Reporting Live from Base Camp: An Analysis of Expedition Journalism

Abstract

Little scholarship exists about the adventure/expedition subcategory of participatory journalism. There is an extensive amount, however, concerning embedded and war journalism and a minimal amount concerning travel writing. Many media critics have worried and subsequently written about the ethical issues that are raised when journalists embed themselves with troops in a foreign war. One article in a 2003 issue of Columbia Journalism Review suggests that embedded journalists need to take more precautions than their mainstream counterparts in order to remain fair, balanced, and truthful (Bushell and Cunningham 11-12). With few others' studies on adventure/expedition participatory journalism to use and start from, I will pose several news values and use these as a test to determine the validity of this subcategory of participatory journalism as journalism. Beyond that, I will attempt to provide standards for all participatory journalists to use in order to keep their reports as valid as possible. In doing this I will consider and attempt to answer the following questions: 1. What qualities are essential to qualify a piece of reportage as journalism? 2. Which standards of journalism are in play during the participatory reporting process? 3. Based on the answers to the previous two questions, should this subgenre of participatory journalism truly be considered journalism? I have chosen to limit my study to three participatory journalists, all of whom accompanied mountaineering expeditions. While this subject is not one typically addressed by newspapers, it has been analyzed by some, including The Harford Courant. Any particular subject that could be considered participatory journalism could just as easily be studied here. The themes, ideas, and questions discussed herein will be just as applicable to other types of participatory journalism, including embedded journalism and possibly space exploration journalism in the future. The decision to study mountaineering expeditions was based on availability of primary sources and personal interest. Question three is the most in-depth of the questions and will examine each of the three participatory journalists against a set of journalistic standards that are neccessary in keeping this type of writing journalistically sound. Many authors have addressed dozens of standards that are necessary for quality journalism. If this type of writing is deemed true journalism, then the applicable standards will be acknowledged and subsequently contrasted with the three participatory journalists' accounts of their expeditions. Elements of each of these standards that violate or enhance the participatory journalists' newsgathering and story writing will be analyzed and addressed. The question of whether adventure/ expedition participatory journalism is true journalism and how these journalists and reporters should act and react is an important one in today's media-centered world. Readers and audiences need to understand what information they are receiving, and this type of journalism provides journalists with the opportunity to truly understand the information they are providing. [From Introduction]