Tag: citizen journalism

iReport citizen journalist could face jailtime

The citizen journalist “Johntw” that falsely stated the Apple CEO Steve Jobs had been rushed to hospital after a heart attack is now under investigation of the SEC, reports Wired.

Assuming the Securities and Exchange Commission can prove the fake news writer published the post with the purpose of manipulating the stock, there would likely be criminal charges, says [attorney Scott] Vernick.

“These sorts of financial crimes or attempts to defraud investors carry criminal penalties and the possibility of imprisonment,” says Vernick.

Wired writes that in a similar case from 2000, a 23-year-old community college student was sentenced to 44 months in prison for issuing a fake press release about a company called Emulex.

LA Times reminds us that Steve Jobs’ health has been an issue before, for example when Bloomberg accidentally published Jobs obituary two months ago.

CNN reports that the false content was flagged and quickly removed from the site.

Tags: , , , . Ping.

Ljungkvist got citizen journalism award

A huge congratulations to my friend Magnus Ljungkvist who yesterday was awarded “Nyhetspriset 2007, Årets avslöjande”, a new citizen journalism award that was founded by the political blog Politikerbloggen and the PR agency Prime PR. Ljungkvist received 25,000 kronor for his articles that later led to the resignation of Sweden’s Minister for Trade, Maria Borelius. A series of negative articles took off after Magnus Ljungkvist revealed some startling facts about her and her husband’s income during the 90’s. Borelius only lasted a record short period of 8 days as Minister. More background here.

The Swedish tabloid Expressen got the prestigious journalism award Guldspaden 2006 for the same story, although they published their “scoop” after Ljungkvist.

Johan Larsson, the man behind blog portals like knuff.se, intressant.se and nyligen.se, also got an award yesterday for his efforts to build great services for the Swedish blogosphere.

Sweden’s Minister for Trade brought down by blogger

“Den dagen bloggar fäller en riksdagsledamot eller minister är bloggen etablerad”. Johan Norberg, Bloggforum 2004.

“The day blogs bring down a member of the parliament (Riksdag) or a Minister, then the blog has become established”. Johan Norberg, Bloggforum 2004.

That day is today. Sweden’s new Minister for Trade, Maria Borelius, today resigned, after a series of negative articles that took off after a blogger, Magnus Ljungkvist, revealed some startling facts about her and her husband’s income during the 90’s. Borelius only lasted a record short period of 8 days as Minister.

Background to the story here and for example here.

Update: Aftonbladet gives Magnus the recognition he deserves. Expressen still pretend it’s their gig.

Magnus Ljungkvist blogg

Newsweek about participatory journalism

MSNBC Newsweek writes about Korean Ohmynews.com and participatory journalism as the future of journalism. Ohmynews employs 25 trained reporters who cover the major news stories of the day, and 33,000 “citizen journalists” who posts stories on the site.

Newsweek writes that founder Oh Yeon Ho’s belief that ‘every citizen is a reporter’ has changed journalism in South Korea—and now he’s aiming for the world.

Oh Yeon Ho says about participatory journalism: “Technology itself cannot change society. Korean citizens were ready to participate. Only prepared people, who can use the merits of technology, can make a difference.”

Link via Donata.