Citizen Journalism: Empowering, Accessible, Challenging
Journalism as a profession is not something that anyone and everyone simply does. It takes years of training and studying, rigorous research, and a lot of guts. For a while, this job has been left largely to journalists who spent most of their lives preparing for the profession. But with the advancement of technology (which allows people to record events), and social media (which makes connecting people easier), journalism expanded to include the people in developing stories. This is citizen journalism.
Citizen journalism empowers the people. It allows them to participate in the process of investigating and researching an event and even become the key to discovering the facts. It also gives them the chance to narrate the events of a story the way they experienced it, unlocking more details and information. When they feel seen and heard, they will be encouraged to participate more in the events around them, and gain the courage to share their truths. With just a few clicks, an important piece could fall into place.
Because of their accessibility, the internet and technology are a citizen journalist’s most powerful tool. They could contact (or be contacted by) journalists with the help of a search button. They could pass on pieces of evidence through emails, phone calls, text messages, or video chats. The cellphones they always hold conveniently can be used to record events happening right in front of their eyes. All these can be used to shed light on a story and uncover the facts. Additionally, images, videos, and audio recordings are strong evidence and are impossible to ignore.
Multiple sources may sometimes overlap or contradict each other. This is when the journalists themselves need to be extra vigilant about the information they receive from citizen journalists. They need to fact-check by corroborating and verifying statements to see if they match. Trusting a source based only on what they say can lead to disaster, which is why it’s important to get as many witnesses as needed, and to acquire hard evidence.
Today, citizen journalism is becoming an important part of journalism. It empowers the people by allowing them to participate, can be a good source of witnesses and evidence, and challenges the journalist to strive harder to collect the facts and write the story. This TEDxThessaloniki by Paul Lewis can give you more insights about citizen journalism.
