Citizen Journalism Is Fundamentally Challenging The Traditional Methods Of Mainstream Media Reporting

GROWTH OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM
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INTRODUCTION
Newspapers, radio and television used to be the main sources of media from which many people would get information regarding their respective countries and the world. The situation is however changing with the introduction of citizen journalism which has emerged to be one of the main sources of news in the current timesADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.95082-7", "ISBN" : "9780080970868", "abstract" : "Though the digital technology of blogging is new, the concept of citizen journalism is not. Likewise, citizen journalism offers little threat to traditional jour- nalism. This paper examines the mundane roots of citizen journalism in the earliest expressions of communal curiosity to modern electronic commentary. The author argues citizen journalism, through its intrinsically personal nature complements rather than replaces traditional journalism.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Hamilton", "given" : "James F.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2015" ] ] }, "number-of-pages" : "612-618", "title" : "Citizen Journalism", "type" : "book", "volume" : "3" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=387caf01-61b9-44c9-bf38-1527caff40de" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Hamilton, 2015)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Hamilton, 2015)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Hamilton, 2015)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Hamilton, 2015). Citizen journalism consists of sources such as personal blogs, internet websites, social networking sites and wikis. These sources are now competing with news generated by major media houses. The main difference that exists between the two is the contributor of the news. News articles displayed in citizen journalism is generated by the users of a particular website or local newspaper while news shown in the mainstream media is collected by journalists that work in the media houses. The competition between the two sources of media is ever growing since each of the two forms want to fulfil their duty in ensuring that the public receives the truth of the matter. This paper analyses the various factors that have led to the development of citizen journalism to a point that it competes with mainstream media ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1080/13669870903136159", "ISBN" : "1366-9877", "ISSN" : "1366-9877", "abstract" : "Western media outlets are increasingly drawing upon public footage and citizen accounts of risk incidents. Contemporaneously, technological advances have enabled members of the public to create and disseminate independent media products. The growth in \u2018citizen journalism\u2019 has been facilitated by technological convergence and the development of an interactive media environment in which citizens are not simply sources of information and/or audiences, but also recorders and creators of news. Despite fundamental changes in news production, the impact of citizen journalism on the reporting of risk remains an undeveloped area. This article maps out the range of effects that citizen journalism has on the production and presentation of risk information. From a constructive angle, we consider the extent to which citizen journalism adds to the plurality of risk discourses, democratises news flows and sets alternate news values. This positive account is counterbalanced by an analysis of the limits of citizen journalism, including the problem of distortion, issues of unequal access and the embedding of populist forms of news presentation. In the light of this analysis, the article concludes by illuminating salient research gaps and identifying areas ripe for empirical investigation.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Mythen", "given" : "Gabe", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Journal of Risk Research", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2010" ] ] }, "page" : "45-58", "title" : "Reframing risk? Citizen journalism and the transformation of news", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "13" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=acbc0c23-7092-4693-b911-9edf92810222" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Mythen, 2010)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Mythen, 2010)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Mythen, 2010)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Mythen, 2010).
POSITIVE FACTORS
Audience Participation
The involvement of audiences in the creation and publishing of news content has been a major influence in the development of citizen journalism. Instead of only consuming it, different citizens in various countries have engaged themselves in the delivery of news to their respective countrymen ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1177/107769901008700305", "ISBN" : "1077-6990", "ISSN" : "1077-6990", "abstract" : "The contribution of professional journalism to democratic citizenship is well-established, but the proliferation of online user-generated news begs the question of whether citizen journalism plays a similar role. Use and trust of both professional and citizen journalism were investigated for their associations with political knowledge and participation. User-generated journalism was negatively related with knowledge of national political figures, but strongly and positively associated with higher levels of online and offline participation; professional news media produced gains in knowledge and offline participation. Trust in user-generated news amplified the link between citizen journalism and online participation.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Kaufhold", "given" : "K.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Valenzuela", "given" : "S.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Zuniga", "given" : "H. G.", "non-dropping-particle" : "de", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "3-4", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2010" ] ] }, "page" : "515-529", "title" : "Citizen Journalism and Democracy: How User-Generated News Use Relates to Political Knowledge and Participation", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "87" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=096f87f6-5406-4c85-9705-4573efa87e87" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Kaufhold, Valenzuela and de Zuniga, 2010)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Kaufhold, Valenzuela and de Zuniga, 2010)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Kaufhold, Valenzuela and de Zuniga, 2010)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Kaufhold, Valenzuela and de Zuniga, 2010). Citizens have become the eyes and ears of the media in many parts of the world. The main ways through which the citizens showcase the news on their platforms include photos and videos of incidents which is referred to hard news reporting. Incidents such as the Tsunami in Indonesia, the July 2005 London bombing and the September 11th terror attacks in the U.S are examples of how citizens have participated in giving news. Their participation has however been viewed to be an obstruction to the main media houses ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1080/21670811.2012.740270", "ISSN" : "2167-0811", "abstract" : "A content analysis of 48 citizen journalism sites, 86 weekly newspapers and 138 daily newspapers indicates that citizen journalism sites differed enough in six local government content attributes to conclude that citizen journalism sites are, at best, imperfect information substitutes for most newspapers. However, the data also indicate that some large-city citizen journalism sites complement newspapers by increasing the number of news stories and the amount of opinion available about local government. The results also found differences between citizen news sites and citizen blog sites. Few citizen journalism sites outside of large metropolitan cities covered local government.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Fico", "given" : "Frederick", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Lacy", "given" : "Stephen", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Wildman", "given" : "Steven S.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Baldwin", "given" : "Thomas", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Bergan", "given" : "Daniel", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Zube", "given" : "Paul", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Digital Journalism", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2013" ] ] }, "page" : "152-168", "title" : "Citizen Journalism Sites As Information Substitutes and Complements for United States Newspaper Coverage of Local Governments", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "1" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=9bfb028d-0fb7-4223-9b04-90a5a2f68f20" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Fico et al., 2013)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Fico et al., 2013)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Fico et al., 2013)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Fico et al., 2013). Members from major media houses argue that other news sources may bias their information to benefit certain malicious causes. This is not the case though since the citizens are the ones that are directly affected by the incidents that happen to them.
Biasness of Mainstream Media
It has been evident over recent years that the news delivered by mainstream media has been biased in certain ways. Major media houses control the news they deliver to the people to fit certain objectives. One of the major reasons that their news is biased is censorship of explicitly used actions or words ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1177/107769901008700305", "ISBN" : "1077-6990", "ISSN" : "1077-6990", "abstract" : "The contribution of professional journalism to democratic citizenship is well-established, but the proliferation of online user-generated news begs the question of whether citizen journalism plays a similar role. Use and trust of both professional and citizen journalism were investigated for their associations with political knowledge and participation. User-generated journalism was negatively related with knowledge of national political figures, but strongly and positively associated with higher levels of online and offline participation; professional news media produced gains in knowledge and offline participation. Trust in user-generated news amplified the link between citizen journalism and online participation.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Kaufhold", "given" : "K.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Valenzuela", "given" : "S.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Zuniga", "given" : "H. G.", "non-dropping-particle" : "de", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "3-4", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2010" ] ] }, "page" : "515-529", "title" : "Citizen Journalism and Democracy: How User-Generated News Use Relates to Political Knowledge and Participation", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "87" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=096f87f6-5406-4c85-9705-4573efa87e87" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Kaufhold, Valenzuela and de Zuniga, 2010)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Kaufhold, Valenzuela and de Zuniga, 2010)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Kaufhold, Valenzuela and de Zuniga, 2010)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Kaufhold, Valenzuela and de Zuniga, 2010). Citizen journalism instead presents the raw content in the news be it explicit or not. The main forms of content that is usually censored is rap music or discussions between notorious musicians. The notorious rap group N.W.A was one form of media journalism which aired their news of incidences such as drug dealing and racial profiling in their neighbourhoods. They spread their news as a reflection of their reality thus causing a ripple effect all over the world indicating to others that it was alright to share one’s views and experiences just as they were without altering anything.
Advancement of Technology
With the advancement of technology taking place worldwide, devices such as smartphones and high definition audio and video recorders are being bought at a high rate. Devices such as these in the hands of citizens enable them to take photos and record videos of incidents in areas that the mainstream media houses may find to be inaccessible ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1080/21670811.2012.740270", "ISSN" : "2167-0811", "abstract" : "A content analysis of 48 citizen journalism sites, 86 weekly newspapers and 138 daily newspapers indicates that citizen journalism sites differed enough in six local government content attributes to conclude that citizen journalism sites are, at best, imperfect information substitutes for most newspapers. However, the data also indicate that some large-city citizen journalism sites complement newspapers by increasing the number of news stories and the amount of opinion available about local government. The results also found differences between citizen news sites and citizen blog sites. Few citizen journalism sites outside of large metropolitan cities covered local government.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Fico", "given" : "Frederick", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Lacy", "given" : "Stephen", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Wildman", "given" : "Steven S.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Baldwin", "given" : "Thomas", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Bergan", "given" : "Daniel", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Zube", "given" : "Paul", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Digital Journalism", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2013" ] ] }, "page" : "152-168", "title" : "Citizen Journalism Sites As Information Substitutes and Complements for United States Newspaper Coverage of Local Governments", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "1" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=9bfb028d-0fb7-4223-9b04-90a5a2f68f20" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Fico et al., 2013)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Fico et al., 2013)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Fico et al., 2013)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Fico et al., 2013). The citizen journalists therefore become the providers of news for the mainstream media houses. Through this process, their influence becomes greater than that of the main media houses in a community ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1080/13669870903136159", "ISBN" : "1366-9877", "ISSN" : "1366-9877", "abstract" : "Western media outlets are increasingly drawing upon public footage and citizen accounts of risk incidents. Contemporaneously, technological advances have enabled members of the public to create and disseminate independent media products. The growth in \u2018citizen journalism\u2019 has been facilitated by technological convergence and the development of an interactive media environment in which citizens are not simply sources of information and/or audiences, but also recorders and creators of news. Despite fundamental changes in news production, the impact of citizen journalism on the reporting of risk remains an undeveloped area. This article maps out the range of effects that citizen journalism has on the production and presentation of risk information. From a constructive angle, we consider the extent to which citizen journalism adds to the plurality of risk discourses, democratises news flows and sets alternate news values. This positive account is counterbalanced by an analysis of the limits of citizen journalism, including the problem of distortion, issues of unequal access and the embedding of populist forms of news presentation. In the light of this analysis, the article concludes by illuminating salient research gaps and identifying areas ripe for empirical investigation.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Mythen", "given" : "Gabe", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Journal of Risk Research", "id"...