Citizen Journalism – Scenario

Background:

The year is 2030 and we get to follow an afternoon in Fredrik’s life.

Fredrik works at FMG in central Stockholm, Sweden. He has worked here since the early 2020’s; he commenced his career in sales but has since then worked his way up to become an AI-recreator.

Citizen Journalism:

“Damn, what a day.” The last meeting of the day is running over time and Fredrik takes the opportunity to blink through the latest “rumors in town”. An Australian kangaroo on steroids seems to be trending? Sounds exciting! Fredrik blinks up an AR version of Elon Musk who states that a super strong kangaroo would be perfect to send up to Mars. Fredrik shakes his head. Elon is probably not the right person to listen to, to see if the rumors are true. By blinking again, he flips through his network of influencers but stops when the boss starts looking at him. It’s finally time to end the meeting. 

On the way down, Fredrik chooses to blink up an AR version of Robert Irwin next to him in the elevator. He is the son of the late “The Crocodile Hunter”; he should know about Australian animals. Before they even reach the ground floor, Fredrik understands that the rumor can’t be true: a kangaroo would never survive on steroids. 

It was so much harder before, when we received news via journalists and through text, Fredrik thinks. “They had no idea what news interested me, it was not accessible on the run, and it was completely impossible to know what was true or not – and why did they choose some news and not others? Now I have exciting rumors that interest me in my feed all the time and it is so much easier to assess the truthfulness of them now that I can choose to have them presented by a person I trust and look up to.” 

He barely makes it out on the street before he must throw himself to the side in panic and lands on the ground. “How the h*ll are you driving?”, he manages to think before he sees that the car coming straight towards him is actually a projected image of the new Tesla model. The new PR tricks have really escalated since the journalists disappeared; now companies need to do something drastic in order to get influencers to start talking about them. “And now I’m becoming the talk of the town, jumping from something that no one else can see”, Fredrik mutters with his fists in the air. He gets up and continues down the street towards the subway. 

When he gets into the subway train, he has several different seats to choose from – at this time of day it is usually full of people, but it is sunny outside and people probably walk home. Fredrik thinks about sitting next to the AR version of Ellen DeGeneres to chat about what is happening in the world, she is so funny. Then he feels a rumble in his stomach and chooses the seat next to AR-Gordon Ramsey instead. If anyone has a good meal recommendation up their sleeve, it is him. 

He barely makes it inside the apartment before he hears gaping laughter from the living room. “FREDRIK!, his partner shouts from the sofa. “You’ve gone viral!” He runs into the living room and is met by a picture of himself projected on the living room wall. His partner has paused the video at the moment when Fredrik is lying on the ground with his fist in the air in the middle of the city square. AR-Kendall Jenner is sitting next to his partner on the sofa and laughs. “You were the first person to come across Tesla’s new ad, they really nailed this PR coup! Everyone is talking about it – and about you , he says. Fredrik doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry. He blinks up Elon Musk, who appears next to him in the living room, puts his AR arm around Fredrik and looks at the picture in silence. Then he says, “Thanks, man.”