Citizen journalism, also known as participatory journalism, is a form of journalism in which users are actively involved in the creation of journalistic content. As demonstrated in "Best of Twitter: FTC Workshop Discusses Future of Journalism" by Jessica Clark, citizen journalism is a subject of much debate. What constitutes citizen journalism? How should it be used? Should it even be used at all? According to Arianna Huffington, citizen journalism "...has enabled millions of consumers to shift their focus from passive observation to active participation -- from couch potato to self-expression." On this point, I completely agree with Huffington. Citizen journalism allows people to develop their own voice in the news world, in this granting them the ability to highlight the issues they see fit as well. Instead of having the media represent the public as a collective whole, citizen journalism is a way for individuals to be recognized as, well, individuals. Ultimately, it is a way for people to represent themselves in the media, as opposed to having an outside party -- professional, working journalists -- do it for them.
However, I feel there are some drawbacks to citizen journalism. At the FTC workshop, Ruport Murdoch outlined these issues stating, "Some (citizen journalists) rewrite, at times without attribution, the news stories of expensive, and distinguished journalists who invested days, weeks or even months in their stories, all under the tattered veil of 'fair use'...To be impolite, it's theft." This is the main issue I have with citizen journalism: if an individual is going to commit to the role of 'citizen journalist,' they need to commit all the way. This means doing the 'dirty work' that reporting entails too, like researching the issue, attributing sources, and remaining fair, accurate and balanced while writing. Anything otherwise does not constitute true journalism, and should not be classified as such.
Based on this, "The contributions of citizen journalists, bloggers, and others who aren't paid to cover the news are constantly mocked and derided by the critics of new media..."as Huffington describes, but to a greater extent than they deserve in my opinion. I think Terra makes a good point in her blog post on citizen journalism when she says, "The industry is evolving and the contributions from citizen journalists and bloggers shouldn't be viewed in a dim light. Instead, journalists should embrace sites that still share the news, but do so in a different way." My only addition to this comment would be to monitor how sites focused on citizen journalism operate. When executed properly, I believe that citizen journalism can function just as effectively as any professional form of journalism, and prove just as informative to news-goers. For example, open-source journalism, as seen on sites like newassignment.net, have professional journalists begin a story while citizens are brought in at different levels of the process. Professional editors also monitor content supplied by citizen journalists on these sites.
In regards to Murdoch's comment about charging people for online news, I can see how this notion would make sense from a business perspective, though I don't think the majority of people will actually pay up, at least not when it is first introduced anyways. Huffington even states that a recent study conducted in the U.S. found that 80 per cent of online news-goers wouldn't read online news or magazines if they were not free. I think the 'free' aspect behind online news is one of the main reasons why it has become so popular. It's fast, it's convenient, and anyone with an Internet connection can access it. By putting a price tag on it, audiences are suddenly limited. Despite this, I believe charging consumers for online news will be implemented eventually, and that, in time, it will become normal to have to pay for such services.
Overall, citizen journalism is made up of both pros and cons. It gives citizens their own voice in the news world; however, not everything on the web classified as citizen journalism should be classified as citizen journalism. It is still a form of journalism, meaning that news produced from this medium needs to abide by basic journalistic principles. And the looming idea of paying for online news seems to be approaching faster than ever. In the end, this is where journalism is ultimately heading. I say, why fight it -- embrace it!
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