Citizen journalism workshop in Detroit area

If you live in a northern suburb of Detroit and would like to be a citizen journalist, read on.

The Journal Register Company-owned Independent Newspapers, Inc., plans to offer a three-hour workshop for budding citizen journalists.

To be held in New Baltimore, Michigan (just north of Lake St. Clair), the workshop will be free of cost to participants, and held in the premises of The Voice Newspapers at 51180 Bedford St., New Baltimore, MI 48047.

Residents of Macomb county and around may contact workshop organizer Jeff Payne at 586-716-8100 (ext. 304) to register. In a brief telephone conversation, Mr. Payne said the date and time of the workshop would be decided based on the number and preferences of the participants.

INI's site indicates that the company publishes more than two dozen community newspapers in four states.

SPJ offers citizen journalism workshop in Denver on May 9

The Society of Professional Journalists, Colorado chapter, will organize a citizen journalism workshop at the Denver Newspaper Agency building (from where the Denver Post is published) on Saturday May 9.

The half-day workshop, christened a "Citizen Journalism Academy," will teach "journalism values to private citizens who have started covering their own communities online," according to a release.

Such workshops have already been held in Chicago, Greensboro and Los Angeles, the release added.

The Gazette of Colorado Springs reported, "The topics covered at the workshop [will] include journalism ethics, media law, access to public records and meetings, and the use of technology."

One of the organizers [of the workshop], Christine Tatum, said citizen journalists are reaching out for higher standards - to report news and opinion with integrity and in a way that engages the audience.

"Journalism is everyone's right," said Tatum, a former president of the Society of Professional Journalists. "It's a beautiful thing to me that absolutely everyone in the United States is free to practice journalism."

Why Brad Townsend likes citizen journalism

The Dallas Morning News writer narrates -- via a blog post -- a quick anecdote about the beginnings of a rudimentary "swarming investigation" which helped him fact-check a story. Check it out.

Citizen journalist's footage told of CO 3407

From yesterday's Buffalo (N.Y.) News:

Journalists weren’t the only ones who told the world about the tragic saga of Flight 3407. The disaster graphically demonstrated the emerging trend of citizen journalism.

Anthony Trigilio, a 19-year-old Clarence resident, became an international media star — at least for several hours — after posting powerful footage from the crash site on YouTube. A short time later he started receiving dozens of calls and messages from media organizations.

“I think everyone on the planet called me,” said Trigilio. “A lot of national and international [media outlets].”

Still, Trigilio said he doesn’t consider himself an armchair journalist. He said he only posted the footage to let his friends know about the horrifying events that were playing out in his hometown.

University of Kentucky offers free citizen journalism workshops

The University of Kentucky is offering citizen journalism workshops for the Lexington community, courtesy the Kentucky Citizen Media Project.

Participants would publish their work on the newly launched Lexington Commons site.

According to a media release the workshops, which are free and include lunch, will be four in number -- every month starting February.

The workshops will cover basic journalism training, how to recognize news, how to write a story, hard news and feature writing. They will also cover journalism ethics and media law. Participants will be shown how to use the Web site’s tools that will allow them to post stories, blogs and podcasts.

Seungahn Nah, assistant professor of community communications and director of KCMP, said the project reflects his favorite quote from OhMyNews in South Korea, one of the first citizen-based projects in the world: "Every citizen is a reporter."

The workshops are free and open to anyone in Lexington who is interested in regularly contributing to the Lexington Commons.