By Jyothi Swaroop Makena
28th August, 2023
Citizen journalism is the act of non-professional individuals reporting and sharing news and events, often through social media or other online platforms.
Citizen journalism is a kind of journalism or reporting carried out by common citizens. It is known by various names, including grass-roots journalism, participatory journalism, or even less commonly vigilante journalism.
Editorial guidelines do not bind a citizen journalist. This means more room for pursuing stories of interest that are not covered by traditional media channels. Anyone, now, can take out their phone and record unfolding events on their smartphone.
Citizen Journalism has many advantages, such as gatekeeping and immediacy, and it also empowers people.
It keeps tradional media in check, and promotes people's participation. It has empowered citizens to pursue their own stories even if the traditional media channels never run the stories on their own platforms.
With the importance of citizen journalism now firmly cemented due to the technological advances of the past decade, the traditional media can no longer remain complacent in doing lazy work.