What is Citizen Journalism?
News organisations have become accustomed to being the so-called “gatekeepers” of information. But with the Internet’s emergence, information has broken free and become commoditised and democratised. But is this information really serving its purpose in the field of media, or is it corrupting and deterring from the facts provided by real journalists?
Let’s fact it...we’re all citizens, but not all of us are journalists. Journalism requires more than just one person and it needs a support structure. It’s about editing, questioning and challenging assumptions. Much of what is put on blogs right now is “opinion.” There are good, thoughtful opinions out there, but they’re often presented as fact. In my opinion, there is some journalism happening in the blogosphere, but not much. It’s mostly meta-journalism reporting on issues that have already been reported.
"Citizen journalism is a concept that advances the idea that consumer or everyday citizens take a more active role in the news. It is often referred to as the “new media” and includes everything from passionate letters to the editor and comments on blogs and news sites, to bloggers scooping stories or exposing doctored or omitted facts from mainstream media reports. The sharing and collaboration of information through online communities is inevitably part of building common viewpoints between citizens " (Holetzky, 2008). Yet, are these truly factual assumptions, or can they be misleading in some cases?
The founder of this evolution in journalism is of course technology; this alongside Citizen Journalism goes hand in hand as partners in the adoption of online opinions. Equipped with speed, collaboration and delivery, technology is now a key part in this user participation approach. Stories are being found via text messages, grainy pictures on camera phones and cyber cafes. These sources of information are posted on the internet and viewed by millions. The phenomenon of this is causing news coverage to now be considered a partnership, between citizens and journalists. "Journalism is also significantly transforming under the pressure of network-era convergent and participatory culture. Evolving digital communication tools and practices are clashing with those of traditional news media, resulting in paradox and contradiction" (Russell et al, 2006).
My opinion regarding citizen journalism can go both ways. While I think it’s good to use this citizen adoption within online communities as part of building people’s opinions on news events, it also distracts the attention from real journalists, who most likely first hand get that information after the many gruelling working hours trying to obtain it. “Acts of citizen journalism in this sense happen by mere coincidence. People are everywhere and when disaster strikes, someone usually has a camera” (Cohn, 2007).
No doubt I believe that when Citizen Journalism is handled properly it adds value and improves quality within communities. This shift to sharing information is inevitably happening, and all I can do is hope that real journalism is still being appreciated. I know for a fact I prefer the facts that have been researched and accurately reported by qualified professionals.
“The role of journalists is to now concentrate harder on how, when and where they can add value through our strengths of analysis, context, background and range” (Sambrook, 2005). So be my guest – involve yourselves in Citizen Journalism, but don’t forgot to appreciate those who properly accessed those thoughts of yours before you, scrutinised and researched over them for days, and thus gave you the opportunity to voice your opinion. So let’s face it again, without real journalists on hand, there would be no citizen journalism!
References
Cohn, D. (2007). Time citizen journalism pulled its acts together. http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=39443 (accessed May 8, 2008).
Holetzky , S. (2008). What is Citizen Journalism. Wise Geek. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-citizen-journalism.htm
Russell, A et al. (2006). Cuture: Networked Public Culture. http://networkedpublics.org/book/culture (accessed 12 May, 2008).
“What is Citizen Journalism?” (2008). You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58iZpMRclwI (accessed 8 May, 2008)
1 comment:
A decent post you have written. How can people being part of citizen journalism become a professional journalist themselves? Just because they extend their comments doesn’t answer the fact that what they have shared is correct. When you said “Citizen Journalism "is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and information, To me it demonstrates a belief in how they feel and sense towards the subject given. The information that citizen journalism may share is a religious belief, which has no relevance towards writing and nailing the topic.
I agree that to be a journalist you need to have sufficient information and facts which also relies on support and reference to allow yourself to become a journalist. Citizen Journalists needs to consider thoughtful research and reference in order to gain proper trust from users like myself.
There is a difference in referencing, what journalist citizen use is as a reference is when the citizen journalist has stated something then another Citizen Journalist has used one of the previous comments to backup what he has written himself. Is there any proof of what the information shared from the first correct? How do you determine if it’s correct? If it is correct are you sure his not using the same system as what you’re trying to do as to referencing?
In the end of the post you said “Citizen Journalism allows online communities to evolve around one another”. Within this feature here it allows more information to be shared amongst others. This I agree that it is a useful way to share knowledge, however I cannot accept that a comment from a frequent user can be qualified or balanced the same as a professional journalist.
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