Citizen journalism

For journalism done for the common good, see civic journalism.

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Wikimania 2007 Citizen Journalism Unconference

Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media,[1]: 61  participatory journalism,[2] democratic journalism,[3] guerrilla journalism,[4] grassroots journalism,[5] or street journalism,[6] is based upon members of the community playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information. Courtney C. Radsch defines citizen journalism "as an alternative and activist form of news gathering and reporting that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to shortcomings in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism".[7] Jay Rosen offers a simpler definition: "When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another."[8] The underlying principle of citizen journalism is that ordinary people, not professional journalists, can be the main creators and distributors of news.[9] Citizen journalism should not be confused with community journalism or civic journalism, both of which are practiced by professional journalists; collaborative journalism, which is the practice of professional and non-professional journalists working together;[10] and social journalism, which denotes a digital publication with a hybrid of professional and non-professional journalism.

Citizen journalism is a specific form of both citizen media and user-generated content (UGC). By juxtaposing the term "citizen", with its attendant qualities of civic-mindedness and social responsibility, with that of "journalism", which refers to a particular profession, Courtney C. Radsch argues that this term best describes this particular form of online and digital journalism conducted by amateurs because it underscores the link between the practice of journalism and its relation to the political and public sphere.[11]

Citizen journalism was made more feasible by the development of various online internet platforms.[9] New media technology, such as social networking and media-sharing websites, in addition to the increasing prevalence of cellular telephones, have made citizen journalism more accessible to people worldwide. Recent advances in new media have started to have a profound political impact.[12] Due to the availability of technology, citizens often can report breaking news more quickly than traditional media reporters. Notable examples of citizen journalism reporting from major world events are, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 2013 protests in Turkey, the Euromaidan events in Ukraine, and Syrian Civil War, the 2014 Ferguson unrest, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

Being that citizen journalism is yet to develop a conceptual framework and guiding principles, it can be heavily opinionated and subjective, making it more supplemental than primary in terms of forming public opinion.[9] Critics of the phenomenon, including professional journalists and news organizations, claim that citizen journalism is unregulated, amateur, and haphazard in quality and coverage. Furthermore, citizen journalists, due to their lack of professional affiliation, are thought to lack resources as well as focus on how best to serve the public.[9] A research team of citizen journalists created an OER library that contains video interviews to provide access to reliable sources.[13]

  1. ^ Dariusz Jemielniak; Aleksandra Przegalinska (February 18, 2020). Collaborative Society. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-35645-9.
  2. ^ Witt, Leonard (2004). "Is Public Journalism Morphing into the Public's Journalism?". National Civic Review. 93 (3): 49–57. doi:10.1002/ncr.61.
  3. ^ Baase, Sara (2008). A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing and the Internet (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 9780136008484.
  4. ^ Case, J. A. "Recovering the Radical: Biocybernetic Subversion in Guerrilla Video Primer Archived June 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine." Paper presented at the NCA 93rd Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, November 14, 2007.
  5. ^ Boyles, Jan Lauren (May 1, 2006). "Grassroots journalism in your own backyard: How citizen reporters build hyperlocal communities". Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. doi:10.33915/etd.3226.
  6. ^ Tamara Witschge (March 27, 2009). "Street journalists versus 'ailing journalists'?". openDemocracy – free thinking for the world. openDemocracy Ltd. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  7. ^ Radsch, Courtney C. The Revolutions will be Blogged: Cyberactivism and the 4th Estate in Egypt. Doctoral Dissertation, American University, 2013.
  8. ^ Jay Rosen (July 14, 2008). "A Most Useful Definition of Citizen Journalism". PressThink. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  9. ^ a b c d Min, Seong-Jae (2016). "Conversation through journalism: Searching for organizing principles of public and citizen journalism". Journalism. 17 (5): 567–582. doi:10.1177/1464884915571298. S2CID 146953446 – via SAGE.
  10. ^ Novin, Alamir; Secko, David (November 25, 2012). "Debate Cited: A First Exploration of a Web Application to Enhance the Production of Science Journalism Students". Journalism Interest Group, CCA/Groupe d'Intérêt en Journalisme, ACC Conference Proceedings. 2012. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  11. ^ Deutsch Karlekar, Karin; Radsch, Courtney C. (July 1, 2012). "Adapting Concepts of Media Freedom to a Changing Media Environment: Incorporating New Media and Citizen Journalism into the Freedom of the Press Index". ESSACHESS Journal for Communication Studies. 5 (1, 2012) – via SSRN.
  12. ^ Gilardi, F. (2016). Digital Democracy. How Digital Democracy is Changing Democracy And Its Study., 1-5.
  13. ^ "The Rise of Citizen Journalism". www.kumc.edu. Retrieved April 9, 2024.