Revolutionising citizen journalism: Rassd News Network and the Egyptian revolution

Nina Grønlykke Mollerup

Revolutionising citizen journalism: Rassd News Network and the Egyptian revolution

Institut for Kommunikation

Abstract

Citizen journalism has played a crucial role in the Egyptian revolution by providing documentation of events journalists were unable to document and by challenging and influencing the mainstream media. One of the most prominent examples of this is Rassd News Network (RNN). RNN is until now entirely based on Facebook and the original founders exclusively knew each other through Facebook. It is run on a voluntary basis and has no commercial interests. Only few of the people involved in the news network have official journalistic training, nevertheless RNN has around 1,500,000 followers and gets attention from major news organisations such as Aljazeera and Reuters as well as from the Egyptian army, which is now ruling the country. In this presentation I will discuss the implications of news production being done by volunteers with a vested interest in the events they are covering. I will also discuss RNN’s strategy of balance through diversity and compare this to the unviable journalistic quest for objectivity. The presentation is based on preliminary interviews with people from or connected with RNN.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Publikationsdato	11 sep. 2011
Status	Udgivet - 11 sep. 2011
Begivenhed	Agency in the mediatized world: Media, communication and development in transition - Ørecomm Festival 2011 - Roskilde University/Malmö University, Roskilde, Danmark Varighed: 9 sep. 2011 → 13 sep. 2011 https://orecomm.net/festival-2011/

Konference

Konference	Agency in the mediatized world
Lokation	Roskilde University/Malmö University
Land/Område	Danmark
By	Roskilde
Periode	09/09/2011 → 13/09/2011
Internetadresse	https://orecomm.net/festival-2011/

Citationsformater

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abstract = "Citizen journalism has played a crucial role in the Egyptian revolution by providing documentation of events journalists were unable to document and by challenging and influencing the mainstream media. One of the most prominent examples of this is Rassd News Network (RNN). RNN is until now entirely based on Facebook and the original founders exclusively knew each other through Facebook. It is run on a voluntary basis and has no commercial interests. Only few of the people involved in the news network have official journalistic training, nevertheless RNN has around 1,500,000 followers and gets attention from major news organisations such as Aljazeera and Reuters as well as from the Egyptian army, which is now ruling the country. In this presentation I will discuss the implications of news production being done by volunteers with a vested interest in the events they are covering. I will also discuss RNN{\textquoteright}s strategy of balance through diversity and compare this to the unviable journalistic quest for objectivity. The presentation is based on preliminary interviews with people from or connected with RNN.",

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T1 - Revolutionising citizen journalism

T2 - Agency in the mediatized world

AU - Mollerup, Nina Grønlykke

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N2 - Citizen journalism has played a crucial role in the Egyptian revolution by providing documentation of events journalists were unable to document and by challenging and influencing the mainstream media. One of the most prominent examples of this is Rassd News Network (RNN). RNN is until now entirely based on Facebook and the original founders exclusively knew each other through Facebook. It is run on a voluntary basis and has no commercial interests. Only few of the people involved in the news network have official journalistic training, nevertheless RNN has around 1,500,000 followers and gets attention from major news organisations such as Aljazeera and Reuters as well as from the Egyptian army, which is now ruling the country. In this presentation I will discuss the implications of news production being done by volunteers with a vested interest in the events they are covering. I will also discuss RNN’s strategy of balance through diversity and compare this to the unviable journalistic quest for objectivity. The presentation is based on preliminary interviews with people from or connected with RNN.

AB - Citizen journalism has played a crucial role in the Egyptian revolution by providing documentation of events journalists were unable to document and by challenging and influencing the mainstream media. One of the most prominent examples of this is Rassd News Network (RNN). RNN is until now entirely based on Facebook and the original founders exclusively knew each other through Facebook. It is run on a voluntary basis and has no commercial interests. Only few of the people involved in the news network have official journalistic training, nevertheless RNN has around 1,500,000 followers and gets attention from major news organisations such as Aljazeera and Reuters as well as from the Egyptian army, which is now ruling the country. In this presentation I will discuss the implications of news production being done by volunteers with a vested interest in the events they are covering. I will also discuss RNN’s strategy of balance through diversity and compare this to the unviable journalistic quest for objectivity. The presentation is based on preliminary interviews with people from or connected with RNN.

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

Y2 - 9 September 2011 through 13 September 2011

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