Introduction to citizen journalism and digital empowerment

Week 1: Introduction to citizen journalism and digital empowerment

Nowadays, in the world have a lot of citizen journalism, and before in Cambodia not much, but now new generation know and do it a lot like Facebook, twister, blogger, and website.
To introduction to citizen journalism and digital empowerment we should know some word or question that we don’t understand like citizen journalism, digital empowerment, news, information, best news…
Now I describe all words below: citizen journalism is the people that know about news and information, but they are not sure/don’t have full story of news that they want to show out. Digital empowerment is like: Facebook, Twister, Blogger, and other website… news equal newly received/ noteworthy information and it a new event which is interested to the public or affecting them at present or the future. Information equal fact or knowledge provided or learned as a research or study.
Now we know some of difficult word, but we don’t know where does the information come from? It come from : first from people like person who know and involves a case, experts, specialists, teachers, lawyers, lawmakers, spokesperson or people who eyewitness, GO, and NGO officials involve. Second from paper like book, media products, press release, statement, and other documents, also internet and website. Third from place, place can be a news source telling us what is happening. And sometime we should know that what is the best news? It is news value or worthiness or newest and strangest thing, media organization’s target of readership or political environment of a country is the best news or the best news like: Rules of media is providing information (both positive and negative ones) like: providing education, providing entertainment for changing negative attitudes of individual, community, private and state institutions, society for social justice, democracy, human rights, participation, quality of lift, and development. Journalists must say in true voice not lie, and journalists must avoid any intention provocation for: political dispute, racial dispute, religious dispute, armed confrontation conflict between a community and community, reporting with sensationalism and remember that if you are a journalist you are not a politician, judges, police independent, watchdog, voice of a voiceless and you must avoid racial religious and armed confrontation.
Before start writing we must have story planning, we have to think about topic or what we want to tell audience who are our news sources in the story?, Is it interested that effects the public?, Any impact?, Change?, know about how to write the best news?, and you must know about deadline, dateline, byline, truly. Do not put a series of quotes in the lines. News writer must put inserted paraphrases, tense, headline, photo captions, and must be balancing both one source and two sources. Writing the best news has six plans:

- What (What story?)
- Where (Where the story happened?)
- When (When the story happened?)
- Who (Who has done it?)
- Why (Why it happened?)
- How (How it happened?
 Digital empowerment is a using network or webmail that we can choose like: Gmail, yahoo, opera mail, Hotmail…after they know about this they can create a new account, and use it for relation network or can log in to Facebook, blogger, twister.