The Rise of Citizen Journalism

Posted by Michael Owen Hill Features Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Like many, I first became acutely aware of the power of man-on-the-street reporting during the unrest surrounding the Iran elections in 2009. Although the power of social media to gather and disseminate news had already been proven – and although public journalism has a history in the United States stretching back to the late 1980s – this was the turning point at which media executives, consumers, government officials and traditional journalists alike could no longer deny that news and journalism have changed forever.

When the public plays an active role in collecting, reporting and analyzing the news, the traditional news cycle is turned upside down. Members of the public are empowered; individuals are transformed from “audience” to “journalist.” Likewise, age-old assumptions about what is or is not newsworthy need to be re-examined.

What is News, Anyway?

In an age marked by the maturing of social media and location-aware technologies (GPS-equipped smart phones and apps like Yelp, Foursquare and Gowalla), is it any wonder that news has become simultaneously global and hyperlocal? The typical consumer can find out what is happening half a world away in real time – faster, in fact, than the traditional media talking heads can put on their makeup, fix their hair and read a teleprompter script. And the average person can find out more about what is going on in their community from a blog or citizen media site than by reading one of the few remaining local newspapers.

In the old paradigm, news was simply information. In recent years, the “news” has become a 24 hour feed of predigested sound-bites devoid of challenge, insight and often utterly lacking informative value. With the rise of citizen journalism, we see news as a conversation and a source of empowerment. In addition social news channels (like Twitter) and citizen media sites can accomplish the following much more effectively than the nightly news or weekly paper:

Provide local information not found in traditional media channels
Build connections between individuals and communities at the local and global level
Create an opportunity for dialogue
Act as watchdogs for local government
Serve as an outlet for political protest (particularly in totalitarian countries)

Anecdotal evidence collected by the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at University of Maryland also suggests that citizen media sites can increase awareness of local political issues, increase voter turnout and even increase then number of candidates running for local office.

The Ethics of Citizen Journalism

For those who are attached to the romantic notion of journalists as gatekeepers of the truth, the rise of untrained, potentially uneducated and probably politically motivated citizen journalists must be chilling. It is fair to question what level of trust one can be expected to place in a non-professional reporter who is not accountable to an editor or station manager or readership base.

But the ugly truth is that the rise of citizen journalism coincides with the decline in factual reporting, impartial analysis and balanced presentation of issues in the traditional media. Yes, Big-J journalism is dead – at least in terms of public trust – but it wasn’t the citizen journalist who pulled the trigger. CNN, MSNBC and the rest committed slow ethical suicide by abandoning principles in favor of strategies to increase profit and market share.

(Note I failed to mention Fox News. It is practically impossible to discuss that organization and concepts of journalistic ethics in the same sentence. The cognitive dissonance is almost too much to bear.)

In short, the rise of the citizen journalist (at least in the U.S.) is simply a response to the abject failure of news organizations at the local and national level to provide timely, accurate and spin-free information that is pertinent to people’s lives. Citizen journalists have an opportunity to fill this void to provide good, accurate reporting on topics that actually make a difference to everyday people.

How To Be a Good Citizen Journalist in Five Steps

1. Keep your opinions to yourself. If you want to be respected as a citizen journalist, do it by reporting facts and providing useful, impartial analysis. If you want to be controversial or make unsupported, incendiary claims or garner a cult-like following of misinformed and fear-driven sheeple, go work for Fox News. Just don’t call yourself a journalist.

2. Research, research, research. It’s not just about reporting what you see or hear. It’s about context, background and supporting information. Think about the questions your reader may have and then go out and find the answers. Write what you know; or, more accurately, make sure you know before you write.

3. Be fair and be humble. The fact is, the news is not about you. Your readers want to know what happened and in what context. They don’t necessarily want to know what you think about it. Yes, great journalism is driven by passion, and that passion often shows through in the reporting. But the chances are you aren’t a great journalist. Leave your opinions at home.

4. Don’t lie, don’t hate, don’t gossip and don’t steal. These should be self-explanatory. If you want to be taken seriously, you will studiously avoid making things up, reporting rumors as fact, using the “news” to attack someone you dislike or taking someone else’s work and presenting it as your own. In short, libel, slander and plagiarism are not cool, and may get you in real trouble.

5. Know the style. Get to know news-writing format and AP style (the spelling, punctuation and usage guide for the Associated Press, an industry standard). Your work will look much more professional and you will probably be taken more seriously as a result.

A final, bonus tip: As with anything, your best bet is to find a mentor or a group of people with similar interests who can help you hone your skills and avoid costly mistakes. Whether you get your feet wet by contributing to a local blog or decide to launch your own news channel on Twitter, Tumblr or another platform, the time you spend in networking will pay tremendous dividends and shorten your learning curve.

If you have decided to pick up the mantle of citizen journalist, I wish you good luck. I hope you will use your newfound powers to add relevance, bring value and provide insight to your community and to the world.