Citizen Journalists, Technicians, and Interns
As a grassroots, community-focused organization, we are continually recruiting and training both volunteer citizen journalists, technicians (videographers, editors, social media promoters, etc.), and media interns from local colleges and high schools to be deployed as reporters, segment producers, co-hosts, and in technical roles, to partner with The Peak’s and Salem Media’s professional staff in the production of our daily episodes. As far as we’re concerned, the more the merrier!
To be considered for our volunteer Citizen Journalist and/or Tech team, please complete the application below
To be considered for an Internship (with or without class credit), please write Zach Goldman with your resume or curriculum vitae and cover letter at: [email protected]
Citizen Journalism and The Peak (click to read)
The roots of Citizen Journalism in the United States started with the town square broadsides and local newspapers of our colonial period, and in the broadcast realm with college radio in the 1960s. It became much more widespread with local community access cable channels in the 1980s, and then ubiquitous across the internet with the popularity of blogs in the 2000s. YouTube and other video platforms, combined with the development of low-cost and high-quality video devices and editing software, provided the tech tools of television journalists to the masses. Of course, Facebook, Twitter (now X), and other social media platforms have given practically everyone the ability to publish news to a potential world-wide audience.
But the question always remains, “What is Journalism?” It’s a complex question, but over the years a “code of journalistic ethics” has developed which considers everything from accuracy and standards in reporting, to considerations of slander and libel, decency, investigative journalism, the public’s right to know vs. personal privacy, how much the news and advertising departments of an organization can comingle, and much more. Clearly, just putting media tools into the hands of mammals with opposable thumbs does not automatically make them journalists. As well, funding media organizations with billions of corporate dollars that permits them to afford global distribution, does not guarantee that they are objectively and ethically reporting the news. In fact, finding real journalism that is widely accessed has become almost impossible in our era of mainstream media dominance.
Executive Producer and Host Chaim Goldman envisions The Peak News as a hybrid model, where local news, features, and commentary are created by both professional and citizen journalists, and distributed to the Pikes Peak region via broadcast radio as well as audio, video, and print on the internet. After receiving his degree in Broadcasting and Film from Boston University’s College of Communications, Chaim’s first fulltime job in the industry was as a Production Technician at a Continental Cablevision community access channel in Massachusetts. As a media professional, every day he instructed local volunteers how to produce television programs, and worked side by side with them to create and distribute the content. He fondly remembers the days of working closely with committed members of the local community in order to serve the local community, and operates the The Peak the same way…and with a vision for a much bigger audience and much greater impact.
Citizen Journalist Application (click to complete)