Mapping Digital Media: Citizen Journalism and the Internet

"As ...Howard Dean once commented: 'The internet is Gutenberg on steroids.' As a result, millions of non-professional journalists have been sharing their experiences online, bringing issues to the news agenda that were not - or could not be - covered by mainstream media."

This paper from the Open Society Media Program summarises discussions about citizen journalism: its various forms and coming of age; its role in international news; the opportunities for a more democratic practice of journalism; the significance for mass media outlets as they struggle for survival; and the risks that unedited citizens’ contributions may pose for audiences, mainstream media, and citizen journalists themselves.

Citizen journalists have become regular contributors to mainstream news through digital advances, providing information and images. Due to their independent status, questions arise on the values that underpin good journalism, the need of citizens for reliable and abundant information, and the importance of such information for a healthy society and a robust democracy. "In practice, this can range from commenting on an existing news piece to publishing an article, podcast, photo or video on a personal blog or on Twitter, a dedicated citizen journalism website like The Huffington Post or on YouTube, or on interactive websites that work as extensions to mainstream media, such as Cable News Network’s (CNN) iReport. On sites like CNN iReport, editorial gatekeeping is left to the audience: uploaded content will be published unedited as long as it is considered news (as distinct from advertising, for example) and respects principles of taste and decency. Other sites, such as the South Korean OhMyNews.com, only fact-check hard news contributions before publishing them; and then there are websites that operate like a traditional newsroom, also called pro-am ventures, such as The Huffington Post, where professionals edit all user-generated content (UGC) before publication....Thanks to open source, user-friendly software, the technology needed to become a citizen journalist nowadays is very basic: electricity; a computer or mobile phone which can access the internet; broadband, if possible, to upload pictures and videos; and a digital camera or mobile phone with a camera. Software to set up a blog is freely available on wordpress.org or blogger.com, and pictures and videos can be uploaded to specialized websites such as YouTube or Flickr within minutes. In order for this content to be found, readers need access to a search engine, and pictures have to be tagged."

As media face dwindling audience numbers, participation is being encouraged in the following forms:

• comments on an existing news piece;
• crowdsourcing, where a reporter asks the general public to provide additional information to complete a story, or to help check facts; and
• uploading content through specific applications on websites or creating dedicated citizen journalism sites, such as CNN iReport.

As described here, citizen journalists can expand perspectives and audiences, as well as fill voids in reporting, e.g. a blogger in Iraq, a student video post of military violence in Iran,  and an nformation technology (IT) student in Mexico covering drug cartels in the war on drugs. However, journalistic ethics are not always valued by these citizen journalists: "Many citizen contributors do not see themselves as journalists but rather as activists, and therefore do not believe they should adhere to media ethics." In addition, these journalists can be manipulated by propaganda: "While replicating official statements without critical evaluation also occurs in mainstream news, untrained citizen journalists are often more vulnerable to be used as propaganda tools, especially if on the whole they support the cause."

Audiences need to be educated to be particularly alert to fact checking in citizen reporting. In addition, citizen journalists might find themselves engaged in libel suits for their part in misinformation: "Whereas professional journalists often enjoy specific privileges, such as protection against libel charges and protection of journalistic material, citizen journalists generally do not qualify for these rights, particularly if they do not adhere to basic journalistic standards."

The paper forecasts a closer relationship between citizen and professional journalists in "mutualized news organizations" combining both mainstream and citizen journalism. The paper ends with a call for a clearer definition of "citizen journalism" and for further ethical, legal, and business training, so that its practitioners continue to be taken seriously by professional media and audiences alike.