The term citizen journalism or public journalism has spread widely around world as it has been connected to publishing the news and information. It can be defined simply as an alternative source of news which is produced and published by the general public. The concept of citizen journalism is not a new phenomenon and it has started long time ago. What has changed is the importance and the prevalence of the citizen journalists as an alternative source of information and news worldwide. There is an argument whether citizen journalism has transferred the news positively or negatively. Some experts argue that citizen journalism has many disadvantages such as lack of credibility and low objectivity which make it unreliable source of news …show more content…
They may use their blogs for illegal purposes for example, a blogger named David Milum defamed a bank by giving judges money to protect some drug dealers, and he did not provide any evidence to support his claim then he was sentenced to pay $ 50,000 to the bank (cited Hughes 2010, p.46). What's more, a citizen journalist published news about a plane crash in George Charles airport but the true event was the plane had an emergency landing not a crash (Barnes 2012, p.3). These evidence indicate how citizen journalists influence their practice of journalism by using some personal information which does not based on facts. Therefore, unreal information which come from personal beliefs affect public journalism badly leading to decrease audiences' trust in their news and information.
Another perspective view which provides more reasoned argument is that citizen journalism has many good advantages. The most important advantage is that citizen journalism play an important role in democratization of society. Barnes (2012, p.4) points out that public journalism has significantly supported revolutions in many countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen by using social media. In addition, democratic journalism promote chances of society participation for example, the freedom of speech in South Asian countries has been improved through the work of citizen journalism on the internet (Kaul 2012, p.7).By
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
Newspapers and other forms of news are very vital communication methods in the world today. The goal of news is to sell us their ideas by being biased and talking about how their idea is best. News can give us biased information although, the viewer could do further research on the
Though journalists main goal is to expose the whole truth, to do this they must be open on their methods of acquiring information. With the use of transparency in news articles, the journalists do just this. One major point in the
Citizen journalism is essential to the discovery and cover of what
While the intention of producing “Yellow Journalism” was to sell more papers through sensationalized headlines (PBS); In “Objective Journalism”; wire services, Associated Press, and Reuters, sought to provide readers with unbiased news in order to attract more customers. Journalism was introduced as a profession; Journalists formed professional associations and codes of ethics, one example is the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
It was through this course that I realized that journalism was in fact alive and well, it was changing with the technology and the times, and now more than ever it matters. Journalism matters because of the journalist’s duty to the public. In many ways democracy depends on journalist. It is the journalists who inform the public on the “political environment,” report on the “actions and decisions of elected officials,”
Ans: I think that citizen journalism will not eventually replace newspapers but instead supplement them as they can’t produce news stories on their own but instead comment on news stories that is already been produced by professional journalist.
In our evolving world, it is difficult to differentiate the truth with the constant pour of information It is a journalist's job to report the truth and to be sure that they have reliable information. A journalist must be successful in performing fast-checking before they can validate a story. Credibility is the backbone on journalism, and once it is destroyed it can be difficult to regain. It is also vital that journalists remain free from faction. When journalists break the obligations of journalism they are subject to criticism and distrust of the public. It becomes an issue when journalists jeopardize the public's ability to be free and
In the article “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Failing Our Culture.” suggests that the news today is more focused on personal bias and less on actual facts (Keen, 2007). Thus creating news to be distorted and geared towards personal feelings. If a viewer is to only access information on news events
Journalism has a significant political impact; a story may not change the minds of all readers, but there could be a significance or a better understanding for a difference.
As a result, more made up stories will continue to be produced. Advertisers and website owners will unceasingly take advantage of human propensity for their own gain. Secondly, flaws within the journalistic process allow fake news to enter the production cycle. The major issues in journalism is the a lack of resources and the constant demand to produce. Marju Himma-Kadakas, the author of Alternative facts and fake news entering journalistic content production cycle, discusses these issues. She explains that “the growing amount of information is creating an information overload, which leads to ineffective information processing and poorer decision-making. The problem lies not in the information or the amount thereof, but rather in the ‘filter failure’. In such conditions, journalists’ role is to be ‘the filter’: to select and process information in order to make sense of society. ‘Filtering’ – conventional news reporting demands time and other resources, which often are scarce in online journalism”. In this excerpt, Marju Himma-Kadakas, makes an excellent point. Due to the excessive amount of information, it is a necessity to have a journalist that can sort through it to verify whether the information is accurate, reliable, and credible. Journalists also have to condense any lengthy information and make it into the common vernacular, if it is difficult to understand. However, you need resources (e.g. journalists, fact checkers, computers, etc.) in order to complete those time consuming tasks. If you do not have the required resources, then someone might make an irrational decision to publish an article without completing the production cycle (a series of steps before publishing the final product). This could lead to an undesired consequence-- fake news.
However, the article does explore an opposing angle of citizen journalism in-depth where risks of phony photography are high. Undoubtedly, the business of news reporting will always exist, but does citizen journalism hinder the legitimacy of news by providing raw-footage rather than footage that is edited for accuracy? Has photojournalism turned into a commodity due to the ease at which photos and videos can now be captured? Or are we living in a digital age where citizens don’t require news channels to content curate anymore because raw-footage will be accessed through social media platforms anyway? These are questions that can only be answered with a deeper insight into the emergence of citizen-centered
I was 18 when we moved to the United States from Cameroon in 2010. I had always known I wanted to be in journalism, yet had little knowledge of how the media worked or what being a journalist even entailed. I had a passion for telling stories, and zero experience or hope that I would someday be able to do so in a way that affects everyday people, and effects positive change. As far as I knew, journalism was the ruling government’s tool for communicating what it deemed fit for public knowledge, and stifling any information that remotely threatened the political status quo. Only in the following years would I come to grasp the power of media and communication, in a journey that has led me to this very moment.
The overview of the subject matter is that the big worry is that quality will decline Journalists are employed to check their facts and they get checked in turn by editors who question the reliability of their sources; we trust the paper’s brand not the individual journalist. Social media could be reliable, but how would we know? This is equally true then it comes to bias. But the fact of the matter is journalism is more credible and if we lose credibility in the information we get everything could fall for speculation. The authors’ thesis is we should not stand for the decline of journalism as a profession but support our right to have valuable information
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