Journalism is evolving and in a big way, thanks to the internet. With the onset of various social media like Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc, the definition ‘Journalist’ is not what is used to be some decades back. Social sites like Facebook and Twitter has changed the way we get our news and information. While disseminating information, there is a new breed of journalism that has evolved. Popularly known as the citizen journalist, these new age journalists have open public forums for discussion and provides invaluable information that can democratize media, as well as a nation. Media tools that were once exclusively held by big companies have evolved over the Web and are now part of what the public owns. Twitter is often more real-time than the news channels and people have engaged with news outlets in ways publishers never envisioned.
The London riot is one of the most high-profile acts of a citizen journalism which had a wide-spread revolt. The Twitter played an important role for the media and during the cleanup. A database of more than 2.6 millions riot-related tweets have revealed the ways in which the network was used during the disturbances During the uprising in Egypt, Al-Jazeera’s citizen media service, Sharek, received 1,000 camera-phone video uploads. The use of social media during the Arab Spring, which began in late 2010, has been well documented, and citizen journalism is considered by some to have come into its own during the ongoing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.
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Nearer to home, though the use and availability of internet to the Indian population is limited as compared to the west, yet a perfect example of citizen journalism was witnessed when people reported from the streets during the multiple bombings in Mumbai where 23 people were killed and 131 injured as a result of three blasts in the city at rush hour. Mumbai residents out-reported conventional news suppliers by using Twitter and Facebook as phone lines were down. Says, Ramanuja Dutta, digital editor of a news-based website, “We’re entering a new age of government transparency because the internet makes so much more information available to so many more people.”
Blogging is another tool that has proven useful to the citizen journalism movement. Organizations like Community United Against Violence (CUAV), which fights to end the oppression of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) community, are using blogs to tell the stories that the mainstream media are missing. Another blogging site, southasianphilanthropy.org inspires South Asians to become more involved in philanthropy and volunteering. The project highlights efforts of charities, non-profits, and other organizations led by South Asians or contributing to change for South Asians and the diaspora. The blog discusses issues like human rights, international development, disaster relief, non-profit issues, and domestic violence.
But what is actually citizen journalism? Though the definition varies depending on who or what we are talking about, the most simple definition can be, Citizen journalists are usually defined as journalism done by non-journalist. Citizen journalism can refer to anything by people picking up a camera, or writing stories in the blog, through analysis. The act can be as simple as an involved community member posting entries on a public wiki or uploading photos and videos to a media-sharing site.” If we adhere to the definition of Wikipedia, “Citizen journalists are those people who play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information in a public forum. Says Sankhaneel Barua, a freelance journalist, “Citizen journalism in the simple sense is news collected and published online by people like you and me. We aren’t reporters by any stretch, but citizen journalism websites give us an opportunity to speak as interested observers. It is freedom of speech without any censorship in its unadulterated sense.”
Citizen journalism has opened up new platforms where everyone can have a view and opinion of their own without the fear of being curtailed. Yes, people are concerned about what their leaders are doing for their country, but for a common public there are greater issues that concern them like the irregularity of electricity, the condition of the road in their area, the gutter and cleanliness in the neighborhood and a citizen journalist can take up these issues more prominently that a professional journalist as the common people know their neighbourhood better than a classified journalist. Most importantly, citizen journalism is about engaging your constituents and enabling them to participate.
Adds Sankhaneel, “The impact of citizen journalism is so much these days that every local politician should not only be conscious of a blogger but also should be afraid of them.”
So does it mean that the days are numbered for professional journalists? Not everyone agrees that citizen journalist can take over professionalism journalist. While it may be easier for the new breed journalist to post content via different social media, the lack of verification of the story and the ways a story could be interpreted can turn into a vicious game of Chinese whispers. A story by an unreliable source has the potential to be twisted and manipulated over time, which may result in losing the intended message or the meaning. The risk is much lower with professional content which has much substance and trustworthy. A report by a citizen journalist can never match the depth and reliability of a pure journalist. A journalist not only give us the information about a breaking news, but also gives us an insight and further development of the story which is unlikely from a citizen journalist. Furthermore, a journalist has to abide by certain ethics and those ethics can only be cultivated from a journalism school.
Refuting any debate of citizen journalist trumping professional journalist, Suparna Jalan, an avid Delhi based blogger says, “Most bloggers or citizen journalist as they are coined, aren't interested in replacing the professionals, and don't even consider themselves journalists. If I have one hundred conversations about whether bloggers are going to replace journalists, no blogger predicts themselves replacing news media. Journalists invented [the problem of bloggers replacing journalists], and are forever discovering that this isn't true. It's their conversation they're having with themselves. What needs to happen is less arguing and more discussions about how journalism can evolve.”
Starting your Own Citizen Journalism
Though the form of citizen journalism continues to evolve, it's clear that nonprofits seeking social change or directly serving underrepresented populations may benefit from adopting some of its tenets and technologies. This could mean adding tools like blogs and wikis to their Web sites in order to give their constituents a stronger voice. A community of individuals dedicated to spreading grassroots creativity with videos, audio, photos, text, and other works of personal media is where one can begin if one really is concerned about making a change in the society. Adds Suparna, “starting your own citizen journalism movement is as easy as starting a conversation. Invite interested members of the community to your offices and find out what they're passionate about. Experiment by letting them submit photos and videos of events they attend, which is easier to do than writing a news story. Don't be afraid to fail. See what other news organizations with similar resources have done by reaching out to these talented amateurs."
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