One of the biggest trends in journalism over the past few years has been citizen journalism, where people without training in journalism produce and distribute their own content, mostly via the Internet. The Internet has created a forum in which anyone who has something to say can say it and have it reach a large audience. Citizen journalism has made the journalism profession more democratic, in a sense, but there are some people who find it troublesome.
A Brief History of Citizen Journalism
The roots of citizen journalism reach much farther back than the birth of the Internet. Citizen journalism began back in the 18th century with pamphleteers, such as Thomas Paine, printed and distributed their own materials. Advances in printing and distribution technology since then have helped the practice grow. More recently, the growth of the Internet in the '90s encouraged many people to set up personal websites and distribute information. As the decade ran its course, citizen journalism became less popular, but after 9/11, the practice began to grow again and continues to this day.
Citizen Journalism Today
Citizen journalism is such a broad genre that so many things fall under it. It can range from comments on a news story to original reporting by a non-professional journalist. Blogs and photo-sharing or video-sharing sites are common vehicles for citizen journalism, however some media companies have a sections for it, such as CNN's I-Reporter. A lot of citizen journalism efforts address local issues. This gives the piece a sense of credibility because it is written or filmed or photographed by someone within the community.
While citizen journalism is pretty widely accepted, there are still some concerns from the professional journalism community. There have been debates over whether bloggers should be considered journalists. According to Clay Shirky, a professor at NYU, before the internet, journalists were, " a professional class of truth-tellers who are given certain latitude to avoid operating with the law." Now with widespread access to the internet and various forms of digital media, this definition is no longer as clear cut. Just because anyone can commit acts of journalism if they choose to doesn't automatically make them a journalist.
Whether or not it is truly journalism, citizen journalism is a very valuable tool. Just as journalists are supposed to be the watchdogs of the government, citizen journalists are the watchdogs of professional journalists. Whether it be adding information or posting a correction to a story via comments or going out a doing original reporting, citizen journalists are here to keep the news media in check. While journalists are supposed to be responsible and ethical, sometimes they can get lazy and not check all their facts. If this happens, it is up to the readers to call this to their attention.
Even though there are concerns that citizen journalists will use inaccurate information and work produce credible content, they actually have more reason to make absolutely sure that everything they produce is correct. Because of this pre-existing notion, citizen journalists have to work twice as hard to prove that their work is credible. Just because an article or a video isn't produced by a professional is no reason to discount it as being inaccurate.
The Future of Citizen Journalism
As long as there is a means of distribution, there will be citizen journalism. It is not possible for the news media to cover every single community in-depth, so it is up to the citizens to fill in the gaps. Citizen journalism is not meant to replace the professional news media, but rather to complement it. With the movement toward a hyper-local focus, citizen journalism is becoming a completely separate entity from traditional journalism.
People want to know what is going on in their community, which is why citizen journalism will not fade away. Professional journalism has to reach a broader audience if it hopes to be profitable, so sometimes a lot of communities get overlooked. Citizen journalism will give a voice to those communities and will create a forum for discussion within those communities. Citizen journalism is and will continue to be the voice of the people.
Lydia Kanthak - I'm a journalism student at DePaul University in Chicago, graduating in June. Im currently working as an intern for CHICKago, a women's ...
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