Jeff Jarvis (BuzzMachine) writes about change in journalism:

Change isn’t easy. It’s hard on people. It’s destructive. It will leave voids and vacuums. But it is inevitable. The smart thing to do today is to run to the change, seek it out, find the opportunities in it, deal with the hard problems it brings instead of avoiding them.

Is the kind of change suggested by the example below, the kind of change we need? Is this journalism because a journalist is doing it, or is it journalism because information is being shared?

This evening, I noticed a tweet–at the tail-end of the evening–from Michelle De La Rosa, who is a San Antonio Express News writer. She covers the education beat, which means she has the unfortunate task of attending school board meetings. Below are some of the photos and 140-character stories she shared via Twitter:

Michelle De La Rosa (San Antonio Express News) covers a Somerset ISD Board meeting where a student is fighting to keep his long hair…she reports on the story entirely through Twitter updates. . .it makes for fascinating reading.

Some of the points that Michelle includes in her tweets:

• Jesus Figueroa performs in prayer ritual. He is minutes away from hearing before trustees about long hair.
• Figueroa filed federal suit against district & in March judge kicked back to district.
• Tonight board will hear Figueroa’s case & decide whether he can keep hair & return to regular class.
• Or whether he will be sent back to on-campus suspension until he gets a haircut.
• The Somerset board is in closed session, so Jesus Figueroa is reviewing notes, preparing to make his case. http://twitpic.com/3a9xc
• A dozen or so supporters, some from tribal groups in Corpus Christi, are here with him.
• Figueroa plans to show trustees this picture as evidence of commitment to his Native American roots and beliefs. http://twitpic.com/3aa67
• The Somerset school board is beginning the hearing regarding the length of Jesus Figueroa’s hair. He’s a senior at Somerset High School.
• Somerset, by the way, is about 30 minutes south of San Antonio, east of I-35. It’s a small, rural district.
• Jesus Figueroa tells trustees: “My hair is not hurting anybody. My hair causes no students to be held back in their eduation.”
• Jesus Figueroa to trustees: “I’m saying please respect my spiritual way of life…. I believe that long hair is a gift from The Creator.”
• Superintendent Saul Hinojosa told board Figueroa initially didn’t cite Native American religious beliefs as reason for not cutting hair.
• Hinojosa also told board that Figueroa’s parents sided with district initially and told staff that they were not Native American.
• The superintendent is recommending that the board grant Figueroa an exception to the dress code and let him keep long hair.
• He said the recommendation based on documents Figueroa’s parents presented in federal court stating the family is Native American.
• Trustees said they wish they had known this sooner.
• Unanimous board vote to grant Figueroa special dispensation from grooming policy. He gets to keep long hair and stay in regular classroom.
• If board had denied his grievance, he would have had to return to on-campus suspension unless he cut his hair or went back to federal court.
• Read the story in tomorrow’s Express-News.

While many will read the story in tomorrow’s Express-News, hasn’t Michelle sacrificed the “scoop” by posting to twitter? Isn’t old style journalism about beating out the competition? At best, Michelle is contributing content and enabling collaboration on the story. The next twitter search someone does on “long hair” will surely yield her 140-character rendition of long haired spirituality triumphing over short-tempered traditionalism. I suppose what I’m curious about is, how does Michelle’s tweets contribute to what Jarvis might call a new ecosystem of local news in San Antonio, Texas?

And, as wonderful as these tweets are, why aren’t more journalists actually narrowcasting Board meetings via technologies like uStream.tv, not unlike what Wes Fryer did recently? It’s clear that the broadcast will happen tomorrow, but for now, how many people actually care about what Michelle is sharing? At what point does her work as an individual journalist compete with the newspaper operation? Probably immediately…after all, once I publish this blog entry, all my 1400+ readers will have access to the information she’s shared with me via her tweets.

Wes Fryer shares his points in Who Will Save Journalism? Wes quotes a Clay Shirky blog entry that’s been making the rounds and I’ll quote the part I like:

Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism.

Or, as DigiDave might say it, what we need is participatory journalism. To be honest, most Board meetings are BORING. I’m grateful that I’ve only had to attend a few in my life, and present at fewer (early in my career in East Texas…on adoption of “earn as you learn” technology program, a computer and printer for every teacher who completed training…successful). Yet, I was intrigued by the story told in 140 character tweets…a boy with long hair…a school board that didn’t have the facts, an embarassing situation that will find its way into the news.

We eat, sleep and breathe journalism, because it’s not a 9-5 job. It’s a lifestyle. If you’re not living it, then this isn’t the industry for you.
Source: Jessica DeSilva

If what we need is journalism, then it’s not a 9-5 job for any of us…it’s a lifestyle…we ALL have to live it, where we are, whenever we are. And if that’s the case, it’s not really industry, is it?

I wish there was a program in San Antonio (no cost, of course and online) mentioned here at Snarkmarket.

One depressing feature of the internet today is that there is exponentially more meta-commentary about the promise and potential of citizen journalism than there is actual, you know, citizen journalism. At least if you parse ‘journalism’ in any remotely traditional sense: fact-based, disinterested reporting.

One amazing exception is the Press Institute for Women in the Developing World. It’s a small non-profit founded by Cristi Hegranes, who was a summer fellow at Poynter and a reporter at SF Weekly before jumping ship to start her own thing.

Her background shows: The Press Institute distinguishes itself from other citizen-journalism ventures in that it mixes an egalitarian, grassroots spirit with an unusual dedication to the core values of journalism. The starting point of her organization’s work is training: The Press Institute takes citizens and makes them journalists.

Anyone know of something like that? Maybe we can get some network journalism going….

Update: Social Media Connecting with your community through Twitter

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure