A Contextual Impact of Social Media - "Little Brother" in Citizen Journalism

"Video captures Utah police using force on Haka dancers at game" was the headline for a KSL News story on October 24, 2011. It was accompanied by a video filmed by one of the players family, an accidental Citizen Journalist.


I wondered how the Roosevelt, UT City attorney would respond to its citizen capturing officers acting in this manner. Would action be taken like Bridgeport, IL did to one of it's citizens, resulting in a possible 75 Years in Prison For Videotaping their Police.


Though the battle over the legality of videotaping public officials is a work in progress, and largely depends on the city you do it in, citizens cameras continue to roll and the impact is being amplified everyday.

April 29, 2009, is a significant day for U.S. citizen video journalist. On that day, Elijah Matheny and his friend visited Oakland, PA to search for items discarded by departing University of Pittsburgh students at the end of the semester. While examining the contents of a dumpster, several University of Pittsburgh police approached and demanded identification. Matheny's friend did not have any identification on her but willingly gave her name. The police, unable to find record of her, placed her in handcuffs until her identity could be verified.

In full view of police, Matheny began taping the incident, both audio and video with his cell phone. Matheny's friend's identity was eventually confirmed, police released her but arrested Matheny for violating the Pennsylvania Wiretap Act and "possession of an instrument of crime" - his cell phone.

On August 13, 2009, the ACLU filed a suit on behalf of Matheny stating, "The First Amendment guarantees people a right to record police officers' behavior in public places, and this right is vital to documenting and discouraging police misconduct." http://www.aclupa.org/pressroom/aclufilessuitonbehalfofpit.htm The ACLU lost the case in U.S. District Court and then pursued to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 3rd Circuit ended up ruling in an unrelated case that it is legal to record officers' work and the ACLU settled Matheny's case for $48,000 on September 07, 2011. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11250/1172776-100.stm#ixzz1dRl86KWN and http://www.dailytech.com/First+Circuit+Court+of+Appeals+Rules+that+Citizens+Can+Videotape+Police/article22587.htm

Until recently, the only consistent video coverage available of the current Occupy Wall Street movement was provided by citizen journalist. This lack of video coverage by the major media groups, ads weight to the value of the courts decision.

The popularity of Citizen Video Journalism is growing, with the traffic to sites like 'Reader Supported News' http://www.readersupportednews.org growing daily. The growth is attributed in part to citizens distrust of major media coverage of events. I believe that in response to the loss of viewership, more and more of the video footage we see on the evening news is being generated by accidental citizen journalist, as represented in KSL's coverage of the police pepper spraying the haka dancers. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52772711-78/police-pritchett-dancers-spray.html.csp

The emotional impact created by witnessing ongoing police abuse from a video captured on a phone like one most all of us posses is powerful and personal. http://occupywallst.org/

I find it exciting that, as the court cases sited above state, that "the lines between private citizen and journalist are exceedingly difficult to draw," that, "The proliferation of electronic devices with video-recording capability means that many of our images of current events come from bystanders with a ready cell phone or digital camera rather than a traditional film crew, and news stories are now just as likely to be broken by a blogger at her computer as a reporter at a major newspaper. Such developments make clear why the news-gathering protections of the First Amendment cannot turn on professional credentials or status." Though few officers are seriously reprimanded for their abusive actions filmed by citizens, I believe the majority will now think twice before taking abusive action against our citizenry, knowing that there is a high probability that "little brother" is watching and filming.

The Flu & Holiday Season has me Reconsidering my Social Media Focus

When I moved to St George, Ten years ago, I decided to hang up the red underwear that had been a part of my holiday season for over 20 years. To placate the fans that had grown accustomed to them appearing each year, I agreed to film and post the songs & stories that accompanied those threads on a blog. http://www.ElfisLives.com/

In 2009, a couple events happened that begged to be sung about and the duds came out for a season.

Remember all the hype about a shortage of Flu Vaccines in 2009?
Now they're waiting around every corner wanting to stick us.
Here's the 1st ELFIS video of that year.



I created a Facebook group that grew to over 300 members https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49631265126

Here's my new Facebook Fan Page that is in need of some LIKES
https://www.facebook.com/ElfisLivesOn

I would love your input, as a comment or post, as Linda & I are in San Francisco until the 18th.