Citizen Journalism through

the Internet

When thinking about citizen journalism,

what first comes to mind?

What Is Citizen Journalism?

-Members of public playing an active

role in news and information

-Citizen media, not professional

journalism

-Independent websites

-Personal broadcasting sites

-Participatory news sites

Timeline of Citizen Journalism Popularity

and Demand2001 September 11th

2003 Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster

2004 Indonesian Tsunami

2005 American Idol Voters

2007 Virginia Tech Shootings

2009 Iranian Elections

Why then?

Rise of do-it-yourself journalism

Want for eye-witness accounts

Demonstrations and protests

Humanitarian efforts

Mobile phone response

Layers of Online Citizen

Journalism1)Opening up to public comment

2)Citizen bloghouse

3)Newsroom blogs

4)Stand-alone citizen journalism

sites,unedited

5)Integration of pro-journalism and citizen

journalism

Now let's take a look at each

separate layer to better

understand how Citizen

Journalism works...

1) Public Comment

What? News sites enabling users to comment

on articles,videos,etc.

Why it’s important: Gives readers the

opportunity to react, praise, and criticize major

news outlets coverage of events. Readers often

bring up points of the issue that were not

originally raised in the publication. In many

instances, these comments are incorporated in

the actual post

Blogging sites support public commenting most

frequently. However, over the last decade more news

sites have been opening their articles up to public

comment to incorporate citizen journalism

Public comment has not always been a concept without

flaw. In many cases, the content have the posts has

been debated. For example, should the public be able

to comment on posts such as obituaries? Where to we

draw the line? Many sites moderate and limit

commenting.

Example: http://www.poynter.org/

2) Citizen Blog House

What? A way for citizens to get involved with the

news through online posting

Why it's important: Blogging is a powerful and

inexpensive way for the everyday citizen to get

involved. Through this publishing tool, any individual

is able to reach out to a broad audience. In a lot of

cases, non journalists, or those who are not

professional journalists, offer the most interesting

and raw perspectives on issues.

Blogs are an interesting facet of citizen journalism because in many

cases they are very specialized. People can find exactly what

they're looking for in terms of news. For example, many popular

cultural blogs include fashion and cooking. So instead of

subscribing to a magazine, the audience can turn to the everyday

bloggers for advice.

A problem with citizen blogging is the consistency of its appeal. In

many cases, blogs start out as interesting However, because there

is no limit to the content posted the material sometimes drags on

or adversely dies out as the blog shuts down completely. In this

way, we see that citizen blogging is not always as reliable and

stable as that of major news sites.

Example: http://www.greensboro101.com/

3-4.) News Room and Unedited Sites

What? A specific type of citizen blogging.

Why it's important: Transparency news

blogs share the inner workings of the

newsroom to the public.

Example:

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/c

onversation

Readers are able to specifically pinpoint what they think is wrong

with news organizations. Newsroom blogs and sites that are

unedited give the public a stronger sense of trust in news

organizations. Not all websites have “transparency” blogs. In many

cases, an editor’s blog is offered where the top editor explains the

inner workings and how editorial decisions are made.

Unedited stand alone citizen journalism sites are helpful but

problematic. Any content is allowed to be published and its difficult

to have safeguards against inappropriate content.

How do we fix this?A practical model is for sites to include“ report

misconduct” buttons on stories in photographs. We see this same

technique used on social media sites such as Facebook. No one is

closely monitoring each individual page because that is not realistic.

However, if someone sees the content and believes its not suitable

for the site, it may be reported easily, and then investigated.

5) Integration

What: The combination of citizen journalism and

professional journalism.

Why it’s important: It goes without saying that not all

citizen journalism is accurate or newsworthy.

However, some sites, such as the South Korean site

“OhmyNews” have began to review submitted

articles. This site specifically features 70 percent of

citizen submitted articles, with the rest from pro-

reporters.

IIntegrating citizen journalism and professional journalism is profitable for many news sites. Think about it . The content is submitted without charge, but the content is screened. This kind of media organization and may serve as a model that rivals traditional journalism.

Examples of integration: food section featuring articles not

only written by professional staff critic but also by the

everyday customer, a city council meeting not only being

covered by a correspondent but by someone who attended

a meeting

Example:

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/conversation/

Can you name the

five layers of

citizen journalism

we discussed?

REVIEW!

1) Public comment

2) Citizen bloghouse

3) Newsroom blogs

4) Stand-alone sites, unedited

5) Integration