Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

If the strong showing of the movie of Freedom Writers proves anything, it shows that people are hungry for more ways to tell personal stories.

The film records how a group of high school kids learned how to tell their personal stories with the help of an inspiring teacher. This week our special guest is Kimberlee Morrison--a web journalist and original freedom writer. 

Today she tells us what the freedom writing movement might mean for citizen journalism as part of my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a serialized set of weekly interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing...

Jason Boog:
The whole Freedom Writers project reminds me of citizen journalism--a way for regular folks to write about the stories that get overlooked by big press outlets. What do you think about citizen journalism?  How can more people follow your example and share their stories?

Kimberlee Morrison:
I love the idea of citizen journalism, but as a journalist I can understand how this movement could be very scary for traditional media; especially when you think about the standards that have been in place for so long. Continue reading...

Change must come though and I believe there is a place for both citizen and traditional journalism. What should and is beginning to happen with citizen journalism though, is that as more and more “regular folks” become news-gatherers, they will be held up to the traditional news values standards and hopefully also enjoy the same 1st Amendment protections that traditional news gatherers do.  

For example, in the cases of people being sued for defamation because of something they published in their blog, although it could be quite intimidating, I get sort of excited about these cases because this is the best way to set precedent regarding how to govern oneself as an online writer. Looking at the Perez Hilton case, I would hope that as citizen media becomes more sophisticated, these kinds of instances will be reduced and photographers are eventually contracted or contacted for the use of their expertise.

Creative Commons is one organization that is making the use of photographs easy and legal by simply requesting that everything be properly attributed to the creator. Those looking to consider themselves citizen journalists should make a serious effort to understand media law and news values because citizen journalism is becoming a legitimate form of reporting.

This partially is why I like the Know More Media model; it takes a step toward making the online publishing industry more official and credible, by-passing the need for secondary authority by having experts write stories themselves. As a reader and someone who understands the process of attribution in journalism, I often want to know where the authors are getting their information. I also know many of the Know More Media authors are not journalists, they are business people writing about their field of expertise; this knowledge is very reassuring.

One of the best things about citizen journalism is that the writer can be the source, telling their own stories as opposed to someone else telling it, possibly with a frame or slant that completely changes what the story is about. I never expected to write about myself as a journalist but this is becoming a large part of how I write.

Blogging is more personal than traditional print media, in which reporters are discouraged against injecting themselves into the story. As bloggers you almost have to get personal to gain the trust of the cynics who seem to dominate the online reading community.

When I was in college no one could have told me that I would work for an online publishing company as a writer and editor, eventually carrying much of the weight for what ends up on the homepage. What I did know is that I needed something dramatically different from what I was even aware was out there. I was out of work for nearly six months after I graduated from college and my mom started sending me openings for litigation assistants at her job – which I promptly deleted before I was tempted to settle.

The only way to follow my example is to be willing to put it all on the line to find exactly what you want and knowing you will get it – this is what faith is. Settling was not an option for me; I knew that I would never be happy at a “regular” job or in traditional corporate culture. Sure, I went through the motions of interviewing for many other jobs, none of which would have been as fulfilling as the position I was eventually given by Know More Media. And even though my family and friends keep telling me that I am worth more than I get paid, I know you cannot put a price on being happy with your work and having the level creative and professional freedom I am afforded.

Being able to use Know More Media as a platform to tell my story is really just icing on the cake.