Citizen Journalism

    Citizen Journalism is considered to be any individual who reports and informs the general public without being called a professional. People who report, document and share news through digital and paper outlets. This has a lot of benefits within the world of journalism and news. 

    They give unbiased opinions towards the events or circumstances. It also helps communities report incidents that usually go under-reported. In the long run this helps communities' hold individuals accountable for the things going on or the things not being changed.

    In some countries where the government controls parts of the media, apps and websites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter became huge in countries where there were not a lot of news being spread. First hand account videos and pictures are very important when it comes to wars and crisis' happening on the other side of the world. One example would be Ukraine and most of the wars in the middle east. Without first hand information from these accounts, we would not truly know the things going on. 

    Citizen Journalism over the years has been one of the main defenses against propaganda and false information being spread. There are always pros and cons, it depends on if you are benefiting or being hurt by the unbiased opinions and stories being shared. I feel like this would be more of a tool for the poor or the minorities or anyone who is a victim. Where they can use their information and story to inform others and find solutions and ways to fix the problems. 

    With the blog post that I am currently doing right now, it is a kind of Citizen Journalism. Sharing information that I have learned and giving my opinions on the things I learn about. That is what it is all about. I think most people find themselves doing some sort of this. Whether that is posting an opinion online or writing something, most of what we do can be considered Citizen Journalism so I think it affects me daily. As well as my family and friends in this day and age.

In the 1920s there was discussion between Walter Lippman and American philosopher John Dewey where they debated the role of journalism in democracy. 

    Also they talked about the extent the public should participate in the news gathering and collection process. This also came up as a topic again in the 1990s. Where people started taking advantage of the low-cost social computing devices and technology with no ties to any company or organization. Scholars have sense discovered that the quality and content of Citizen Journalism has been very well made and portrayed. 

    I believe that there are a lot of important sections in the Mediasphere, but Citizen Journalism may be the most important if not top 3. Over the years it has risen and created all different kinds of solutions and ways people can inform the community and general public. Without this I think that we as Americans would have our rights violated. So with that I do believe that this is apart of everybody's life pretty much every day. Most of the time we have something to say, in class, online or maybe you wrote it down in and sent it out. 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/citizen-journalism

https://nieman.harvard.edu/articles/citizen-journalism-and-the-bbc/

https://reporter.rit.edu/features/citizen-journalism-whats-deal