For my EOTO project term and concept, I chose to research and present on Citizen Journalism. Citizen Journalism is basically recording and writing about news stories and events but done by untrained reporters, meaning everyday people hence the "citizen" in Citizen Journalism. The journalists don't work or get paid by large journalism or publishing companies like the New York Times or CBS. The overall idea of Citizen Journalism is to give every citizen a voice in the media and them a chance to participate in journalism, even without a college degree. It was deemed necessary because the mainstream media's credibility has become questionable at best in recent years.
Some of the positives to Citizen Journalism are that it presents the opportunity to cover all sides of the story, not just the bias side or one side of the story, and gives ordinary people a voice in the media. The events being reported on typically revolve around smaller but real challenges, such as depression and isolation during pandemics. Mainstream media tends to leave subjects that they dictate as "less important" out of the topics they report on. They use well-known controversial subjects such as politics to draw eyeballs to their site. Citizen Journalism can include mainstream media topics like the Black Lives Matter protests.
Some cons to Citizen Journalism lies in the readers' confusion about whether or not to believe the information and its credibility. Citizen Journalism has a vastly smaller audience than the mainstream media and has more of a chance to be biased depending on the mainstream media it's being compared to. The upside to mainstream media and bias opinions is that it's more likely to follow facts and have credible sources because they have more accessibility to interview and talk to people further up the social ladder.
Some examples of Citizen Journalism are posts on Facebook and Instagram, tweets on Twitter, and so many other types of posts and writing on social media platforms. In fact, CNN created a branch off of its main platform called CNN iReport which gave citizens the ability to shape and contribute to the stories CNN's main platform reported on. Back in 2012, CNN's iReporters assisted the mainstream platform in uncovering some of the biggest news events of that year. Some of the events included Superstorm Sandy, the Colorado fires, the Israel-Gaza conflict, and many more. Aside from aiding CNN's mainstream platform, CNN iReport helped spread awareness to many complex issues that don't typically get much attention. CNN iReporters gave personal stories for credibility when bringing attention to an issue to give it substance that didn't allow the mainstream media to call it fake.
Earlier, I used the example of the Black Lives Matter movement as a mainstream media type of topic which Citizen Journalism covered. To further prove my point, I looked up the words "Black Lives Matter" on Facebook and Instagram. Hundreds upon thousands of pages, posts, and comments popped up within seconds which included stories, videos, and foundations accepting donations.
Citizen Journalism is everywhere in the world thanks to technology and social media. It costs nothing to write and share a voice about so many important and real topics that really matter and spread awareness to bring it to light.
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