1. CITIZEN JOURNALISM
Christine McEdwards
and…
the first thing you do is grab your camera to take a
picture or video or pull out your cell phone and
post a comment on Twitter or Facebook.
That makes you a citizen journalist!

2. WHAT IS CITIZEN JOURNALISM
Non-journalists reporting information either by means of
writing, blogging, video streaming, photography, analyzing or
commentary.
Posting a video of a crime committed in your city onto
YouTube, blogging about your thoughts of a newspaper
article or attending a city meeting and reporting on it on
your blog, even posting pictures of an event that has
happened in your city are examples of citizen journalism
Citizen journalists report, collect and analyze
news and information
It is created by communities instead of organizations who
make no profit compared to the larger organizations who make
millions

3. FOUR TYPES OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM
1. Sharing of photographs, videos, and audio
Posting on blogs, Facebook and other social media sites
2. Sharing of opinions,
Commenting on things you find online makes you become
a citizen journalist by sharing your opinions with others
3. Sharing of discovery, and
Sharing information with the world after discovering news
4. Sharing of expertise
Creating a blog or doing a report on a topic you are
knowledgeable on, even though you are not a journalist.

4. HISTORY BEHIND CITIZEN JOURNALISM
The first newspaper in North America was created in the 1690’s followed by
many more shortly after
None of the reporters were professional. They were considered citizens who
were passionate about something and decided to write about it. This is
similar to the citizens of today who take photographs, write blogs and create
videos to post.
In the year 2000, citizen journalism emerged by bloggers and commentators
Major milestones in citizen journalism which were caught on camera and
published on a video sharing site include:
Kennedy Assassination, 1963
Rodney King Beating, 1991
World Trade center, 2001
Columbia Shuttle Disaster, 2003
London Subway Bombing, 2005
Virginia Tech Shooting, 2007
Hudson Landing, 2009

5. POSITIVE ASPECTS OF CITIZEN
JOURNALISM
It allows citizens to feel
more involved in the
community by
expressing their
opinions, engaging with
other social media
users and contributing
their thoughts and
knowledge about a
subject

6. POSITIVES ASPECTS OF CITIZEN
JOURNALISM
You get the view from a regular day to day person,
their thoughts and words, not edited material which
is carefully revised to satisfy the company.
Anyone who has access to the internet is able to
get their story out to the world by researching,
creating a story, and reporting it. Photos and videos
taken by everyday citizens are managing to make
their way into the press.
They provide a more interesting version of the story
instead of the scripted versions which newspapers
publish

7. ON THE SCENE REPORTING
A great example which highlights the advantages of
citizen journalism is the 9/11 terrorist attack. Just
moments after the planes crashed into the World
Trade Center, New York residents were the first to
get the news out to the world by updating social
media websites with photos, videos, and minute by
minute coverage.
News reporters cannot always be on the scene
when an event occurs especially if the event is
unplanned. Citizen journalists alert the media when
breaking news occurs and provide photos and
videos while it is happening.
It helps broaden the events that are reported

8. CITIZEN JOURNALISM ON THE RISE
Many large news agencies are
encouraging the use of citizen
journalism by allowing
audiences to post their
thoughts at the end of news
articles. Citizens can also
comment online, call in, and
some agencies have even
created sections for citizen
journalists to contribute their
stories.
CNN is a great example. They
have a section called iReport
where the public can comment
, share their stories and discuss
issues with CNN
Posting online puts your
knowledge and information out
to a much larger audience.

9. NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF CITIZEN
JOURNALISM
There can be quite a bit of
Citizen journalism is taking controversy with citizen
over actual newspapers. journalism. A lot of
Even though citizen professional journalists
journalism is the new easy believe that citizen
and accessible social medial journalists do not
tool, not everyone has a understand the work and
computer or cell phone. accuracy that is involved in
reporting the news.
Some people rely on the The main point of journalism
daily newspaper to find out is to keep an impartial and
current events and want to fair view, a lot of citizen
hear true news events rather journalists do not abide by
than blog postings. that and add their opinions
making the story a corrupted
version of the truth.

10. NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF CITIZEN
JOURNALISM
Many people believe the information they find online to
be trustworthy, especially if it is titled “news”. This leads
the reader to believe the information is true even though
it may lack credibility.
With this said, it may lead the readers to lose there
confidence with the accuracy of the news altogether.
Citizen journalists lack the ability to separate evidence
from speculation and opinion, as real journalists are
trained to be cautious of those fabrications. Professional
journalists are constantly referring to a large amount of
credible sources in order to make sure their information is
correct. Citizen journalists rarely check the authenticity of
their sources and the readers have no way of knowing.

11. NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF CITIZEN
JOURNALISM
Citizen journalists seem to be
putting themselves in
dangerous situations in order to
be the first on the scene to
report the news such as the
London riot.
Social media tools such as
Flickr, Blottr, Instagram, and
Citizen side show graphic
photos of the riots from start to
finish. Citizen journalists are
putting themselves in the
middle just to take a picture or
video, risking their lives and
taking the risk of being put in
jail.

12. WHO CAN BE A CITIZEN
JOURNALIST
ANYONE!
By posting comments,
writing on your blog, posting
videos online, expressing your opinions or even
taking photos and posting them online makes you a
citizen journalist
As long as you have access to a social media tool
and spread the word amongst people, you are
considered a citizen journalist.

13. WHO CAN BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST
There are a wide variety of citizen journalism sites:
Nowpublic – anyone can post an original story on different
topics
Citizenwire – tons of different topics which report on news stories
and peoples opinions as well as different sections for news in
different states.
Digital Journal – A global digital media network that has news and
articles on a wide variety of topics such as art,
entertainment and traveling

14. WHO CAN BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST
There are non-professional reporting
websites as well as the traditional news
websites which feature a section for citizen
journalists to report
A lot of people who have strong opinions on
a topic become a citizen journalist by
posting comments or blogs or posting on a
video, audio or photo sharing website.
It allows the expression of different views
and opinions of people

15. WHY IS IT SIGNIFICANT?
 Hacker attacks are becoming more and more prevalent, targeting
large organizations and even news paper agencies.
 Citizen journalism has become significant because it can report
news temporarily while the newspaper agencies are recovering
from a hack attack.
 Citizen journalists can quite often be in places where
professional journalists cant get to or may not have access to.
 For example, a third world country having a natural disaster
where all access if cut off, the citizen journalist can report
right from the scene
 Citizen journalists in war torn countries may have a better
understanding and ability to relay the news than an outside
journalist

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o
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R
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