Topic > Disadvantages of Alternative Journalism - 1862

But anyone with any form of video camera technology, including cell phones, can take part in the practice of journalism. It is a practice that more citizens take part in and creates the democratic society that we all ideally seek. This form of journalism focuses more on the relationship between presenters and how it is received by the audience rather than the theatrics surrounding mainstream news. Traditional journalism companies have big names that we all know and “trust,” which many alternative media outlets do not have. In this sense, alternative journalism must work even harder to gain cultural credibility from its audience. They have no reason not to be honest with the public because that is all they need to earn trust. In “Living in the Sewers of Colombia” the interviews conducted are raw footage since everything is shot in one night and the danger for all the people involved in the documentary is life threatening. It's hard to watch a documentary like this and not see it as a credible source of information because of the various situations the journalist places himself in just to get various accounts of how police and death squads treat the homeless.