on social media thanks to your exterme way of traveling? How come just bikes?

A: While bicycling 10,000 miles may come off as sensational, we actually determined it to be our most effective means of travel. Biking such a large distance allows us to understand the cultural content in which activists and social entrepreneurs are operating. It also allows us to get a up close and personal look at the problems they are fighting.

Q: You are searching for visionaries. What do you expect of them, what qualities they should have?

A: Due to the depth of our coverage, we plan to actually live and work with activists and social entrepreneurs to give our audience an unprecedented look into the personalities that drive social change. In seeking out these individuals, we are seeking out people that meet four criteria:

• They have a compelling answer to the question “What are you trying to change?”




• They have been dedicated to the same solution for over 18 months




• They have been nominated as a leader by members of their community




• Their solution is innovative, practical, and unique

Q: Which countries are you planning to visit and do you expect large differences regarding their familiarity with the citizen journalism?

A: Our journey will take us through 21 nations across the Eurasian landmass — including France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, United Arab Emirates, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and China.

Q: You found an amazing way to promote citizen journalism throughout the world. What are your plans, goals and expectations?

A: We plan to cover 5 to 7 visionaries for two to three months at a time. We expect to bring attention and aid to their cause, by allowing our viewers to participate in their story by sharing media, making introductions, and donating. We also expect to present diversity in terms of our visionaries’ challenges.

Q: What are your experiences so far?

A: The bike ride has just begun! The two of us kicked off our trek from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on March 10th. Since then, we have already biked about 350 km as we make our way to our first stop for extended coverage in Bucharest, Romania. So far, we have camped out in the backyard of a French Chataeu, been invited in for lunch by a member of the French Resistance, and spent zero degree nights in cow pastures.

Q: Getting involved with the project, how can it be done?

A: Check out Postulate One

This is our interview with him:

Q: With Glowing Hearts – what kind of a movie is it?

A: WGH is a feature length documentary

Q: What inspired you to make this documentary?

A: We were initially interested in exploring the changes happening to Vancouver in the leadup to the Olympics coming. One of the neighborhoods that we felt was going to be affected most in our former downtown core, now known as the Downtown Eastside (DTES), which is one of the poorest communities in Canada but a stone’s throw away from many of the major venues. The City had already started to give indications of how they were planning to deal with this “blemish” on our shiny exterior when the world came to visit and we wanted to see how the community would prepare itself for the party. One of the really interesting initiatives we came across was called “Fearless City” and was a peer-to-peer social media instruction program that taught people who otherwise couldn’t afford the access to these tools, how to shoot stories and publish them online. The mainstream media tends to have a very one note and negative take on everything in the DTES, so we were interested to see if the ability to nod communicate directly to the entire world could be a game changer in terms of people’s perceptions of the DTES.

Q: What connects “With Glowing Hearts” with citizen journalism and social media?

A: The film is a look at how CJ and SM can be used as tools to strengthen communities and aggregate voices to make them stronger. We were also interested in examining the role that CJ and SM are playing in changing how we all get our information, and how this is undermining previous technologies like broadcast TV.

Q: And what role in your movie have 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics?

A: The Olympics are the context for the film and while the film is critical of some of the choices and money spent, it is not an Olympic-bashing film. Because of they way they draw the world’s focus for a certain period of time, they are a very effective means of gauging slow changes in our media landscape.

Q: Who else is involved in the creation of this movie besides you?

A: I (Jon Ornoy) was the producer, Andrew Lavigne directed it, and Conor Byrne and Kelly Morris were the editors.

Q: Your view of citizen journalism and social media impact in media today.

A: I’m interested in the sort of hybrid model that’s evolving between social and traditional media where they work together complimenting each other’s strengths. Citizen journalists can often now get access where the official press can’t (ie. Syria) and tell stories with a unique angle based on their proximity to the story. Traditional journalists, however, are trained to research, fact-check and consider the ethical implications of their reporting. Now you’re seeing the traditional media turning to citizen journalists to break the stories that they can go into further depth with, which is an interesting blend to me.

Q: How would you describe media in Canada, both citizen and mainstream?

A: That’s too big of a question.

Q: From your perspective are social media and citizen journalism inseparable phenomenons in current online and real life?

A: My definition of SM covers the sharing of information that isn’t necessarily newsworthy, but CJ is definitely inseparable from being SM. Right now I’d say that CJ’s impacts are being felt equally online and in the real world.

Q: Did you fulfill your expectations regarding ‘With Glowing Hearts’ ?

A: Shooting the film took a year and the whole production process took three. We had some ideas when we started the film about what was going to end up on the screen, but since we’re following real people and their real lives, we really just had to roll with whatever came. If the film didn’t turn out exactly as I had envisioned, that’s because neither did life. That being said, we’re very proud of the product, the reception its had in the DTES and elsewhere and the impact it can hopefully have on other communities lloking to organize themselves.

Q: Do you have some new projects also related to citizen journalism and social media planned for the future?

A: Not currently, the world is a big and weird place with lots of fascinating stories, and I’m interested in exploring some other ideas now.

NewsMeBack thanks Jon Ornoy again for taking his time and sharing his work with us. For those who liked the idea and they want to help the movie, they can order “With Glowing Hearts”

This is NewsMeBack’s interview with her :

Q: CGNet Swara is an unique and impressive platform. How the idea of creating a project like this come from?

A: CGNet was started as a yahoo group by Shubhranshu Choudhary, who was a main stream journalist. Starting from a local news paper in Raipur, Chhattisgarh in Central India, via The Guardian in Delhi, he worked with the BBC’s Delhi bureau for about 15 years. After doing what he describes as ‘vulture journalism’, covering death and devastation due to natural and man made disasters, he went back to his home state Chhattisgarh to study the reasons behind the Maoist conflict which had caused the area to be identified as “the biggest internal security threat to the country.”

What he saw was that that particular situation was not being reported from the point of view of the people most affected- the tribals.

It was difficult to understand a people whose language is not known to a huge number of Indians, the educated people. There were no tribal journalists who could communicate the real needs of the people. Radio would have been an excellent medium for these people with largely oral traditions, but the law did not allow for communities to have their own radio stations.

The industry was making inroads into tribal heartland and so were the security forces- and all this could be brought out into the open through the internet and the CGNet Yahoo group. But try as the group did, there was no way to set up an on going two way communication or a dialogue. Although it might sound cliched,it was a very real experience of the digital divide.

The biggest questions were to get a cheap communication tool, which would bypass the need for literacy and would not be limited by languages to connect with the world.

Animated video showing what Swara does in society

Q: Describe us more how CGNet Swara works.

A: CGNet Swara provided connectivity to the internet through phones.

Anyone can call a phone number which connects him to a computer/server on which he/she can record a message and listen to others who have left messages, simply by selecting an option from a pre recorded message which is played out.

Of course the messages are checked by trained moderators- for verification, translation, and ensuring generally responsible communication. They are then available to the listener on the phone They are also posted on the website www.cgnetswara.org and on Face Book Twitter etc.

Often they are forwarded to concerned groups, individuals, and even the government for seeking help.

Q: Have you had help in realization and launching CGNet Swara?

A: Oh yes! CGNet Swara is working through support of many volunteers, individuals and organizations. All the people who give messages, listen to them, work on the technology, moderate are helpers. It is hard to list all the support in any one reply, so I am not going to attempt to do that.

Q: Amazing quality of CGNet Swara is its purpose – to be used by ordinary people. Is that why you created audio portal, to be more accesible?

A: Indeed, the ease and economy of accessibility is the beauty of the system.

Surprisingly, even people who have difficulty making ends meet, and you can hear many such on the website, own mobile phones.

Although writing about their concerns is difficult for even educated people, picking up the phone and saying what you feel is, like, really easy.

Also, each person is talking about what is really important to him/her and the people around him/her. This does not require too much training except in using a voice prompt system, which is new for the rural caller.

Q: CGNet Swara shows that you care about real local news. Tell us more about your contributors and how they manage to contact you. How important is for them to have such open media for themselves and their issues?

A: News is what matters to a life- and local news is the one that is closest to the heart.

But the mainstream media is very money dependent. For its survival it needs money eg a newspaper that takes about 50 rupees to produce is sold at a price of rupees 2- so someone is paying for it indirectly.

The news of the poor consumer does not find space anywhere.

Internet could be a better option but internet penetration is only 7% in India.

The good thing is that more than 2/3rd of India has a phone.

Our contributors find us through word of mouth and a carefully developed Network of concerned citizens and organizations who have been with CGNet as members of the yahoo group, a people’s website, and now an audio portal. We do put in a lot of effort on working on linking the rural grassroots community organisations and their workforce with the urban activist and the mainstream media.

Q: What is your impact on citizens and their activation to start reporting, get involved?

A: I would like to share a recent story of Hem Singh Markam, from Kabirdham in Chhattisgarh, who did not have any handpump in his village and no electricity either.

They had applied to the concerned department and followed up for years, but nothing really moved. One of our regular contributors to CGNetw Swara was visiting the area, and one day he showed Hem Singh how to record a message.

But Hem Singh was so frustrated, he expressed himself in a way which was……….. well…….. not polite. So someone who was moderating, called him up, and chatted.

Call it customized training, or simply compassionate but realistic communicating with someone who was having a hard time.

When Hem Singh understood that CGNet would need his help to help him. He went and found out the telephone numbers of the concerned officials. And recorded it for the whole world to hear and see and take action.

When nothing happened for 15 days, he called again and drew attention a little more forcefully- after all what was the point of his leaving messages if no one was going to do anything.

Clearly people reached out, because within the next two weeks, two handpumps were dug.

Of course there are miracles happening regularly, and we try to list them on the Impact page of CGNet Swara.

But we are not able to keep pace with the speed with which the facility is gaining in popularity. We need more and more people to participate on the internet, and take proactive part by following up the stories reported. The interest shown, the phone calls to people, all this helps build awareness, and pressure on people to do a good job.

Q: Have you held training and workshops for citizen journalists?

A: In two years we have held 3 big workshops at Chhattisgarh, Orissa and in Delhi to reach out to representatives from many states.

But it would be wrong to say that that is the extent of training- because every one who is trained, or is calling is usually training some other people. We do not have the capacity to keep accurate records of the good will that human beings have for each other.

Q: India is the largest democracy in the world. How do the media work in today’s India, and how is citizen journalism accepted?

A: Mostly it is appreciated.

In the rare cases when an ordinary person catches faults in a system, or fights for his rights, it is not appreciated right away. But citizen journalists can do more journalism sometimes than professionals can.

Tedx video where Shubhranshu Choudhary speaks how everyone needs to be a citizen journalist.

Q: Do you have relations and cooperation with mainstream media in India?

Our experience with Swara and the mainstream media is improving as our contributors are able to tell better stories, they are learning that journalists pick up issues which impact many lives.

Also, this is a facility for the mainstream media to look for stories right from the source. The contact number of the affected person is right there- making it very simple to get it all out quickly, efficiently and economically.

Q: What are your expectations in the future?

A: We hope to be able to provide something for all those groups who at present have no way to speak out- be it because of language, literacy, poverty or lack of freedom to speak freely. How we will do it, we do not know- but we know that people will themselves find a way.

We wish to CGNet Swara’s team success in reaching their goals. And again thanks for sharing their opinion, work and hopes with us.

We all know that today media has changed. Newsrooms are not the only places which will cover the elections because online communities and social media became also inseparable parts of every event, especially politically important.

In past couple of months, even more, citizen journalism communities showed their strength and organization, played key roles and gave new meaning to the reportage. Citizen journalists, particularly in recent days from Syria, showed extreme bravery and dedication. They were exclusive news deliverers. And it could not pass unnoticed.

So, we are aware, that citizen journalists are inevitable part of future elections everywhere, and not only as voters, but as a reporters, too.

Political parties are already organizing their representatives among citizen journalists, as their support and crucial parts of their political campaign.

Knowing all this, Huffington Post is launching specific orinigal contest OffTheBus “Cover The Conventions” .

They are inviting best citizen journalists from America and Canada to join this contest which has already started and is ending on March 8th.

Rules are simple and clear and first thing this contest requires is a video where contestants will say why they think they are the best and why they deserve to be the chosen ones.

After this, Huffington Post editors will choose 24 citizen journalists who will get unique opportunity to, according to Huffington Post :

” cover the Republican Convention in Tampa, Florida, August 27th to August 30th and the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 3rd to September 6th.”

All expenses paid, which is also important to mention.

This is really an amazing chance to become a representative and participant in the OffTheBus “Cover The Conventions” contest and also be one of few citizen journalists who will enter the election history.

To prove once again citizen journalism ethics and credibility. And of course be the proud participant of new age media.

We also invite all interested citizen journalists of the United States and Canada to join the OffTheBus contest. Good luck !