Citizen Journalism – A Step Forward or Backward?

Do you want to get a journalist angry? Mention that citizen journalism is real journalism and you can watch the colour change on their face.

But if you are wondering what is citizen journalism, let me give you a background.

Imagine you are walking by a park and suddenly you spot a protest on racism or sexual harassment. You decide to scoop out of your phone and record it, and then share it on your social media with your friends and family. By doing this simple act, you have just contributed to citizen journalism.

In definitive terms, citizen journalism is when people report news using sources like social media, blogs etc. instead of professional journalists.

The popularity of citizen journalism

In this digital age, citizen journalism has been gaining popularity where more and more people are taking advantage of the social media channels available around them.

Technology has made it possible for citizens to give out and share news information with other people around the world. They have been using platforms like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms to get their dose of news and information rather than reading a newspaper or switching on their television.

Is citizen journalism a reliable source of information?

There have been ongoing debates on how citizen journalism might be taking over the role of a professional journalist or whether it is a step forward or backwards to traditional journalism. Out of the many arguments against it, a major question that arises is that “is citizen journalism a reliable source of news?”

One of the main aims of journalism is to report objective, an unbiased and factual account of the news.

Every journalist is taught to keep their own opinions and feelings aside when reporting news and information. It requires years of training and experience to master it. However, since the citizen journalists have not received the training, they cannot be relied on providing an unbiased view of the information.

Apart from the lack of training, the credibility of citizen journalists also comes into question. The news reported by a professional journalist is filtered to remove any non-factual information. Therefore, the public can trust the source of that information. However, it is the opposite in the case of citizen journalism.

A good example of this is the misinformation posted by a Twitter user, ComfortablySmug, in 2012 about Hurricane Sandy. The spread of false information by the user-led to great havoc that made some people question the ethicality of citizen journalism.

An added arm to traditional journalism

Despite the arguments against citizen journalism, we cannot forget that it assists professional journalists by being at places where they [professional journalists] cannot reach.

In the case of Hurricane Sandy, traditional news media hubs could not get their reporters to the area and therefore, had to rely on citizen journalists to give them real-time information about it. This is just one case as there are many more incidents like Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans. Therefore, we cannot be in denial that citizen journalism acts like an extended arm to professional journalist to some extent.

Another way citizen journalism assists professional journalists is that it helps in bringing out information that the traditional media houses might miss in their reporting because it is not possible for them to inform on all the newsworthy things happening around the world.

As Paul Lewis said, “Citizen Journalism for the journalist means accepting that you can’t know everything and allowing other people through technology to be your eyes and ears and for the public, it means being co-producers of the news.”

Empowering the local community

Apart from the benefit to the traditional media community, citizen journalism helps in empowering the community.

It brings people closer and more involved in the events happening around them. In addition to this, citizen journalism also gives people a platform to share their own stories and experiences, which is sometimes ignored and understated by the mainstream media. It highlights and gives power to people’s freedom of speech and expression.

Final word

Just like everything else, citizen journalism has its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is safe to say that we cannot be sure if it is a step forward or backwards in the media industry.