Open Journalism: Is It The Future?

The Guardian recently released a TV advert as part of a campaign promoting the papers concept of 'open journalism'. The three little pigs advert depicts how the newspaper covers the story and hot the Guardian interacts with readers and internet users through the newspaper, website, blogs, tweets and video.

'Open is our operating system, a way of doing things that is based on a belief in the open exchange of information, ideas and opinions and its power to bring about change....The campaign is designed to bring that philosophy to life for new and existing readers' (Alan Rusbridger 2012). The paper has a whole section on their website dedicated to their concept of 'Open Jouranlism' and how readers can get involved.

The advert has done its job and sparked an argument as to whether 'Open Journalism' is a good concept for journalists to take on board. Melanie Sill is in favour of the idea and promotes what she calls 'The Case for Open Journalism Now'. She describes it as '...a hopeful yet pragmatic argument for journalism’s future as a public good. It addresses a basic question of the digital age: with information flowing everywhere, how does journalism provide value? The answers lie in a new orienting idea for journalism that is transparent, responsive and enriched through vibrant two-way connections with a networked universe'.

I personally believe that the concept of 'open journalism' is a good one that all journalists should try and take on as it shows that they are capable of keeping up with the digital era as it changes. By allowing readers to get involved journalists can get more accurate accounts of stories from those there whilst it is happening. Open journalism also creates a conversation between journalists and readers which means that both parties can feed ideas off of each other and help to inform opinions. Also the idea of open journalism means that social networking platforms such as Twitter can be used to provide information on news stories. This is ideal for 'news breaking events' as information and images can be uploaded quickly on such websites allowing the public to get a better understanding of what is happening. So journalists’ wanting to harness this is a good thing in my eyes because it creates a new form of journalism which is more suitable for a society that is constantly networking.