Former Mid Sussex Times editor Paul Watson has a story about citizen journalism in action on his wife’s Uckfield News blog.
In it he reveals how Twitter and Facebook users had chapter and verse on a dramatic robbery in the Sussex town before local newspapers were anywhere near the story.
He writes: “Reporting of such a dramatic incident in this way shows exactly how news reporting has changed for ever.
“Today we saw the digital revolution at work right on our doorsteps. It is no longer theory – everyone with a mobile phone or computer can be a journalist.
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“It makes you wonder why some newspaper editors are telling their staff not to Tweet news when it happens – they say it should be ‘saved’ for the newspaper. It’s a real head in the sand attitude.
“The way you can protect newspaper sales is to offer something different; something better; something of real value. Do that and people will probably pay.”
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