Quote: "Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens 'playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information.'"
Where individuals participate in the process of collecting, reporting, and sharing news and information.
Definition of Citizen Journalism: This topic involves an explanation of what citizen journalism is, who qualifies as a citizen journalist, and the role of citizen journalism in the media industry.
History of Citizen Journalism: This topic covers the evolution of citizen journalism from the traditional system of gatekeepers to the current situation where social media has made it possible for anyone to be a journalist.
The Impact of Social Media on Journalism: This topic involves the influence of social media on journalism practices, including its effects on news gathering, verification, and dissemination.
Ethics of Citizen Journalism: This topic delves into the ethical issues involved in citizen journalism, including accuracy, balance, impartiality, confidentiality, and conflicts of interest.
Objectivity and Subjectivity in Citizen Journalism: This topic explores the balance between the objective and subjective approaches in citizen journalism and how it affects the quality of journalism.
The Role of Citizen Journalism in Democracy: This topic elaborates on the importance of citizen journalism in promoting transparency, accountability, and participation in democratic processes.
Legal and Regulatory Issues in Citizen Journalism: This topic covers the legal and regulatory aspects of citizen journalism, including defamation, privacy, intellectual property, and access to public information.
Tools and Techniques for Citizen Journalism: This topic involves the tools and techniques that citizen journalists can use to gather, verify, and disseminate news stories.
Citizen Journalism and Traditional Media: This topic explores the interaction between citizen journalism and traditional media, including collaborations and competition.
The Future of Citizen Journalism: This topic discusses the possible future developments in citizen journalism, including technological advancements and the changing media landscape.
Blogs: Individuals can write their own blogs to share their experiences and opinions on specific topics.
Podcasts: Audio recordings that present stories, ideas, and opinions, produced and uploaded by individuals.
Social media: Anyone with a social media account can post news, pictures, and videos of events as they happen.
Video journalism: Individuals can shoot, edit and post videos on YouTube, Vimeo or other video sharing platforms.
Crowd-funded news: Financial support from people can help individuals investigate and report on stories of interest.
Citizen photos: Photos taken and uploaded by the public can be used as news content for newspapers, magazines, and websites.
SMS reports: People can send news stories to news organizations via text messages.
Mobile reporting: Covering news events via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Co-operative news gathering: Citizens collaborate to cover news events by sharing information and resources.
Collaborative writing: Individuals participate in writing projects that contribute to the production of news content.
Quote: "Courtney C. Radsch defines citizen journalism 'as an alternative and activist form of news gathering and reporting that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to shortcomings in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism'."
Quote: "Jay Rosen offers a simpler definition: 'When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another.'"
Quote: "The underlying principle of citizen journalism is that ordinary people, not professional journalists, can be the main creators and distributors of news."
Quote: "Citizen journalism should not be confused with community journalism or civic journalism, both of which are practiced by professional journalists."
Quote: "New media technology, such as social networking and media-sharing websites, in addition to the increasing prevalence of cellular telephones, have made citizen journalism more accessible to people worldwide."
Quote: "Notable examples of citizen journalism reporting from major world events are, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 2013 protests in Turkey, the Euromaidan events in Ukraine, and Syrian Civil War, the 2014 Ferguson unrest and the Black Lives Matter movement."
Quote: "Being that citizen journalism is yet to develop a conceptual framework and guiding principles, it can be heavily opinionated and subjective, making it more supplemental than primary in terms of forming public opinion."
Quote: "Critics of the phenomenon, including professional journalists and news organizations, claim that citizen journalism is unregulated, amateur, and haphazard in quality and coverage."
Quote: "Furthermore, citizen journalists, due to their lack of professional affiliation, are thought to lack resources as well as focus on how best to serve the public."