Citizien Journalism . Assignment

Citizen Journalism has taken over the Journalism industry. The new media social networks are now a replacement to the publication and going to online sites to read more about stories. Citizen Journalists do not need to have a journalism qualification they need to have a phone and social networks and they qualify as journalists.

Citizen journalism involves members of the public actively participating in reporting, analyzing and contributing to news and information. Many examples of citizen journalism include personal blogs, independent news sites, mailings, personal broadcasting and news content captures on mobile devices.

Citizen Journalism also contribute positively in the industry, the news now travel faster and as a budding journalist I have found it easy to use this type of journalism with blogs, and twitter. Recently we saw how this kind of journalism helps us. The twitter was buzzing with tweets updating us about the  Marikana mascare. We learnt about it before it was published in the newspapers. Citizien Journalism is the new trend in the industry. Journalists already in the industry have written about the citizen journalism with positive feedback.  

According to Rebecca a journalists she said:” I think that the concept of citizen journalism is a good thing. For countries like Malaysia, where news is so highly controlled by the government, news sites developed from blogs has really allowed for freedom of speech. I think this form of journalism is really going to change the way we consume broadcast journalism because for the first time, we as the audience are able to participate. This to me is a big step for the journalism industry as a whole. No longer are just a select group of people allowed to broadcast their opinions on an issue. Through citizen journalism, I fell that we are now able to discuss a wider range of issues that affect us as a society. I think citizen journalism, is the true future of broadcast journalism and I for one can’t wait to see the changes that it is going to make to traditional ideas of journalism.”

Citizen Journalism has brought change in the industry and has made news to be easily accessible to the public and the public has a chance to broadcast the news that Journalists do not have a clue about. It is now for journalists to get stories from the social networks and they can do a follow up on the stories. I believe that we need to accept that it is here to stay and then familiarize ourselves with it.