Citizen Journalism: Questions On The Role Of A Citizen Journalist

News organizations that report on stories in a fair, balanced and ethical manner are essential to the functionality of this nation. A citizen’s ability to make well-informed decisions hinges on a news organization’s ability to relay the most accurate information regarding the state of the nation, the changing condition of communities, and adjustments in the government. Journalism is no longer a one-sided conversation. Journalism is an interactive process that allows for readers and viewers to create a dialogue with journalists by utilizing mediums such as social networking sites and comment sections. Audiences have a say in what stories get reported and how news stories are presented to the masses. When news organizations fail to cover all

There are many challenges that are faced daily when becoming or being a mandated reporter.

Journalists are very important in providing objective views of the world as a way to uncover justice. Journalists are the storytellers who represent the people whose stories are not always heard. Journalists, particularly those during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, were crucial in showing how daily life was in America’s cities.

Opposed to the author’s main points, the argument can be made that reporters have the job of telling the truth, which represents

In my opinion, Billionaires’ Tea Party does not meet the journalistic norms of objectivity and separation of reporting from advocacy. The producers of this movie have a clear agenda, which is to expose the Tea Party as an organization full of ill-informed and extremely biased Americans who are hypnotized by some of America’s wealthiest businessmen into believing that liberals in American government are seeking to limit their constitutional rights. The director inserts his own political bias into the film, asserting that “most people, myself included, are naturally suspicious of government”. Toward the end of the film, the director states “my only message to them is to be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.” The director clearly states his purpose for producing the film, and does not film this documentary from a third-person perspective. The director defies the norms of objectivity not through his investigative work, such as going undercover at a rally, but by explicitly stating his suspicion.

Context refers to the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement or idea. Particularly in speeches, context can influence the way it’s written, presented and received, it helps to put things into perspective and understand why and how a certain thing was constructed. When Obama won the 2008 presidential elections he delivered a victory speech which was heavily influenced by the context it was produced in. Obama’s speech was written and presented at around the same time, when the Iraq War and the Global Financial Crisis were going on, additionally, he was also the first black president of the United States and had personal context that was reflected in his speech. Likewise, context affected Ronald Reagan when he delivered his speech after the space shuttle disaster, a tragedy in American history. To summarise the event, they had started a teacher’s in space program in which teachers had the opportunity to go on a mission with some astronauts, a woman won the competition and got this opportunity. Unfortunately, 73 seconds in the air, the shuttle exploded, killing the teacher and the other six astronauts. Very soon after this happened, Reagan, who was president at the time, had to address the situation. He made a speech, which was greatly impacted not only by the catastrophic event and the Teachers in Space Program but also by Reagan’s past experiences in WW2 and the Cold War.

The truth, so simple yet so difficult. We associate truth with facts and reality, but sometimes reach a grey area when defining a true story. A journalist's job is not only to report facts and data to the public, but also to tell the story. Now I am not saying journalism and storytelling are synonymous; journalists are not just simply storytellers. Journalists gather, assess, create, and present news and information. They use a dynamic form of storytelling, a journalistic form. Journalists are enablers, allowing the public to be free and self-governing.

Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel (2014), authors of The Elements of Journalism, claim “Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth” (p. 49) and “Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens” (p. 72).

Lister magnifies the complexities of citizen journalism in “Blurring Boundaries” by recapping tragic events such as, 9/11 and the London bombings that signify the importance of shared photojournalism between citizens and journalists. More specifically, the article focuses on the “death of photojournalism” due to the notion that the digital age is allowing everyone to become a photojournalist. The article, non-judgemental and fair from both angles describes a paradigm shift from photojournalism as a profession (limited to the skills of qualified journalists) to something ordinary citizens carrying cameras/smartphones can perform.

Nowadays journalists have the responsibility to report facts as accurately, objectively, and disinterestedly as is humanly possible. ‘’The, honest, self-disciplined, well-trained reporter seeks to be a propagandist for nothing but the truth’’ (Casey, 1944b).

Working within the media industry, especially as a journalist. It can sometimes be difficult and challenging as you are more than often finding yourself having to raid people’s personal lives to get a story. However, 'Is it in the public interest? ' that is the one question any journalist must ask themselves if they are to publish a story that may contain an individual’s private information.

The media and the public have had a relationship that has existed for centuries. Through the media, people become aware of events and issues occurring around them. As a result, they make educated decisions. Therefore, the media serve as witnesses of the events happening within our societies and then report them to us. That said, could journalism have a significant political impact in our societies? It is through the media that governments and their citizens communicate. For instance, people communicate by protesting and voting, governments respond by amending the issues affecting the public. It is also through the media that potential political leaders gain recognition. Therefore, the answer is yes, because, journalism causes the spread

In a contemporary society, the role of journalism is a varied one that covers many different aspects of people’s lives. As more and more outlets spring up around the world, many more stories are able to be covered by different outlets, and this means that journalism takes on a more and more important role in a contemporary society. Much of our lives centre on political and social happenings, and journalistic outlets are the public’s way of finding all the information on these event. Journalism also provides us with a way of finding out which of these stories are important and deserve our attention, and which stories can be ignored. The important role of journalism can be well observed in the recent coverage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) in both New Zealand and around the world. This is a ground breaking economic deal, and holds a great deal of importance for the 800 million citizens of the countries involved, as well as the rest of the world. With worldwide coverage of this deal, it is inevitable that different types of reporting occurs, and that different outlets will provide different accounts. With so many different journalism outlets around the world and locally, many have to have a way of standing out from the crowd. This means that some extremely different coverage of very similar stories can occur. However it can also simply be down to different ownership, differing political views, and different socio-economic environments. Two outlets with

With the advent of low cost consumer photography equipment, including camera phones, citizen journalism has become more widespread. During newsworthy incidents many people may be present with the capability to snap a picture. This capability of photography at the scene of a newsworthy event may produce information that can be helpful – and vital depending on the nature of the newsworthy event. While safety of the photographer is a concern – the same concerns exist for a professional journalist. The potential benefit of a mass capture of information by many sources may far outweigh the negatives. If the photographer feels that their safety is not in jeopardy and no un-necessary risks are taken – then photography is acceptable. In today’s society, it is up to the judgment and common sense of the witness to record whatever even they are observing.

In this era, the popularity of citizen journalism has spread throughout all over the world. As a matter of fact, more and more people are starting to take benefit of content publishers. This can be seen in Television news, such as winter snow photos, traffic accidents or local sporting events. However, it leaves a question, what exactly is news anyway? What do you need to be a citizen journalist? What is its impact on today's fast-paced society? Basically, a lot of people think this is a great thing and it can be a good tool for promoting interaction between the media community and the community. There are pros and cons of citizen journalism, we need to face this issue critically and dialectically (Techopedia, 2017). On the one hand, citizen journalism has some benefits that professional journalism can not provide. Firstly, comparing with professional journalism, citizen journalism provides a wider range of news and fills the gaps in mainstream media. The main body of the dissemination of citizen journalism is ordinary citizens rather than professional journalists or professional media. People can through the Facebook, microblog,Twitter to publish news which happened around their life. Delicacy, beautiful scenery, sports events, entertainments, political commentary can be seen in Weibo, Twitter, Facebook and so on. Secondly, citizen journalism could stimulate the interest of audience. Most audiences enjoy reading