Questioning the Presence and Role of Homeless Media
The existence of homeless media has suddenly come under public scrutiny, particularly when the Government Communication Agency (Bakom) met with several homeless media managers some time ago. A polemic arose when it was reported that Bakom had made dozens of homeless media its government partners. This information was later denied by several homeless media managers, and Bakom also issued a clarification.
Regardless of the veracity of that information, there are several concerns regarding the presence of homeless media. The term homeless media refers to an article written by Francesco Marconi on the Medium platform in 2015. In the article titled ‘The Rise of Homeless Media’, Marconi introduced the term and its impact on various stakeholders. The article stated that the emergence of social media was the trigger for the presence of homeless media.
According to research by the Remotivi Media and Communication Studies Centre in 2024, homeless media has several advantages and disadvantages. Among its advantages are the speed at which information reaches the public, the local nature of the information making it close to people’s daily lives, and its easy-to-understand presentation. The lean management of homeless media also allows for agile decision-making in publishing information. However, the disadvantages include information that is often—if not always—disseminated without a verification process. Furthermore, homeless media frequently lift information from other sources to repackage it, often without citing the original source.
One of the sources taken by homeless media is mainstream mass media and online media. As a result, the activities of these mass media outlets are somewhat disrupted, as homeless media often take news published by mass media without permission or attribution. For a news story published in the mass media, journalists must pursue sources, ensure the truth of the information, conduct repeated confirmations, check the validity of the news, and carry out repeated verifications before it is aired. Yet some homeless media managers simply lift the news and publish it.
If we are familiar with the terms plagiarist and plagiarism for those who quote others’ work without citing the source, can the actions of some homeless media managers also be categorised as an act of plagiarism? To a certain extent, the practice of quoting news from various sources is acceptable. In the past, mainstream media even deliberately subscribed to news from news agencies in various countries to then publish it in their respective outlets.