*Cultivating Citizen Media*

Daniel Meadows spent 45 minutes eulogising like a priest on speed. “Everyone has a story” was his refain. Earnest as he was, he couldn’t convert me.

My problem with his brand of citizen media is summed up by Jeremy Clarke, who wrote in his Spectator "Low Life" column about a film his village had made:

"The solidly pensionable audience was rapt, as only an audience that either knew him personally, or was related to him in some way, could be"

This is the problem with Capture Wales. The creation of the personal relationship that makes us care about what someone is saying, cannot be achieved in just two minutes by a person who does not possess the skills to create such a relationship. As a result, the films were pleasant but unfulfilling.

However, they are not entirely without use. Capture Wales could act as a large field in which seeds of ideas are planted. Professional companies like the BBC could then take a look and see if any strong ideas are worth cultivating. The man whose mother could not touch him due to TB would be one such idea.

For citizen media like Capture Wales to become effective in its own right, to become a real competitor for the wandering viewers eye, citizens would have to be trained in how to become effective story-tellers, film makers, writers, and in how to communicate their story for the wider audience. But then they wouldn't be citizens at all, they would be journalists.