The London Roits started after the death of Mark Duggan, who was shot near his home in London by a police office.
Newspapers reported that Mark Duggan had been armed and also being a drug dealer. This information was all wrong and his family pointed out that Mark had no criminal record.
The riots happened all over the country and there are a lot of articles on the internet commenting on the role of social media and the riots. Facebook, twitter and BBM are tools which we all use in order to have our say. They did not create the riots as such but are just a real time apps which keep us all updated.
Throughout the riots, journalists relied on the police to give them information however they gave the wrong information. The London riots really helped to show how journalism is moving forward and we no longer have to rely on ‘valuable’ sources such as the police, and the fire services as they can be wrong, but in fact we need to listen to our people and rely on each other for the correct information.
This brings in citizen journalism, which I feel was vital during the riots. People posted about the riots with pictures/ videos and showed us what was really happening. It proved to be more informative than the newspapers and the police.
Journalism Futures 