Journalism Pros Nod To People Formerly Known As The Audience

Michael Hedges June 14, 2021 - Follow on Twitter

Professional journalists have long been uncomfortable with amateurs in their midst. Students at accredited universities are given a pass, mostly to tote luggage and gear but keep quiet. Journalist unions and related professional organizations have take steps to keep the “hobbyists” at a distance, employment contracts with recognized news outlets necessary for accreditations. Authoritarian regimes do the same. Still, citizen journalism has found its space.

The Pulitzer Prize Board at Columbia University, arguably the epitome of American journalistic order and dominion, this past week (June 11) bestowed the 2021 Pulitzer Prizes. The great and good of American journalism stepped, virtually, to the podium. Over time Pulitzer Prize categories have been extended and now include books, drama and music. The Pulitzer Prize was named for newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who left US$2 million in his will to endow a journalism school at Columbia University. In current terms (2021) the initial endowment is equal to US$56.6 million.

Appearing as more fortissimo coda than footnote, a special citation to Darnella Frazier concluded the 2021 Pulitzer Prizes listed on its official website. Just over a year ago Ms Frazier, then 17 years old, recorded and shared a cellphone video of a Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer killing George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck. It contained George Floyd’s last words: “I can’t breath.” The video was in evidence at the police officer’s trial, in which he was convicted of unintentional homicide. In bestowing the award the Pulitzer Prize Board cited her “for courageously recording the murder of George Floyd, a video that spurred protests against police brutality around the world, highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists' quest for truth and justice.”

Journalism reporting and explaining racism, police abuse and related indifference of public officials was widely honored by the Pulitzer Prize Board. The Minneapolis, Minnesota Star Tribune received the Breaking News Reporting Pulitzer Prize for “its urgent, authoritative and nuanced coverage of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis and of the reverberations that followed.” The Associated Press photography staff was honored with the Breaking News Photography award for a collection of photographs from multiple US cities that cohesively captures the country's response to the death of George Floyd.”

A series of columns by Richmond, Virginia Times Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams examined the “painful and complicated process of dismantling the city’s monuments to white supremacy,” receiving the Pulitzer for Commentary. Reuters reporters Jackie Botts, Andrew Chung, Jaimi Dowdell, Lawrene Hurley and Andrea Januta received the Pulitzer for Explanatory Reporting, examining “the obscure legal doctrine of qualified immunity and how it shields police who use excessive force from prosecution.” Free-lance reporter Mitchell S. Jackson, writing for Runner’s World, was honored with a Pulitzer for Feature Writing for “a deeply affecting account of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery that combined vivid writing, thorough reporting and personal experience to shed light on systemic racism in America.” Ahmaud Arbery was stalked and murdered while jogging in rural Georgia by white supremacists in February 2020.

Last year PEN America awarded Ms Frazier its PEN/Benenson Courage Award. PEN America, like its parent organization, advocates for freedom of expression intersecting with human rights. “With nothing more than a cellphone and sheer guts, Darnella changed the course of history in this country, sparking a bold movement demanding an end to systemic anti-Black racism and violence at the hands of police,” said PEN America chief executive Suzanne Nossel in a statement.

The intersection of public outrage over horrible events and digital technology has given new air to citizen journalism. Add to that the authoritarian urge to clamp down on inconvenient news. Said writer and New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen in PressThink (July 21, 2006), citizen journalism breathes ”when the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another.”

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• Hot Topics - Citizen Journalism