Citizen Journalism versus Traditional Media

Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at NYU defines citizen journalism as, “When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another” (1). With technology today anyone can moonlight as a journalist if they have the Internet. The doctor, the teacher, the parent, that was getting ready in their New York City apartment on September 11, 2001 instantly became a citizen journalist once they took video of the towers on their cell phone that morning. The bloggers and the tweeters out there in cyberspace are citizen journalists, discussing pressing and not-so-pressing issues for the world to read (2).

Citizen journalism is great because anyone can report their perspective on an issue and discuss it with others all over the world. Also, unlike traditional media, the audience is not being told what issues are important (known as agenda-setting) (3); with citizen journalism the audience is doing the research themselves and picking and choosing what topics they want to read on, what they think is important, and what interests them. The downside of citizen journalism is that the reports can be quite biased. Citizens are reporting on what they are interested in, so they are going to put their own spin and perspective on it. Not that this is much different from traditional media; no matter how hard a news channel or newspaper tries to convince the world they are unbiased, everyone knows this is not true. Another con to citizen journalism is that users must be careful when visiting websites; anyone can make up a story or fake video and try to convince the world that it is as true and people will believe them.

Since social networks are so common on a daily basis around much of the world news travels much faster. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, blogs, and forums allow users to talk about anything they want with anyone they want. In November of 2008 when gunmen fired constant shots in Mumbai and seized the city’s landmarks people did not turn on their televisions or their radios, they turned on their computers to learn about the massacre. The social network sites were flooded with firsthand accounts from Mumbai and provided the world with some of the first photos of the tragic situation. Photographs that were posted on Flickr an hour and a half after the attacks were viewed at least 110,000 times about three days later.(4)

In situations like the Mumbai massacre, the tsunami, Neda, and Septembr 11th, citizen journalism through social networks is very helpful and productive. However, not everything discussed on the Internet is as valuable. For example, news that celebrities Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt divorcing was all over the Internet and blogs where people were reporting how upset they were…is that really what is important? But, I have to admit I do enjoy a little celebrity gossip every now and then and even though not everything discussed on the social networks are news worthy, that’s what the Internet, moreover social networks are for, aren’t they? A place to share your thoughts and ideas with others, no matter the caliber of the idea.

I could not imagine life without traditional media. I like to get away from the computer screen and read the newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch television. In a world without traditional media I know a great deal of people would be at a loss, those who do not possess the skills to retrieve the news from a computer or who do not have a computer/Internet (hello, digital divide). Citizen journalism is great, it gives people a great outlet to share their stories and news, but the traditional media has to stay in order to keep everyone happy.

________________________________________

(1) Rosen, Jay. "A Most Useful Definition of Citizen Journalism." PressThink. 14 July 2008. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. .

(2) "Citizen Journalism - What Is It ?" YouTube. 23 Aug. 2006. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. .


(3) "Agenda Setting Theory." University of Twente. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. .

(4) Dolnick, Sam. "Bloggers Provide Raw View Of Mumbai Massacre." The Huffington Post. 1 Dec. 2008. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. .