EOTO Terms and concepts

 Citizen Journalism 

By: Trinity Church

    Citizen Journalism is journalism that is conducted by people who are not professional journalists but who spread information using Web sites, blogs, and social media. An example of those people would be the blog sites you see on Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. If anyone wanted to be a citizen journalist they could be. However there are some pros and cons of the job. Some pros that really stood out the most to me would have to be how it provides an active voice for the public and how it gives local communities a voice to address issues affecting their lives.  This allows any locals to voice their opinion about situations going on around them. It allows the people to give their own view of things and allows them to give their truth. I feel like at times Citizen Journalism can be more impactful than actually broadcasters. The reason I say this is because the citizens are going to give every single detail and not sugarcoat anything. They're not going to be biased and leave the viewers out in the dark. Broadcasters like to leave information very vague and not tell the entire story. 

On the other hand a con with citizen journalism is that not everyone will tell the truth which can lead to confusion amongst others. People like to add little details and stretch the truth especially if that means they will get more attention. I feel like that could be a big problem when trying to interview different people for a story. In my opinion I think citizen journalism has made a positive impact on society as a whole. I think that it offers a great opportunity for people in countries where the media, especially the mainstream media, is limited. It allows local communities to get their stories out and lets their voices be heard. Many businesses even know that citizen journalism has a lot of potential and that it is a growing and underdeveloped area. I feel like citizen journalism has really helped out our society especially when stories come out that the government likes to downplay. These journalists will provide many details, maybe even pictures or videos about what really happened. 

    Some citizen journalism sites that I really enjoy are CNN News, Wikinews, and All Voices. These websites provide many outlets for citizen journalism and here's how. CNN is a community which allows locals to join in on the conversation. Wikinews encourages content from citizen journalists and they treat each one as a news story instead of an article. All voices is a citizen journalism website that allows for stories, videos, and images of recent news all across the globe. I really think that these sites have made an extreme impact on Citizen Journalism and have helped many people who try to get their story and voice heard. Overall, I believe that Citizen Journalism has made a more positive impact than negative. Citizen Journalism has really helped out society, kept people informed, and allowed people a chance for a voice.