There are thousand and one definitions for that,when we consider them all basically,we can define it as the public is actively taking part in the process of gathering and distributing information.
Without leaving the process of handling news only to the giants of media,public is willing to comment,and add the things that they know about certain news to ensure that the news is accurate and up to date.
Do take note that the citizen journalists are the people like you and me,but they are paying attention to what is happening around the world or around the society.
You might be thinking when the citizen journalism began or what is its history??
Actually,"Citizen Journalism" is a result of the development of new technology.According to the experts of sociology Citizen Journalism is the child of digital democratization of media.
Though the word sounds difficult,the idea behind is simple,when people have the wide access to powerful and inexpensive tools of new media,their involvement in the media also increased.
For example,Blogging websites, social networking websites can be a good plat form to anyone who wants to become a citizen journalists.
But why suddenly "citizen Journalism" became so popular???
During the natural disasters like "Tsunami",or unexpected accidents like "Plane crashes",even bombing incidents,some people were able to film them or take pictures with their camera phones and later on these videos and pictures became an important sources and evidences for big media companies.So they began to encourage the citizen journalists.
This picture is taken by a tourist during the Tsunami 2005,in Khao Lak,Indonesia.
In June 2009,when president Mahmoud Ahmajeed came to power by conducting a fraudulent election in Iran,public protested.Government attacked the protesters.Then the people used Face book,Twitter and Blogs to report the world what is happening in Iran.
In the year 2007,when the Minneapolis Bridge collapsed a lot of ordinary people managed to catch good quality photographs and videos of the incident and publish them.(http://e-strategyblog.com)
That is why CNN is maintaining a website specially dedicated for citizen journalists who are interest to share their news .Now there are award programmes for the photos,videos and the news that have reported by citizen journalists.Currently CNN-IBN is doing that,they are trying to appreciate the citizen journalists who took the initiative to fight against corruption and injustice.
But there are some negative things even in citizen journalism.
Citizen journalists are breaking the news that the professional organizations will refuse to do.
professional organizations of media are monitored by some authority and they have rules and regulations but these citizen journalists do not have that. So we do not know to which extent that the citizen journalists are responsible for their news, At the same time anyone can log into Internet and report any kind of news,this can be dangerous.
A professional journalist is not hiding is identity,when he reports a news,he is responsible for that but a citizen journalist can hide their identity we do not know who are they. Professional journalists are educated on what they doing,they have been trained well. Citizen journalists may lack it.
And some critics say that we cannot categorize blogger as citizen journalist since most of them are not reporting news,they are expressing their personal views on some selected subject.
As professional journalists are bound by the rules,since the citizen journalists have more freedom to express themselves,they can do a good job to fight against social injustice.
Now they have formed an "International Debates and Citizen Journalism Institute" To train citizen journalist to write in an effective styles and to provide them a basic education of journalism.It is located in Turkey. But ,the cost to attend a course in this institute will be USD 1900.
Both parties,i mean citizen journalists and professional journalists cannot stand all alone since they need each others' support and contribution.
So I think if they can work hand in hand,it will be more use full to the society and it will mark another revolution in new media.
( The pictures have been taken from the following websites,www.idebate.org/institute,http://e-strategyblog.com, and journalism.about.com)
My questions to you all are,
1.Do you think that Professional Journalists can be trust than Citizen journalists?
2. Do you think that even though there is an "International Debating and Citizen Journalism Institute" are citizen journalists will be keen to join it?
3. Do you agree that Professional Media organizations need Citizen Journalists contribution?
4. If you have given a choice do you like to become a "citizen journalist" or a "professional journalist" and why?
1. Yes, professional journalists are more trusting than citizen journalists. Simply because they are more professional in delivering their news whereas citizen journalists are just lucky people who happen to be there to film or take a picture of the incident.
ReplyDelete2. I do not think they will join. If they truly wish to deliver news in a more professional way, then they should join. Otherwise, they will not.
3. I guess they do need the citizen journalists contributions. If the citizen journalists were there first to report, then the professionals can come in and do a proper job.
4. Professional. If there is a tsunami or a natural disaster, I would not want to be on the front lines. I would rather do it afterwards.
4. Financial matters aside,I would rather be a citizen journalist.Why? Reason being that I am able to report on news without having to have it censored in anyway. In essence providing a news report that is raw.
ReplyDeleteNo reading in between the lines.
I believe that professional media should get contributions from citizens contribution as some citizen happens to be there like what Gerard said and they can easily tell people what happen as they saw the incident happen and if were to have a photo, it makes their story more believable. -Rui Yong
ReplyDelete1.I think its about the same. There isnt much reason for pro journalists to be biased neither are citizen journalists. If they are biased then both will have the same level of reliability.
ReplyDelete2. No. The whole point of citizen journalism is to report the news on your own accord. Not create some group which sends you on assigments to report news you may or may not be interested in.
3. Nope. They seem to do just fine without extra input.
4.Pro journalist. Reason being I'll get paid.
1. Of course it's professional journalists, but citizen journalists have more first hand information.
ReplyDelete3. I agree! Otherwise where will professional journalists find 'hot' topic too talk about?
Please remember to pay attention to your punctuation and spacing :), they are not accurate and gives confusion to the readers sometimes
ReplyDelete1. Of course citizen journalism should be subject to biasness, slight inaccuracy, personal views, unprofessional writing and phrasing. But that they add to the understanding of the situation from a first-person view instead.
Also lesser in censorship and hidden motives in sharing the information
An informative piece that highlights the key issues with citizen journalism.
ReplyDeleteWith traditional journalists having to abide by certain policies and also submit their work for checking, they tend to be more careful and accurate in their reporting. Also, they are trained, having gone to journalism school, etc.
Still, I think there is room for both types of journalists. Many of you highlighted the mutual relationship that traditional/professional journalists and citizen journalists can have with each other, and many of the print publications actuall work together to get news stories as well as photos from citizen journalists who are close to the incident and hence have eye witness accounts.
What research did you do? Do share more of your findings with us.
I do not think citizen journalism is a good idea. In all honesty, citizen journalists are mainly only capable of putting across biased opinions (with the rare exception). More impressionable people can be easily led astray by these opinions.
ReplyDeleteHowever, professional journalism in Singapore is connected to the political institution and as such, may put forth a distorted truth.
I think we should look at things with a proper discernment.
1. I think I will trust information from professional journalist more than citizen journalist. Most professional journalists will look for more evidence of incident so as to reveal the truth of the incident.
ReplyDelete2. I think citizen journalists may not go to the extend of joining it. Most citizen journalists only wants to publish an article that they had chanced upon.
3. Professional media organization may still want to review the articles from citizen journalists. They can obtain more point of view and information from them.
4. I will prefer being a professional journalist because i will be allowed to seek more information to let public know the more truthful side of the story.
From Yan Peng
if professional and citizen journalists could come together, it would be good. citizen journalists are always able to get first hand information of those that are happening around them, and professional journalists can publish them in a more professional way.
ReplyDeleteBut in my opinion professional journalists sometimes tend to industrialize what they see, in order to gain more readers. They exaggerate the story.
Citizen journalist most of the time provide true information however what they lack is professional ethics, so, its good and bad all rolled into one as they can spread the things around the cyberspace and let it get viral.
1.Actually that depends. Some professional journalist report very one sided reports and that may not be anywhere near the truth at all.
ReplyDelete2.Unlikely. Some might see this as a threat as currently they are not really bounded by any rules but once in the institute they might be afraid of being bounded by some rules
3.Obviously. In places like Iran during times of troubles professional journalist might be barred from entering the country.This is where citizen journalist's contribution come into play
4.Never thought of such a question and therefore the answer is i don't know
1.I trust professional journalist more than the other
ReplyDelete2.No I dont think so. It is easy to pickup, and I agree with wei jie. no rules, rule.
3. well depends. they are fine with the materials they have. but 'hot topics' usually comes from citizens
4.Professional journalist. The word professional makes it more professional, get what i mean? ahah
Thanks Rozaidi....Yes most of the times the hot topics as you have mentioned can be delivered through citizen journalists.
ReplyDeleteAs Royston has mentioned sometimes professional journalists are inclined to add more marketing language to the news,but sometimes citizen journalists will not add marketing language but to gain attention they also add some unnecessary details to the news.
ReplyDeleteAnyway thanks for the comment:)
What Sherwin has mentioned can be true.But it is good or it is bad what we have to accept is citizen journalism is prevailing in the society so the challenge is to avoid it being another cyber threat.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.