EOTO- Citizen Journalism

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    Citizen Journalism and the Effects on Publishing 

    What is “Citizen Journalism”? Exactly what it says, citizens that act as journalists. Journalists publicize their work in order to educate their audience. Citizen Journalism is no different. But, it can be found just about anywhere. All social media outlets are able to act at a home for citizen journalism. With technological advancements citizen, journalism has become extremely popular. 

    Social media is such a huge outlet for people all around the world. Social media makes it easy for citizens to journal. If there is an event, a protest, a fight, or an accident; Citizens are the first ones at the scene usually. Most bystanders are going to reach for their phone and either video, take pictures, or even just inform others of the incident at hand. For example, with the recent Black Lives Matter protests and rallies, I have personally seen countless video recordings of them and that is where I have been getting information. Whether that is right or wrong, people look to social media as a news outlet. That is all thanks to Citizen Journalism. 

Citizen Journalism has a huge effect on people’s perception. There are many pros and cons to citizen journalism. First, the pros. Citizen Journalism is a quick and easy way to find out the latest news and what is happening. Sometimes, when a news outlet is covering a story it can take some time for them to go public with it. That could be from a whole bunch of things. It could be due to editing, fact-checking, or even just simply getting it aired. In comparison, citizen journalism has no time restraints on this because they can simply just go live on social media, or just post the video right after. Another pro is that it gets opinions out there. Everyone has different opinions but hearing someone else’s opinion can be very beneficial in opening your eyes to new views. Personally, I don’t mind a bias post because I am able to see the view of the author; Sometimes, it may even change my view. 

There are also cons to citizen journalism. One of the most prominent cons of citizen journalism is fact-checking. When someone publishes something freely without a network behind them, there is no need to fact check it. That can be very problematic; it could spread a lot of false claims. When false claims are spread it can make it harder for real reporters to do their job and back up their facts. 

There are a lot of different opinions on citizen journalism and whether or not it is good for our society or not. Personally, I think citizen journalism is inevitable and is going to happen no matter what. People get a high from being able to spread information fast and that is exactly what citizen journalism is. 


https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/citizen-journalism

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-citizen-journalism-2073663

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