Ishmael: Teaching the Dos and Don'ts of Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism may sometimes seem like a field with no rules--anyone can upload videos or stories, and no overarching organization controls what goes out to the public. There are, however, some best practices being discussed in the media and among citizens. As I thought about Moby Dick's Ishmael as a citizen reporter (which isn't too hard to connect), I wondered where he was a good or bad example of media ethics and best practices.

I combined my curation tool of choice (Google alerts) with this topic and started to see some patterns and connections emerging between current stories and Ishmael's past, fictional one.

1. Provide information where other journalists can't. Recent bombings and attacks on school children in Syria were reported on by citizen journalists. Professionals couldn't have known where to be to get this information in real time, but local citizens stepped in to provide photos of the attackers and details on the story. Likewise, Ishmael provides a unique point of view on the adventures of the Pequod. He is in an isolated location (on a boat in the middle of the ocean) where others would be hard pressed to find them to report on the fate of the ship.
2. Weigh the risks before going into a dangerous situation. Professional journalist Lindsey Hilsum gave an address this month about why reporters go to war when there are so many risks. It's a balance between "no story is worth dying for" and "this story is important and worth it." Does Ishmael really assess the risks of reporting on the Pequod? In some ways, we can argue that he didn't really know the risks (or the true mission) when he first boarded the whaling ship, but he also knew that some things were off, and he was warned by others to not continue. 
3. Use the technological resources available to you. iTunes approved a new citizen journalism app this week that allows users to upload short videos, photos, and text updates. This app could arguably be used for lesser forms of journalism and take the form of a celebrity gossip or paparazzi venue, but it also has the potential to spread useful information. Ishmael uses technology in the sense of the first definition in the OED, "treatise on art," but it is sometimes difficult to see where the connection is to a more modern idea of technology. Does Ishmael really take advantage of resources available to him to publish this story?
4. Ask: Why is this information being published? The murder of an 18-year-old boy in a South African school in late October was recorded on video by a fellow classmate. The video spread quickly and made many question the ethics of circulating such a video. Was it purely for spectacle, for commercial purposes that drew more people to news outlets' sites? Does all truth need to be circulated? We can then think about the purpose behind Ishmael's reporting. He tells a gruesome tale at times, but the information is not purely for spectacle--there is context for the story. He hasn't simply uploaded a video titled "Huge Whale Sinks Entire Ship and Crew." He tells the story of the people involved. 

 This is all hopefully leading me to what I hope will become my final project, as I've discussed earlier, which would be a guidebook of dos and don'ts to citizen journalism.