What is citizen journalism?

CITIZEN journalism is journalism for citizens. This topic sparked many thought-provoking discussions at the 12th Highway Africa conference at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, in September.

Over the past few years the world has witnessed a surge in the use of new media – especially those based on the Internet. The development of social networking websites such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace and the use of instant messaging technologies such as MXit, Skype, Yahoo and MSN have changed the way people use the Internet.Ordinary citizens are now generating their own news content and distributing high-quality real-world experiences through social networking to an ever-increasing audience For some, citizen journalism it is a way to have fun with content while for others it’s about resisting the establishment, including the corporate media.Citizen journalism gives a voice to the voiceless – a way of telling ‘my story’.Professor Guy Berger, Head of the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, said: “People tend to think that citizen journalism happens when those who are not journalists become journalists.Citizen journalism is in fact when the journalist thinks about what it means to be a citizen as a journalist.””Citizens have the right to know about activities and decisions that affect their lives and liberty, and must recognise the importance of their participation within the democratic system to make it work and flourish,” said Bintu Petsana, South African Telkom’s acting Group Executive: Corporate Communication.WHO IS A JOURNALIST? The plenary sessions on citizen media sparked divisive debate among delegates.The Director of the Knight Centre for Digital Media Entrepreneurship, Dan Gillmor, said everyone is capable of being a journalist and the question that should be asked is ‘what is a journalist’ and not ‘who is a journalist’.”The tools of creating media are in everyone’s hands,” said Gillmor.He said citizen journalism is not a new phenomenon because footage of the November 1963 assassination of US President John Kennedy was taken by an ordinary citizen, and the first pictures of the December 2005 tsunami in south-east Asia was taken by tourists, showing that citizens are able to sometimes get to the scene of the story before journalists.In another session, the Executive Director of African Women and Children Feature Service, Rosemary Okello-Orlale, said journalism in the service of citizens has changed in a sense that ordinary citizens have discovered freedom in the form of taking charge of their own media.”It is time we take the pen from the hands of those who have been writing our stories and start writing our own stories,” said Okello-Orlale.Ordinary people can write journalistic articles thanks to new media.This is new form of free speech which is no longer corporate speech, news or what officials are saying – it is about the ordinary person.ZIM EXAMPLE Dr Dumisani Moyo, lecturer in the Media Studies Department at Wits University, presented an interesting paper on citizen journalism in Zimbabwe, focusing specifically on its role during the controversial delay in the release of the March 2008 general election results.It explores and analyses the various emerging aspects of citizen journalism and how they manifested themselves during this moment of political tension and uncertainty.Dr Moyo did a quantitative content analysis of SMS messages, viral e-mails as well as web logs (blogs) posted in the week following the March 29 election.This research found that most of the shared text messages distributed by mobile phones during this period were in the form of jokes – particularly mocking President Robert Mugabe who was widely presumed to have lost the election.Jokes are not just innocent humour, Dr Moyo said.They carry strong political messages, political satire and commentary.He argued that by choosing to convey political messages through jokes, the citizen journalist is somewhat resisting the formal or institutional ways of packaging news, while at the same time responding to the nature of the technology at hand, which demands brevity.CREDIBILITY AND CONCERNS This paper ignited divisive debate among journalists, since many traditional journalists find it derogatory that normal civilians can now be regarded as journalists.Many journalists felt that in African countries with authoritarian regimes, where the media do not play the role of watchdog, there is room for citizens to use other forms of expressing their dissatisfaction with the political system, and humour is a way of doing it.However, this does not produce credible news.Other delegates felt that if citizens are called journalists then the profession will lose credibility.Journalism is a profession that is guided by ethical principles of objectivity, fairness and balance.Chima Akwaja, a journalist from Nigeria, said: “I spent about four years training as a journalist.Now I would be compared to a normal citizen who happened to be first at the breaking news and sent the story to a news agency – that is not fair.”In addition, some delegates felt that the notion of citizen journalism was perceived as a challenge to mainstream media.”I think traditional journalism can pick a leaf from the innovation and the tools mostly used in citizen journalism.Blogging, cellphones, etc, if properly and creatively used, may facilitate the publication of quality news among other media content,” said Gillies Kasongo from Panos Southern Africa.The Vision Group chief executive officer, Robert Kabushenga, said this media phenomenon has implications on the journalist’s ability to server the audience.”The challenge for journalism schools is to make an analysis as to what this change means to the profession.”Amina Frense, a broadcast media practitioner, said the question is whether citizen journalism can be mobilised, tamed, regulated, tracked and incorporated into mainstream journalism.”There is a question of selecting what is credible, truth worthy and has content quality,” she said.RELEVANCE TO NAMIBIA Africans, especially Namibians, cannot afford to be left behind by new media technology.The reality is if the media are not telling the stories from the citizens’ point of view, it will result in citizens in telling their own stories.Websites such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace are harnessing mass collaboration to create real value for participants and have enjoyed phenomenal success as a result.I recommend that Namibian media practitioners, academics and community representatives should involve more citizens in the journalistic profession and encourage citizen journalism.In many African countries, people are neither citizens with rights, nor consumers with buying power, but dispossessed and often stateless subjects of tyranny.So the media can play an important role in helping the powerless and voiceless in Africa.In Namibia, media houses should make ordinary citizens part of their news gathering.Some media houses have encouraged their readers/audiences to contribute to major stories by sending in their photographs, video and audio clips.The Namibian newspaper has created an option for people to use their cellphones to send SMSes about what is happening in their towns, and this makes ordinary citizens part of the news production process.FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION With the beginning of citizen journalism, citizens do not only consume journalism, but also produce it.They now have not only the right to information produced by journalists, but the right to free expression in a practical form, where they can generate their own news and comment on journalists’ work.The media should educate the masses about information and communication technologies, otherwise the citizens run the risk of missing out on the digital revolution in the world.Media literacy courses are the best way to go.The department Media Technology at the Polytechnic of Namibia, in collaboration with Gender Links, recently held a series of media literacy workshops where 19 pupils from seven high schools in Windhoek received media education.Media literacy is the ability to read and analyse images and implicit messages in all types of media content.Being media literate is the first step to understanding the media and to become an active and responsible consumer.Professor Gillmore stressed that if we don’t involve the citizens they will do it anyway.”I like the fact that anyone can say something anytime – but we need to be careful,” he said.The majority of journalists at the Highway Africa conference agreed that there is a need to work together with the citizens.I however believe that all journalists, whether professional or citizen, should stick to the principles of media ethics, good judgment, research, accuracy, fairness and transparency.* Bertha Amakali is a lecturer in Media Technology at the Polytechnic of Namibia.The development of social networking websites such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace and the use of instant messaging technologies such as MXit, Skype, Yahoo and MSN have changed the way people use the Internet.Ordinary citizens are now generating their own news content and distributing high-quality real-world experiences through social networking to an ever-increasing audience For some, citizen journalism it is a way to have fun with content while for others it’s about resisting the establishment, including the corporate media.Citizen journalism gives a voice to the voiceless – a way of telling ‘my story’.Professor Guy Berger, Head of the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, said: “People tend to think that citizen journalism happens when those who are not journalists become journalists.Citizen journalism is in fact when the journalist thinks about what it means to be a citizen as a journalist.””Citizens have the right to know about activities and decisions that affect their lives and liberty, and must recognise the importance of their participation within the democratic system to make it work and flourish,” said Bintu Petsana, South African Telkom’s acting Group Executive: Corporate Communication. WHO IS A JOURNALIST? The plenary sessions on citizen media sparked divisive debate among delegates.The Director of the Knight Centre for Digital Media Entrepreneurship, Dan Gillmor, said everyone is capable of being a journalist and the question that should be asked is ‘what is a journalist’ and not ‘who is a journalist’.”The tools of creating media are in everyone’s hands,” said Gillmor.He said citizen journalism is not a new phenomenon because footage of the November 1963 assassination of US President John Kennedy was taken by an ordinary citizen, and the first pictures of the December 2005 tsunami in south-east Asia was taken by tourists, showing that citizens are able to sometimes get to the scene of the story before journalists.In another session, the Executive Director of African Women and Children Feature Service, Rosemary Okello-Orlale, said journalism in the service of citizens has changed in a sense that ordinary citizens have discovered freedom in the form of taking charge of their own media.”It is time we take the pen from the hands of those who have been writing our stories and start writing our own stories,” said Okello-Orlale.Ordinary people can write journalistic articles thanks to new media.This is new form of free speech which is no longer corporate speech, news or what officials are saying – it is about the ordinary person.ZIM EXAMPLE Dr Dumisani Moyo, lecturer in the Media Studies Department at Wits University, presented an interesting paper on citizen journalism in Zimbabwe, focusing specifically on its role during the controversial delay in the release of the March 2008 general election results.It explores and analyses the various emerging aspects of citizen journalism and how they manifested themselves during this moment of political tension and uncertainty.Dr Moyo did a quantitative content analysis of SMS messages, viral e-mails as well as web logs (blogs) posted in the week following the March 29 election.This research found that most of the shared text messages distributed by mobile phones during this period were in the form of jokes – particularly mocking President Robert Mugabe who was widely presumed to have lost the election.Jokes are not just innocent humour, Dr Moyo said.They carry strong political messages, political satire and commentary.He argued that by choosing to convey political messages through jokes, the citizen journalist is somewhat resisting the formal or institutional ways of packaging news, while at the same time responding to the nature of the technology at hand, which demands brevity. CREDIBILITY AND CONCERNS This paper ignited divisive debate among journalists, since many traditional journalists find it derogatory that normal civilians can now be regarded as journalists.Many journalists felt that in African countries with authoritarian regimes, where the media do not play the role of watchdog, there is room for citizens to use other forms of expressing their dissatisfaction with the political system, and humour is a way of doing it.However, this does not produce credible news.Other delegates felt that if citizens are called journalists then the profession will lose credibility.Journalism is a profession that is guided by ethical principles of objectivity, fairness and balance.Chima Akwaja, a journalist from Nigeria, said: “I spent about four years training as a journalist.Now I would be compared to a normal citizen who happened to be first at the breaking news and sent the story to a news agency – that is not fair.”In addition, some delegates felt that the notion of citizen journalism was perceived as a challenge to mainstream media.”I think traditional journalism can pick a leaf from the innovation and the tools mostly used in citizen journalism.Blogging, cellphones, etc, if properly and creatively used, may facilitate the publication of quality news among other media content,” said Gillies Kasongo from Panos Southern Africa.The Vision Group chief executive officer, Robert Kabushenga, said this media phenomenon has implications on the journalist’s ability to server the audience.”The challenge for journalism schools is to make an analysis as to what this change means to the profession.”Amina Frense, a broadcast media practitioner, said the question is whether citizen journalism can be mobilised, tamed, regulated, tracked and incorporated into mainstream journalism.”There is a question of selecting what is credible, truth worthy and has content quality,” she said.RELEVANCE TO NAMIBIA Africans, especially Namibians, cannot afford to be left behind by new media technology.The reality is if the media are not telling the stories from the citizens’ point of view, it will result in citizens in telling their own stories.Websites such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace are harnessing mass collaboration to create real value for participants and have enjoyed phenomenal success as a result.I recommend that Namibian media practitioners, academics and community representatives should involve more citizens in the journalistic profession and encourage citizen journalism.In many African countries, people are neither citizens with rights, nor consumers with buying power, but dispossessed and often stateless subjects of tyranny.So the media can play an important role in helping the powerless and voiceless in Africa.In Namibia, media houses should make ordinary citizens part of their news gathering.Some media houses have encouraged their readers/audiences to contribute to major stories by sending in their photographs, video and audio clips.The Namibian newspaper has created an option for people to use their cellphones to send SMSes about what is happening in their towns, and this makes ordinary citizens part of the news production process. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION With the beginning of citizen journalism, citizens do not only consume journalism, but also produce it.They now have not only the right to information produced by journalists, but the right to free expression in a practical form, where they can generate their own news and comment on journalists’ work.The media should educate the masses about information and communication technologies, otherwise the citizens run the risk of missing out on the digital revolution in the world.Media literacy courses are the best way to go. The department Media Technology at the Polytechnic of Namibia, in collaboration with Gender Links, recently held a series of media literacy workshops where 19 pupils from seven high schools in Windhoek received media education.Media literacy is the ability to read and analyse images and implicit messages in all types of media content.Being media literate is the first step to understanding the media and to become an active and responsible consumer.Professor Gillmore stressed that if we don’t involve the citizens they will do it anyway.”I like the fact that anyone can say something anytime – but we need to be careful,” he said.The majority of journalists at the Highway Africa conference agreed that there is a need to work together with the citizens.I however believe that all journalists, whether professional or citizen, should stick to the principles of media ethics, good judgment, research, accuracy, fairness and transparency.* Bertha Amakali is a lecturer in Media Technology at the Polytechnic of Namibia.