Citizen Journalist Essay

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

Clay Shirky who wrote Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable (1993) argues that society doesn’t need newspapers society needs journalism to save society. Shirky supports this argument by giving a historical background to the problems newspapers face and how the problems have developed over time and the solutions society has came up with. The blogger concludes that in order for journalism to go farther new models must be created in place of past molds. Shirky directs this blog toward the current and future generations in attempt to motivate new models and methods of journalism.

Gladwell sends a very strong message about how social media cannot cause a major revolution in society; likewise, Baron is sending across the same message. Revolutions continue even after the internet is shut down. As crowds gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Baron describes how they “continued to grow during the five days that the Mubarak government shut down the internet” (330). The crowds increased in size without the help of social media. Somehow, word got out and people came to support the cause. Also, Baron brings into realization that Americans are too involved in the world of social media. Americans fail to realize all of the news that they are missing because they “can’t seem to survive without the constant stimulus of digital multitasking” (Baron 330). American citizens are too busy tweeting about what they ate for breakfast to worry about the hungry that is going on overseas. They depend on social networking to tell them the news rather that picking up a newspaper and reading about what is going on in their country or maybe even overseas in a different country.

Networks formed online are crucial components formed online are crucial components for mobilizing groups and spreading information. Digital technology brought into the forefront the role and impact of citizen journalism. Unlike traditional media outlets like CNN and the New York Times–citizen journalism enables anyone with an

During the 2011 Egypt uprising protesters gained support through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to help end poverty and unemployment in which they were experiencing at the time. This major flow of support from across the world helped strengthen the protesters cause and led to an eventual victory in Egypt (Brym 2014).

The term “social media” refers to the wide range of Internet-based and mobile services that allow users to participate in online exchanges, contribute user-created content, or join online communities (Dewing). It has become common today to use applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to express and share your thoughts, opinions, and common interest. In Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, writer Malcolm Gladwell touches upon the issues of social media’s role in activism vs. the traditional way of becoming a true activist Many of us today use these social networks for its beneficial approach to attract users and acquaintances to support their cause or

- “Arab spring,” Egypt, Libya – young people want what we have, to be able to speak about things: Facebook

As a middle eastern, I did not realize how much Facebook was considered a main role in these uprising and how it was reported here in the U.S. and the west. These uprisings were not just a result of a “Facebook revolution,” but the thousands of people who took to the streets and protested against dictators and demanded change. As someone who lived there, I believe that the political, religious, and economic problems were there already and Facebook was a tool that happened to be accessible to help protesters organize. It certainly was not a main factor in these revolutions. As a matter of fact Facebook was also used and still being used by governments to spread propaganda. In the Syrian conflict Facebook, twitter, and video platforms like YouTube are being used by terrorist groups like ISIS to spread their radical ideology and even reach like-minded people in the west. This was not possible few years ago and is definitely an example of how social media could play a negative role in

The documentary #chicagoGirl shows the integral role the internet, particularly social networking sites, have played in mobilizing activists in the middle east. The film follows Alaa Basatneh and her role in coordinating protests and supporting the revolution from across the world via social media. Basatneh was born in Syria but her family moved to Chicago to escape the oppressive regime. She and her family got out far before many others could. She began living a normal teenage life; frequenting the mall, hanging out with friends, and casual social media usage. As news trickled out of Syria Basatneh new she needed to do something but felt too far away to make an impact. She soon realized her role in fighting the horrific conditions created in by President Assad was through social media.

Negative press, scandalous acts, and suppressive measures by the government all are risks in the modern, web-oriented world. While this is an unfortunate side-effect of technological progress in the West, the situation is trickier in authoritarian nations. While both democratic and non-democratic social movements rely on capitalizing people’s anger, high-risk does not begin to describe the pressure put on activists under governments with low civil rights. Activists in nations such as these need to pick their fights carefully; one wrong move and you plus any family members might be looking at arrest, imprisonment, torture, or execution. Such events have been seen recently in the Arab Spring, especially in regimes such as Egypt and Tunisia. While success has followed the movement in some of these countries, an unfortunately large number either fell into bitter fighting or clamped down on these individuals. And it is not limited to the Middle East, as Russia and China have proven very effective at controlling the populace’s efficacy to change society. And while pure momentum may help bring revolution to the Middle East the best course of action in stronger authoritarian governments is to practice rightful resistance, something that really only exists in non-democratic states. As exemplified in struggle of rural Chinese citizens to gain reforms, such actions are viewed as

In almost every aspect of politics, digital media plays a major role. Most people go online to read headlines and see what’s happening in the world. From providing articles on political topics to allowing the possibility of furthering campaigns by micro targeting, digital media helps people gain a better understanding of the political world around them. Also, digital media allows for the spread of information from various sources, allowing for people to form well-informed opinions. Digital media is easily accessible and always available making it convenient for all people. It also allows for politically express themselves, making them feel more involved in politics. Citizen journalism is news that is reported and distributed by citizens. It is an extremely important benefit that digital media offers. Citizen journalism has proved to be extremely important through the role in Arab Springs and more recently on the Dakota Access Pipeline. With access to sites such as mobile phones, YouTube, Facebook Live, citizens can report incidents with ease. While other sources of media for various reasons (including profits) might overlook or not show two sides to a story, citizen journalism allows that to happen. (WTP,

The 2011 uprising in Egypt was in many ways a traditional brick-and-mortar revolution, but with a cyber-twist to it: based on their statistical analysis of a large body of tweets related to the 2011 uprising in Egypt, Starbird and Palen (2012) observed that activists used Twitter as an important tool to share ideas and information with like-minded people, because Twitter allows a high number of activists interact using its retweet and other mechanisms. In this case, Twitter was used among participants and supporters of a traditional mass movement to bypass government controlled

To wholly have a grasp on how this new founded approach to journalism has changed alongside technology—as well as understanding the dangers such openness brings forth—one has to understand what exactly those changes are. Primarily, those that are writing for the sake of offering information have, whether willingly or not, fed into the usage of social media as it has become a centralized method of distribution that is relatively inescapable with the current times. As such those framing the news for the masses find an authentic avenue to stay in contact via social media that has benefits ranging from, “its extraordinary newsgathering potential; its potential as a new tool to engage the audience; and as a way of distributing our news” (Eltringham, 2012), all of which are deeply different from the presentation of reporting that occurred during earlier eras. Days of strongly structured instances of journalism that could not travel with such speed have been replaced as, “social media has trashed many of the foundations on

Contemporary social movements such as Arab Spring and Kony 2012 use the Internet and social media as potential tools towards change. But why are some more successful than others. This paper argues that when news outlets see the potential for change, they “premediate” (Richard Grusin) its possibilities, and make that change ever more possible in their coverage. On the other hand, extant stories that are more reactionary do not get the same amount of new exposure, and remain static. In other words, our media - not just social media, but news organizations - play a great role in shaping current events. I will compare and contrast the unfolding of the Arab Spring story, and how little changed regarding Kony 2012, as cases in point.

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