The Citizen Journalist

Newspapers aren't reflective of real life.

- Virginia Wolf

In today's time, the world is changing into a more democratic and diverse society. As more points of view are shaped through the public, the more inclined people are to share their knowledge or opinions with the rest of the world. Although it's most common to attain news through the media, ordinary citizens are now emerging into news reporters as well. They might not be professional journalists who've been trained in the field of journalism study, but they have the same ability to share information with the rest of the world and more.

Since the outroar of September 11th, people who have witnessed the event became so called, "citizen journalists," who are basically defined as people who report news based on their own first-hand experiences. Some of the people who were at the scene of the 9/11 event, for example, shared their emotional experiences of the tragedy. They heard and saw the disaster occur in front of their eyes. What makes these people's reports any different from those of professionally-trained journalists?

The answer is citizen journalists' stories reflect more personal matters and bring out a human touch to different news-worthy events. They are different from professional journalists in that they can offer a more community-based approach to situations and an alternative perspective about the world. They can raise the probability of error in published news articles and can share their first-hand experiences rather than researched material. They can bring up hidden issues of race, class and gender, making their stories richer and wider in scope. And above all, they have varying opinions and reactions to tell in opposition to the mainstream culture.

Although citizen journalists bring a lot to the table of news reporting, they still cannot put their knowledge in context and shape their views in well-structured ways. That is the job of the journalist, or a person who's hired and specifically works for news branch. These people are the ones to check the facts and have wider access to information. But at the same time, their news reports are strictly news-oriented and one-sided. Citizen journalists can offer a fuller, rounder view on society. They have the chance to open up and voice their true opinions, while journalists can only voice the facts. They write based on "the truth" as opposed to the underlying message. Citizen journalists can relate their articles to the real world and cause controversy instead of stating what is politically correct. And unlike professional journalists, they have the ability to criticize ideologies and state how they feel.

At the end of the day, the journalist who works at the news branch is still doing a job. But the citizen journalist is not only doing the job of informing others, but they are also doing the favour of unmasking the world from a less rigid, politically-angled standpoint. They bring their news closer to home and give a common person's approach to things. Moreover, they challenge preset ideas and contribute information that may be filtered out by the media. Also, they have the power to get readers to relate to their stories and uncover hidden truths in society that news companies usually like to keep under wraps in fear of backlash. And not only are they more honest in reporting news but they have the freedom to say whatever they want because they don't have to keep a certain image up to please the general public.

It doesn't matter if these citizen journalists don't have a professional degree in journalism. They can still be journalists. The only difference is they're not paid for the work they do. But that doesn't mean their information is not as valuable as that of professional journalists, if not more.

Eventually, however, the term "citizen journalist" is going to threaten many professional journalists or aspiring journalists because the label of the journalist is given to someone who didn't earn the necessary credentials to deem themself that professional term. But that's beside the point, right?

For information about citizen journalism, go to MediaShift.