Reportr.net

The big new story in Vancouver is the release of an amateur video that recorded the death of a man after he was stunned with a Taser by police in October.

The dramatic 10-minute video shows four RCMP officers talking to the man, Robert Dziekanski, at Vancouver International Airport, and then stunning him.

The video was shot by eye-witness Paul Pritchard with his digital camera and it has sparked much discussion about the role of citizen media in the news. In some ways, the video has become the story, as it is an illustration of the power of amateur reporting.

The raw and unfiltered nature of the video is its greatest strength but also its greatest weakness. The recording captures a shocking event but, by itself, it lacks context. It shows what happened, without does not provide any background or explanation. This is where the journalist comes in - he or she can help to put the events on the video in context and provide vital understanding of what is shown.

CBC Vancouver ran a piece on the evening news on Wednesday about the impact of citizen journalism, interviewing myself and one of my colleagues, Dan Burnett, at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism.