Citizen Journalism

 Citizen Journalism

We live in a world that is so globally connected that news travels faster than ever before. A lot of people do not look at mainstream news as a form of getting their daily news. According to Pew Research Center, 1 in 5 Americans say that they get their news “often” from social media. 

Most news that comes from social media comes from the general public in a form that is called Citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is by definition, “the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by the means of the internet.”

Citizen journalism have been around since actual journalists have been around. But like the definition says, it has become very more prominent due to the creation of the internet.

Prior to the creation of the internet, it was very hard for citizen journalists to get their voices heard. There was no place that was as easily accessible like the internet for people to hear what citizen journalists had to say. Almost every citizen had to rely on news to be given to them by mainstream media companies who have agendas outside of just giving people information they need to hear.

Citizen journalism is very important for many different reasons. One of the biggest reasons why citizen journalism is so important is because it helps relay information to people in countries where the the mainstream media is either corrupt or if it is more limited compared to a country like the United States.

If you look at a country like North Korea for example. There is only one news outlet in North Korea. This means that if you turn on your television in North Korea and want to see what is going on in the world there is only one news station that will tell you what is going in. Did I forget to mention that this news station is completely controlled by the North Korean government and spreads constant lies and propaganda to their citizens.

In countries like North Korea, citizen journalists are crucial in getting information about the government and what they do to their people to both North Koreans and the rest of the world. Without citizen journalists risking their lives to show what is really going on in the DPRK, chances are we would have very little accurate information about what happens in North Korea. 

There are hundreds of videos of people documenting life in North Korea, most of these videos are free for the world to see on Youtube. Without having platforms like Youtube and other social media networks, we would not be able to see many of the current issues that are going on in the world.

Sadly, with all of the good that citizen journalism may produce, citizen journalism comes with many flaws.

Citizen journalists do not need to abide by the ethical codes of being a professional journalist. This has caused many citizen journalists to either say inaccurate things and spread wrong information or they may do something that is very unethical that a professional journalist would not do.

In early 2020, one of the greatest basketball players of all time Kobe Bryant, passed away in a plane crash along with his daughter Gianna and many other families. Citizen journalists were the first people to break this story, causing many of the family members of Kobe Bryant to find out about him and his daughters death through social media.

Even websites such as TMZ decided to break the story without finding out if the Bryant family had already known of his passing. 

This is very unethical in the world of journalism and a real problem that is being caused by citizen journalists. There is no repercussions for a citizen journalist to either report on something that is completely false or if something is not ethical to report on. 

With the rise of social media and the internet, citizen journalists are not going anywhere and will continue to play a strong role in how many people get their news. Hopefully people can use this right that we have in a more ethical way.