Citizen Journalism Blog

I found this question on ICFJ related to the Haiti earthquake. It is probably a good time for me to ponder, reflect and write.

I believe there is no one single answer to this. Some news have to be objective, reporting on the damages, number of lives lost, condition of the scene and maybe a bit of the emotions.

But those are news. Humans hunger for that heart matter. The tear jerker. The raw feelings. Otherwise, we will all be dead from being so cold, objective and without emotions.

One of the topic we had during the advanced citizen journalism course is narrative journalism. I am good in that area. I can write things that make me cry, what more others. In fact, I couldn’t even read out loud what I wrote.

I wrote about Kugan’s mother long wait for justice. Janet read it. I told her I can’t because it will make me cry.

Even in video journalism, we can also swing from the objective video angle to the emotional video angle. I had done both.

But the recent dragon boat tragedy is my first time dealing with really raw, painful human emotions. I believe not many people are able to deal with that kind of situation. I bet my CJ partner will sob so hard, I had to console him. Kekekeke, men do cry, you know?

It takes a lot of effort from me to be objective. From the beginning I had already decided that I am not going to go the path of vernacular media whereby they force feed the public with lots and lots of gory photos and emotional scenes. So, I abstained from filming dead bodies, close-up of tear stained faces and audio of people crying. I merely take a few seconds of such scenes to drive the point.

So, my answer is, we need to have both types of news reporting. The emotional angle to bring awareness, create more compassion and hopefully get more people to donate and help. However, one has to be careful of not using others’ misfortunes to sell news.

My video above has touched 4K views on Youtube. I believe the link has been passed around because my normal views are around 300 only. So, I take comfort that 4,000 people have viewed the tragedy from several angles.

What I had tried to convey in the videos are:
1) The condition of the tragedy site
2) The volunteers who were working hard to help
3) The element of faith in the face of tragedy
4) Short glimpse of the parents and grandparents
5) Rescue efforts by the police and other authorities
6) A compassionate state leader
7) The despair situation with fading lights and darkness

Only God knows how my mind was working hard on how to approach the editing at the time of filming. I was like having a director, an editor, videographer and viewer all talking at the same time in my head. *grins*

Read what people commented on the question on ICFJ site.

Oh, I forget to add. My first draft on Kugan’s mom was chuck into the dustbin by Mkini editor Kabi. Hehehehe. I sort of expected that because he wants news, I give him views. It doesn’t kill off my enthusiasm because I merely brushed it off as ‘Janet taught me to write that way, you just don’t know how to appreciate my talent’. I posted it on my blog though.