How do you access your news?
If you’re aged 18-24 years old, chances are you access your news through social media, as suggested by the Digital News Report (2018), which found 71% of this age group use social media to access their news.
However, this hasn’t always been the case. Traditional media outlets such as newspapers, radio and television used to filter through which citizens received the news, through journalistic news reporting and analysis. The rise of citizens documenting newsworthy events, without journalistic training or skills, can be attributed to the ubiquitous use of mobile phones as well as the rise of the internet and social media (Matheson, 2011), platforms which now form the main outlets for news consumption. Citizen journalism, or participatory journalism, is “the act of a citizen or group of citizens involved in the process of collecting, reporting, allaying and disseminating news and other forms of information” (Barnes, 2012).
Drawing from Habermas’ theories of the role of the public sphere in democratic discourse, news media acts as an educator to the public as both a way in which citizens can “learn, discern, debate and judge to formulate action (as well as act) as a powerful source in democratic society for or against change” (Beers, 2006). Indeed, citizen journalism can act as a grassroots journalism tool for the public to actively involve themselves in the social process of informing each other (Rosen, 2008).
Citizen journalism can also result in the spreading of misinformation and fake news, such as in the Westminster Terror Attacks of 2017 (Craigie-Williams, 2018). These effects can result in criticisms of citizen journalism due to the viral and unverifiable nature of social media. However, Corinne Barnes (2012) finds that citizen journalism can “provide independent, wide-ranging and relevant information that is crucial to democratic societies”, a position to which I would agree.
A case that demonstrates the vital role citizen journalism now plays in the exposing of truths within a society occurred in Jamaica in 2011. During this time, a news release from Jamaica’s Constabulary Communication Network (CNN) discussed that a man had been shot and killed following his attack on the local police. Following this release, a Jamaican citizen began the circulation of video footage demonstrating what really happened. Within this footage was video evidence of the man initially accused of attacking the police, being beaten with a police baton and then killed whilst being both subdued and unarmed. This case demonstrates that common access to information and communication tools such as mobile phones are bringing about a “level of access to information that is unprecedented” (Barnes, 2012).
Further, this act of citizen journalism can be used to witness events as they unfold, and show the unique contributions citizens can provide. Citizen journalism compliments traditional journalism, providing a broader range of points of view. For this reason, I can confidently conclude the importance citizen journalism holds in today’s society, not obscuring the truth, but instead providing witness to events. Indeed, traditional media organisations such as CNN, following this case, recognised the vital offerings that witnesses can provide and now “regularly solicit contributions from citizen journalists” (Turner, 2012).
Citizen journalism has the potential to bring about positive change to societies, as seen in the Jamaica case, and it is thereby my opinion that this form of information recovery is vital to existing within democratic communities.
P.s. Remember to Keep it Sweet xo
Reference List:
Barnes, C., 2012. Citizen Journalism vs. Traditional Journalism: A Case for Collaboration. Caribbean Quarterly, [online] 58(2/3). Available at: <https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/stable/41708775?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=citizen+journalism&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dcitizen%2Bjournalism%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26group%3Dnone&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A91cbb9f708bad5c4aad508e5323f68d8&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Beers, D., 2006. The Public Sphere and Online, Independent Journalism. Canadian Journal of Education, [online] 29(1). Available at: <https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/stable/20054149?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=citizen+journalism&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dcitizen%2Bjournalism%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26group%3Dnone&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A95feaa8527b2f26a0c2340e7474a68c5&seq=7#metadata_info_tab_contents> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Craigie-Williams, G., 2018. The Rise Of Citizen Journalism And Fake News. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.com/@journalismblog/the-rise-of-citizen-journalism-and-fake-news-a643b318591c> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Kalogeropoulos, A., 2018. How Younger Generations Consume News Differently. [online] Digital News Report. Available at: <http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2019/how-younger-generations-consume-news-differently/> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Matheson, D., 2011. History of Citizen Journalism. The International Encyclopedia of Communication, [online] 1. Available at: <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781405186407.wbiecc028> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Rosen, J., 2008. A Most Useful Definition Of Citizen Journalism. [online] PressThink. Available at: <http://archive.pressthink.org/2008/07/14/a_most_useful_d.html> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Turner, S., 2012. Protecting Citizen Journalists: Why Congress Should Adopt a Broad Federal Shield Law. Yale Law & Policy Review, [online] 30(2). Available at: <https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/stable/23340072?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=citizen+journalism&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dcitizen%2Bjournalism%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26group%3Dnone&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A91cbb9f708bad5c4aad508e5323f68d8&seq=11#metadata_info_tab_contents> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Keep it Sweet with Kira Sweet 