UNIT 1 LISTENING

Robin Hamman, from Headshift, which is ................that advises ................ and .................. on
................ ................ ................and he's ....................in the ............... .................at City
University in London. And yes, even his ................ ................have ................ ................. And, uh,
I began by asking him to define what ................ ................is. Robin Hamman: Well,
................ ......... is ................ ........... Sometimes they're people who have been trained as
journalists, other times they have ................ ................ ................. But they're people who
become interested in a story or an idea, and they go out and they ................ ................and
telling the world about it. Sometimes they'll do that in the same way as, as one would hope
journalists would do, which is you know, ....................., make sure everything has been
................ ................, and then .................... Other times it's ....................and, and
................ ................that haven't been checked, that mayor may not have
................ ................ ................ Host: You've been in, ................ ...............in watching citizen
media and ................ ................for a long time. How have they changed over the years?
Hamman: On one hand, it's become a lot easier to do. People are now, for the most part, used
to doing things like ................ ................and ................ ................or ................ ......to a friend.
Uh, ................ ................ on their computer, maybe .................., emailingit.So. people are used
to kind of ................ ................ ................. And actually you don't need to know a whole lot
more to ................., or to .....................to ................ ................, or indeed to
................ ................, ................ ................, and ................ ................on YouTube. Host: Are
there times when citizen journalism has really ................ ............. ...of, of ................... ?
Hamman: Well, it kind of depends on how you define "citizen journalism:' Because a lot of
times people who ................ ................ ................are actually people who just ........................
something, happen to have ................ ................, or .....................at the moment................ .
And all they did was try to tell their friends what they saw. So, for example, we had the guy who
................ ................ ..., uh, ................ ................ ... last year, urn from ................. And all he was
trying to do when he uploaded that photo was to tell his friends, "Whoa, I'm ............ and I've
just seen ................ ....... in the water, and there's people swimming out of it-this is crazy!" So,
he wasn't trying to become ..................; he wasn't trying to report to the world what he saw. He
was just trying to tell his friends and people that he knew ................ ................... that was
................ .................him. There are many, many examples of citizen journalists, or um,
................ .......................out there. C' many of them are, uh, great examples of, of, you know,
peopl just trying to tell a story. .................., ................ ................happens, which is people with
................ ................, um, r know, really trying to ................ ................ ........ They do ................;
they do have an opinion. Uh, and there's lots of good examples of that out there too. Host: It
seems that ................ ................ ................is, uh, that they're ................ .............
as ................ ................ ......are. Because in the most, most of the time blogs haven't been
around long enough, some of them are ..................-how are they ................ ................?
Hamman: Well, one of the interesting things about ................ ................ ..........is that, for a long
UNIT 1 LISTENING

time now, most people who are doing it, urn, have been quite concerned about .............. .. and
......................... about any biases that they might have. So, unlike a typical, traditional, uh,
...................where if a journalist happens to, you know, have some ......................, and tends not
to tell that to the audience, tends ..................that to the audience because they don't want to
think that they might be biased. Urn, in the instance of most citizen urn li s and bloggers,
they're actually ................ ............. about that ...................... Host: What's the next step in the
......................, of journalism and citizen journalism? Hamman: I think one of the reasons why
citizen journalism is becoming so interesting to a lot of people at the moment is this idea that
the person who does the story usually tells people, you know, their ................ .............. they
might have, uh, any opinions that they may have before they started .....................or
......................as the story came out. That's something that's ................ .................., but I hope
we start to see a lot more of it. I don't see any reason why a journalist who has a particular bias,
who has a particular opinion, shouldn't tell the audience that upfront so that they can make
................ ................about how that bias might or might not have affected their
................ ................. So I think that's one change that we're going to see where citizen
journalism and blogging is actu!llly going to affect the, the future of journalism. I also think, and
have ................ lots of ................ ................ ................ ................, Facebook, Twitter, as a way of
reaching out- not only to ................ .....of information, but also to ....................... So, as they're
................., they'll ................ ................, say, "Here's what I'm ................ ....; here's what I'm
................. Do you, the audience, know anything about it? Can you help me?" These are
techniques that have come from the world of blogging and social media and that
................. ................ Urn, so, I think, you know, ................ ................ ................ -definitely we'll
see a lot of it in the future. Citizen journalism-I think we aren't going to see a ................ ....of it
as such, urn, but, you know, I may be ................... Host: Well that was Robin Hamman who, uh,
spoke to me earlier. He works for Headshift, an agency that advises organizations and
governments on blogging and other aspects of social media.