Citizen Journalism

Extracted Attributes

• Year Coined

  2000

• Key Proponents

  Oh Yeon-ho, Courtney C. Radsch, Jay Rosen, Seungahn Nah, Deborah S. Chung

• Alternative Names

  Collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism, grassroots journalism, street journalism

• Core Technologies

  Social networking sites, mobile phones, media-sharing websites, internet platforms

• Primary Criticisms

  Subjectivity, lack of professional affiliation, unregulated quality, lack of resources

Timeline

• Oh Yeon-ho launches OhmyNews in South Korea, popularizing the motto "Every citizen is a reporter." (Source: Web Search)

  2000-02-22

• Hurricane Katrina in the United States sees a surge in citizen reporting via blogs and early social media to fill information gaps. (Source: Web Search)

  2005-08-29

• Citizen journalists provide critical real-time reporting during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2010-01-12

• The Arab Spring begins, heavily documented and facilitated by citizen journalists using mobile technology. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2010-12-18

• The Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, USA, utilizes participatory journalism for global outreach. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2011-09-17

• Protests in Turkey are widely reported by citizens bypassing traditional media controls. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2013-05-28

• The Ferguson unrest in Missouri, USA, highlights the role of citizen journalism in social justice movements. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2014-08-09

• The Black Lives Matter movement gains global momentum through citizen-led documentation of police actions. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2020-05-25

• The Russian invasion of Ukraine is extensively covered by citizens on the ground using digital platforms. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-02-24

• Investigative journalist Nick Shirley releases a viral YouTube report on the Minnesota Daycare Fraud. (Source: Document 50cb012b-defb-4e4a-a485-0740769f4098)

  2024-02-01

Citizen journalism

Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism, grassroots journalism, or street journalism, 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". 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." The underlying principle of citizen journalism is that ordinary people, not professional journalists, can be the main creators and distributors of news. 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; and social journalism, which denotes a digital publication with a hybrid of professional and non-professional journalism. According to Seungahn Nah and Deborah S. Chung in their book "Understanding Citizen Journalism as Civic Participation" citizen journalism is "highly embedded in local communities where community residents engage in day-to-day routines of community storytelling about local politics, public affairs, community events, neighborhood issues, schools, public transportation, land uses and environments, and much more." 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. Citizen journalism was made more feasible by the development of various online internet platforms. 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. 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. 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. A research team of citizen journalists created an OER library that contains video interviews to provide access to reliable sources.

Web Search Results

• [PDF] Media Literacy: Citizen Journalists

  “Citizen journalism” is not an exact term. More people than “citizens” of a given nation may be involved, and what occurs is not always considered “journalism.” As a result, multiple terms attempt to describe the same phenomenon. “Citizen journalism” has become the most common, but other phrases in use include “community media,” “participatory journalism,” “civic journalism,” and “user generated content.” Additional terms, such as “new media,” “digital journalism,” “crowdsourcing,” and “social [...] According to CitizenJournalismAfrica.org, a site jointly sponsored by a range of civil society organizations in Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe: “Citizen Journalism is community news and information shared online and/or in print. The content is generated by users and readers. It can be text/blogs, digital storytelling, images, audio file, podcasting, or video. Feedback and discussion on issues raised is received in the same way. [...] The problem starts with the term “citizen journalism.” Some take it to mean news and information not originating from a legacy or traditional media organization, such as a newspaper, radio, or television network. Others consider it to be an interactivity toolkit for news outlets of all kinds to “harness the power of an audience.1 Still others understand the term to refer to journalism conducted by individuals with an activist agenda.

• Citizen journalism | Research Starters - EBSCO

  Citizen journalism refers to the reporting of news events by people without journalism training. These nonprofessionals use the internet and social media to spread information. Members of the public report about news that is ignored by mainstream media, which includes newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters, or by media outlets under the government's control. The term was coined in 2000. [...] Citizen journalism is the practice of reporting news events by individuals who do not have formal journalism training, often utilizing the internet and social media platforms to share information. This movement began gaining traction in the early 2000s, providing a counter-narrative to conventional media outlets, which may overlook certain stories or perspectives. Citizen journalists are typically ordinary people who report on significant events, including disasters and political crises, using [...] Citizen journalism received a major boost on the world stage in 2000. That year, South Korean progressive journalist Oh Yeon-ho started a free online newspaper, OhmyNews, after perceiving an imbalance in the nation's traditional media and the stories they chose to cover. The newspaper relied on ordinary readers to generate digital content. The phrase "citizen journalism" caught on after Oh said, "Every citizen is a reporter." With fifty thousand contributors at its disposal, OhmyNews grew into

• Citizen 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 [...] Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media,: 61 participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism, grassroots journalism, or street journalism, 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, [...] Citizen journalism has proven itself to be an effective form of current event coverage and can possibly signify a shift in modern media. Citizen journalism has been expanding in different varieties of modern media which include, international news, more democratic journalism, mainstream media, and the importance for mass media outlets. Citizen journalism is now one of the main contributors of mainstream news and consistently feeding in information that even traditional journalist can't grasp

• Power to the People The rise and rise of Citizen Journalism

  Through participatory journalism, the individual gains a new position in the course of an event, media, history and in the political sphere. By taking responsibility and power over information, citizen journalists question the centralisation of information. In America, six corporations control 90% of the media. In the UK, 70% of the national media market is owned by three major companies. It is now important for the potential and limitations of this new type of journalism to be highlighted and [...] The advent of the Internet, new technologies, social platforms and grass-roots media has heralded a significant shift in collecting, disseminating and sharing information. Citizen journalism can be considered as the offspring of this evolution - an alternative form of news gathering and reporting, taking place outside of the traditional media structures and which can involve anyone. We live in the age of image consumption and data absorption. Everyday, a fresh wave of information reaches our [...] The birth of citizen journalism is often attributed to South Korea where the first platform of amateur generated information, OhMyNews, was created. The principle was simple; anyone can take part in the process of creating information - as the notion of participatory journalism (another term for citizen journalism) implies. From reader to participant, citizens have now changed their status as a mere recipients of information, to providers. It is not necessarily something new, however. When

• Citizen Journalism: Reporting Social & Ecological Emergencies

  One example is the coverage of the ecological crisis in the SIN industrial zone in Taranto, caused by the presence of the former steel company ILVA, now Arcelor Mittal. In this case, citizen journalists act as a subaltern counterpublic, presenting themselves as an alternative to mainstream news and adopting forms of news dissemination that have been described as ‘communal’ or ‘hyperlocal’. In fact, they offer a unique perspective and specific knowledge of the socio-environmental situation of [...] An early high-profile case of citizen journalism can be traced back to Hurricane Katrina (2005), when local people were able to use blogs and social media to provide real-time coverage of the emergency, making up for the lack of information from the mainstream media. Similarly, during the Arab Spring, citizen journalists used simple smartphones to inform the world about the ongoing revolutionary events, bypassing local government censorship. [...] Another reality of citizen journalism is represented by the VeraLeaks website, where, among the numerous articles published daily, there is, for example, a news item in which all the documents on the motives of the environmental trial against Soldado have been socially disseminated. Other examples of this kind can be found on the platforms of Legamjonici or Il Tacco d’Italia, where the daily practice of citizen journalism integrates successful experiments in citizen journalism through an