Week Eight: Strait Times Online, Multimedia and Print (stomp.com.sg)

This article by Stephen Quinn covers the power of citizen journalism in Singapore, and its growth, as multi-media news becomes more entrenched in everyday life. He explains about a news website named Stomp (Strait Times Online Multimedia and Print) which is an offshoot of the country’s main media group, Singapore Press Holdings. The website receives hundreds of photos and other user-generated content every day, some of which is published in the newspaper if it is relevant to the stories that have been produced that day.

The website (http://www.straitstimes.com/) is seen as a way for the newspaper to connect to younger, internet-savvy readers, as well as some older ones, and bridge the gap between their audience. It is also a way for the audience to interact with the media, and provide news stories that are relevant to everyday people. The website has also been beneficial in helping solve social problems, such as long waiting queues outside health clinics and has aided in the arrest of an abusive boyfriend.

The Geelong Advertiser has also approached this method of reaching a larger audience and often encourages readers to comment on stories, or contribute through sending in video and photos. This shows how citizen journalism is working on a smaller, more localised scale.