Citizen journalism can go by many names. Democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism, and street journalism are just a few of my favorites. Essentially, citizen journalism is a style of journalism where the general public plays a role in the collection and processing of news stories. This is not just limited to reporting but also analyzing the news. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites as well as the wide prevalence of smartphones have made citizen journalism more readily available to people globally. Because of social media, citizens can report breaking news faster than professional reporters. A trend among news organizations, called hyperlocal journalism, is when local news organizations invite local residents to contribute to the news.
Locally, in the Tri-Cities, the news of a cockroach outbreak at Columbia Center Mall reached the general public on social media before the local news picked up on it. Another example would be Eddie, the honorary K9 officer. Eddie is a Pitbull with terminal cancer, who has a bucket list. I heard about Eddie through social media, again, several days before the local news outlets picked up on his story. The Pasco Police Department and Eddie’s handlers at Mikey’s Chance took most of the pictures and video of Eddie.
I worked in local news for 13 years, and I know several professional news journalists. While several of them aren’t exactly enthusiastic about this new form of journalism, I think it’s understood that citizen journalism was inevitable with no signs of it going away any time soon. Professional journalists have argued that this new form of amateur journalism is just that—amateur. Critics claim that citizen journalism lacks objectivity, regulation, and is poor in quality and coverage.