Citizen Journalism

Image from Brandwatch

The age of the internet has brought society many new forms of consuming media, be it watching videos on YouTube or reading the news online you have the internet to thank, and with new ways of consuming comes new ways of producing. One of the things the internet has made much easier is citizen journalism, but what is citizen journalism?

To put it simply, citizen journalism can be defined as citizens taking an active role in reporting, analyzing, or documenting events. So someone on YouTube reporting, and analyzing current events is in participating in citizen journalism.

Recently citizen journalism has been on the rise, and the reason for it is the internet.

The internet offers a vast wealth of knowledge and an easy way to upload said knowledge. So when a police officer is violating a citizens rights and someone is around to record it, they will record and post it on the internet, therefore contributing to citizen journalism. There is also a wealth of photos on the internet. These photos can be used by journalist to help tell the news and bring light to a subject.

Citizen journalism can effect people every where. One can obtain a new news source, journalist might use material captured by citizen journalism (videos) and report on them. Citizen journalism can and is used by everyone. Whenever there is a video that someone post online documenting an event that occurred, for example lets use a police officer in New York putting someone in a choke hold, and then the media, for example lets take the NBC, uses said video to report on it, society as a whole is viewing something captured by citizen journalism therefore benefiting from it.

Citizen journalism isn't limited to videos. Blogging is a form of citizen journalism. If one wants to analyze current events in their blog then they are participating in citizen journalism. 

The internet is a treasure trove for journalism, and journalist today have citizen journalism to thank for easy access to new information that would've been harder, or not possible, to bring to light before.

Sources 
Bulkley, K. (2012, June 10). The rise of citizen journalism. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jun/11/rise-of-citizen-journalism

What is Citizen Journalism and How Does it Influence News? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/what-is-citizen-journalism-and-how-does-it-influence-news/