Categories: Articles

Is Witnessing The Same As Being A Journalist?

After listening to one of my favourite Podcasts, For Immediate Release – The Hobson and Holtz Report, I was struck with a thought about those who have become Citizen Journalists (pretty much any one of us who can report on any situation be it in text, images, audio and/or video) and traditional Journalists.

There is a stark reality in this world: there are many events (from political to business to social) where reporters are not welcome and/or invited, yet regular people (like you and I) not only have access, but can then turn around and tell our story to the world as simply as hitting the "publish" button on a Blogging platform, uploading a video clip to YouTube or even tweeting it live on Twitter through your mobile device.

This begs the question: should Journalists be given equal access to these "private" events, or should attendees be forced to not publish anything they see, hear or feel?

Something tells me that both questions leave something to be desired. Is the bigger question: how do you – as an event organizer – contain the message as you would like it to be transmitted in a world where every witness is also a Citizen Journalist, Publisher and Pundit?

Something tells me that most of us don’t want to deal with questions this deep. We would much rather stick our heads in the sand and, maybe even, sue those who don’t follow our rules (much like the old saying goes: "if you don’t like, it, I’m taking my ball and going home.").

What if there never were any rules, and everything we saw was commonly "put out there"? See, I don’t think it’s the fact that people are sharing their thoughts with the world, I think it’s the fact that their thoughts can now be seen. heard and felt by the world… and yes, there is a big difference.

Every witness is now a Citizen Journalist. And, like traditional journalism, every truth is sprinkled with each individuals’ own perspectives, slants and opinions.

Deal with it.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.