Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

His superhero name is Jimmy Justice, a citizen journalist who tapes and uploads videos of NY traffic agents said to be breaking the very same laws they enforce. 

He’s been on national television, such as on ABC’s “i-Caught,” MSNBC’s “Caught on Camera” and the “Star Jones” show.

“I’m an average working class guy with a passion for justice. What makes me different from others is that I am not afraid to walk up to a law enforcement officer and confront them,” he said.

Got that right. He isn’t intimidated by them, but he still rather hide his true identity and not his face, as shown in the following video clips. 

Though NYPD failed to provide a response to me, officials have spoken on television, obviously outraged and calling Justice’s actions harassment.  His response is, “I would not have the conscience to accuse someone of wrongdoing unless I was absolutely certain that according to the law they have done something wrong.”

Some find it refreshing that New York City’s “zero tolerance policy” carried out by cops is extended to include them as well.

Justice started video taping two years ago, when he found an officer parking his vehicle in front of a fire hydrant when it wasn’t an emergency, a move that would cost any other civilian $115.

“I could show the entire scene, and provide empirical proof, such as the officer leaving McDonalds holding a bag of food, and the officer would not have the opportunity to lie. “

Part of his confident stems from reading up on traffic law, along with privacy issues when filming in public.

So the government, specifically Internal Affairs Bureau, does reprimand their own, according to Justice.  The 311 procedure is shown below:

He has not yet been arrested or seriously injured for his “activism.”  However, he has been pushed around, punched, almost run over by a car, spit on, cursed at and had two cameras broken.

Oh, and has a day job, folks, this doesn’t exactly pay the bills.

“I always bring my camera with me to work in case I see something unfold that should be recorded. Manhattan is the busiest borough so therefore I get the most video there.”

Justice claims that he’s making a difference, seeing a reduction in the rate of recidivism in areas where he made a presence.  He even described a “success” story, after revealing the behavior of one highly ranked cop:

Justice receives about 200 emails per week, which range from fan mail, to death threats, to marriage proposals by German girls.  He won’t stop what he’s doing until he’s run out of material.

There is a lot that’s still unknown about the deadly terrorist attacks that occurred in India’s finance capital of Mumbai this past week. Most major news organizations are, understandably, devoting a lot of resources to covering this story. But what I’ve found interesting is that this is another instance where citizen journalism has, in some ways, proved to be more effective than the mainstream media in terms of sharing information quickly and disseminating a wider range of views. The New York Times ran an article on this yesterday:

The attacks in India served as another case study in how technology is transforming people into potential reporters, adding a new dimension to the news media.

At the peak of the violence, more than one message per second with the word “Mumbai” in it was being posted onto Twitter, a short-message service that has evolved from an oddity to a full-fledged news platform in just two years.

Those descriptions and others on Web sites and photo-sharing sites served as a chaotic but critically important link among people across the world — whether they be Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn tracking the fate of a rabbi held hostage at the Nariman House or students in Britain with loved ones back in India or people hanging on every twist and turn in the standoff while visiting relatives for Thanksgiving dinner.

Though I am personally not a fan of Twitter, it’s very cool to see the tool being employed in such a fashion. People can publish their raw thoughts and reactions for all to see in real time, greatly adding to the amount of information available (though there’s obviously a risk that a lot of that information could be incomplete or even wrong). It’s also interesting to see how texting, mobile photo uploading, and live video streaming from cell phones are increasingly becoming central tools in the journalists toolkit. This is indeed what our Interactive course is supposed to teach us; that we have to be adaptable because there are now so many new platforms that reporters have at their disposal to tell their stories.