Citizen journalism is when private individuals do essentially what professional reporters do, report information.
The current world we live in is all about producing, sharing and consuming. Citizen journalism is incredibly popular. No degree required or fees to pay unlike qualified journalists, and no filter or direct risk. Citizen journalism is the absence of authority, an open process with no closure. The arrival of the Internet with blogs, podcasts, YouTube and other Web-related innovations is what has made citizen journalism possible. Blogs and social media have taken away the feature of ‘gatekeepers’ (publishers, editors, content controllers) allowing individuals to post what they want, free from control.
As social media allows for immediate uploads, it is quickly becoming the host to report news before any other form of media.
However, one problem it poses is that Citizen Journalism has been marred by inaccurate reporting; such as reports during Superstorm Sandy that the New York Stock Exchange had been flooded.
With the majority of citizen journalists not being paid for their work, it seems unrealistic to expect them to have the same commitment to their work as paid professionals would, this being a problem that doesn’t seem likely to disappear any time soon.
Nevertheless, Citizen journalism allows for instant access and immediate information for people all around the world, we just have to be careful as to what we take as fact and fiction..
To wrap this up, a video that most likely expresses how qualified Journalists feel about Citizen Journalists..
emilykeyes,smilingpolitely 