Blog #9

EOTO #2: Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism took off in 2000 in South Korea where a Korean entrepreneur by the name of Oh Yeon Ho stated that "Everybody is a reporter."  He was unsatisfied with the way things were being reported in the South Korean media, and so were many others.  The online newspaper, OhmyNews, was created and volunteers were hired to generate the news and content that would be shared.  Even though Oh Yeon Ho didn't have the funds to hire professional journalists, he was still capable of producing this successful news outlet.  The newspaper started out with 727 citizen journalists, but just after seven years, the company had grown to over 50,000 citizen journalists, contributing from 100 countries.  It is incredible to see how this idea that Oh Yeon Ho declared has taken off.  Now anyone, anywhere in the world can produce news content with the press of a button.      

Citizen journalism has impacted the ways in which we receive our news in positive and negative ways. Therefore, there has been an ongoing debate over whether it is beneficial.  According to Britannica, citizen journalism is "journalism that is conducted by people who are not professional journalists but who disseminate information using Web sites, blogs, and social media."  Anyone is a journalist, even if they don't have the necessary qualifications to be one, such as a degree in journalism.  You may question if these people are qualified and if their information is credible, but sometimes citizen journalists are able to help experienced news reporters gain more information to provide a more insightful look at something or they could reveal new things that occur all together which may have never been shown due to censorship or the fact that a limited amount of people knew that it was even occurring.

As I mentioned, citizen journalism includes anyone, so people can share their varying opinions on certain situations.  This can help society, because people are able to see multiple sides and perspectives, allowing for a better understanding of situations.  This creates clarity and people can stay more informed and become more educated, resulting in people not being misled.  If people were misled or only saw one viewpoint, they may become more hostile to others who have an opinion that they would consider to be outlying.  Therefore, citizen journalists can provide different viewpoints which provide readers with the opportunity to see all sides and come to a more proper conclusion.  This can prevent hostility and people can have a better understanding of one another and how situations affect them.  For instance, with over 50,000 citizen journalists reporting to OhmyNews from numerous countries, people can see how certain situations affect certain types of people, and you can become more educated and cultured.  With citizen journalism, you can share your own opinions and view others'.  Typically, these opinions will not have any ulterior motives or agendas to them, because they are not connected to mainstream news media platforms that focus predominantly on keeping viewers hooked and pushing you to feel one way about something.

Having the ability to hear other perspectives and to hear about news that you may not hear about on mainstream news media platforms is extremely positive for the reasons I provided above.  However, there are downsides to citizen journalism.  One being the fact that these citizen journalists are at risk of getting into legal trouble.  Citizen journalists can be against law enforcement and government officials at times, especially when they reveal information that law enforcement or other government officials wanted to keep secret.  For instance, Priscilla Villareal a citizen journalist who reports on police interactions in Laredo, Texas has had a run in with the law.  She says that she was already getting intimidated by law enforcement and the district attorney for her involvement in spreading media, but things escalated when she asked about a border patrol agent who unfortunately took his own life and about a fatal car accident that had occurred.  She "was arrested on a felony charge based on 'Misuse of Official Information' statute," according to editorandpublisher.com.  This charge was dismissed, but she was charged with it to begin with, because she was reporting on events that law enforcement and the district attorney did not want anyone discussing until they released their take.  So, being a citizen journalist can be risky because the law and people of authority can try to come after you, if you report on something they disapprove of or if you have differing opinions in comparison to them.  

Aside from the citizen journalists themselves, there are also risks for society overall.  Even though citizen journalism offers individuals to report on news with their own opinions shining through, there is the chance that people can become too overwhelmed by all the opinions, and they may not be able to process what is the true story.  So even though people can reveal things about situations and events, over-stimulus of information and opinions can lead to uncertainty and overall frustration.  It is possible that people may turn to mass media news because they would most likely only hear stories that are one-sided and not complex.  This could be damaging in both ways, but I think that citizen journalism should still be encouraged, because at least there is room for various opinions and more likely for the truth to come out in one or multiple perspectives.  Citizen journalists are predominantly always on the hunt to find the truth, which is a good thing, but some take it too far and can be unethical and untrustworthy.  They weren't necessarily taught ethical practices, as one would be taught if they were trying to get a degree in journalism.  Therefore, their unethical and untrustworthy practices may slip under the rug as they are in the heat of the moment.  However, many people trust that these citizens are trying to help them seek clarity, and most are, but there is the possibility that citizen journalists have personal motives, or simply didn't do the proper fact checking.  I do believe that many citizen journalists understand that some people may be skeptical of the information they put out, so they are making it more of an effort to fact check and make sure that they have credible sources, to be informative and trustworthy.

Citizen journalists are capable of witnessing and reporting occurrences that go unheard, especially when people of authority are caught in a scandal or do not handle situations in a proper manner.  The access to social media and the principle that anyone can be a reporter, has provided people with the platform to reveal important issues that need to be brought about to make change possible.  People can look out for injustices and other things that affect them.  In turn they can spread this information to others who are similar to them in regards to race, sexuality, gender, social class, etc.  Citizen journalism can limit the chance of people who are considered "outliers" in society to be unheard.  Once again according to editorandpublisher.com, "They represent everyone from young people concerned about the future to retirees choosing to reenter the workforce to play a new vital role."  A prime example of citizen journalism being used to bring awareness to issues happening to the minorities in society is the beating of Rodney King that occurred on March 3, 1991.  On this day a man was brutally beaten by police, but when they brought King in, they downplayed his injuries and didn't fully explain how they detained him.  This injustice would have gone unknown by many, but thankfully a civilian named George Holliday was able to record this incident from an apartment balcony.  He sold this video to the local television station KTLA, who showed the footage on their broadcast and sold it to CNN.  This video sparked outrage around the country and resulted in the discussion of police brutality.

This form of journalism will surely affect my dream job of being a journalist because I will most likely be in contact with citizen journalists, whether that be when I'm in need of more information or am collaborating with them.  However, if I do end up working for some mainstream media, there's the chance that my job could be in jeopardy.  People may begin to start trusting citizen journalism more, especially since they offer more opinions and are starting to become more ethical and trustworthy.  Therefore, there is the chance that I would have to steer away from a job in mainstream media to have a career in journalism.  My family and friends can be affected by citizen journalism, because they can share news with others and can spark important conversations.  However, there is always the chance of getting attacked for what they post, and this goes for anyone else who becomes a citizen journalist.  News shared from citizen journalists can also impact them, because there could be the chance of them being misinformed since not all citizen journalists are focused on checking their information or they might misinterpret things themselves.  This could result in us walking around being misinformed and making incorrect decisions based on this false information.  Ultimately the impact of citizen journalism will most likely continue to be up for debate for years to come, because there are positive and negative effects, and it can impact people in various ways.