Citizen journalism is defined as news and information gathered and distributed by ordinary citizens rather than traditional journalists. It typically involves sharing opinions, discoveries, photos and videos on social media or blogs. The advantages are that it allows greater citizen involvement and provides unedited perspectives, but the disadvantages are questions around accuracy and credibility since citizen journalists lack professional training in verification. It also tends to have limited audiences compared to traditional media.

1. CITIZEN JOURNALISM

2. THIS IS DEFINED AS…
◦ The collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the
general public, especially by means of the Internet. (Google Dictionary)
◦ “An alternative and activist form of newsgathering and reporting that
functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to
shortcomings in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic
practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on
alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism".
(Courtney C. Radsch, Wikipedia)

3. TYPES OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM
◦ SHARING OF PHOTOGRAPHS, VIDEOS, AND AUDIOS
Posting on blogs, Facebook, and other social media sites.
◦ SHARING OF OPINIONS
Commenting on things you find online, makes you become a citizen
journalist by sharing your opinion with others.
◦ SHARING OF DISCOVERIES
Sharing information with the world after discovering news.
◦ SHARING OF EXPERTISE
Creating a blog or doing a report on a topic you are knowledgeable
on, even though you are not a journalist.

4. ADVANTAGES OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM
◦ It allows citizens to feel more involved in the community by expressing their
opinions, engaging with other social media users and contributing their
thoughts and knowledge about a subject.
◦ You get the view from a regular day to day person, their thoughts and words,
not edited material which is carefully revised to satisfy the company.
◦ Anyone who has access to the internet is able to get their story out to the
world by researching, creating a story, and reporting it.
◦ Photos and videos taken by everyday citizens are managing to make their way
into the press. They provide a more interesting version of the story instead of
the scripted versions which newspapers publish.

5. DISADVANTAGES OF CITIZEN
JOURNALISM
◦ Many people believe the information they find online to be trustworthy,
especially if it is titled “news”. This leads the reader to believe the
information is true even though it may lack credibility. With this said, it may
lead the readers to lose there confidence with the accuracy of the news
altogether. Citizen journalists lack the ability to separate evidence from
speculation and opinion, as real journalists are trained to be cautious of
those fabrications. Professional journalists are constantly referring to a
large amount of credible sources in order to make sure their information is
correct. Citizen journalists rarely check the authenticity of their sources and
the readers have no way of knowing.

6. ◦ It poses difficulties to the audience about what to believe.
One big problem with this type of journalism is that it will be difficult for
people to decide what to believe, unlike traditional journalism, where it is
safe to assume the information disseminated is factual. This means that
citizen media should be checked and re-checked for accuracy to produce
news that is suitable to print. As you can see, anyone these days can record
and write anything and then present it as fact, so it is important to
remember that we are dealing with humans here, and it is our nature to
edit information to our own likeness, which can make unofficial news
unreliable.
DISADVANTAGES OF CITIZEN
JOURNALISM

7. ◦It has limited audience in some cases.
By publishing their work on social media, citizen journalists
will have limited audience, such as only to their friends. And
while blogging will make their audience a bit greater, it would
never be as widespread as international broadcast on radio or
television. Basically, citizen journalism just do not have an
audience that is large enough to make a real change across
the world.
DISADVANTAGES OF CITIZEN
JOURNALISM

8. SOURCES:
◦ https://www.google.com.ph/search?dcr=0&source=hp&q=de
fine+citizen+journalism&oq=define+citizen+journalis&gs_l=
psy-ab
◦ https://www.slideshare.net/ChristineMc/citizen-journalism-
10051232
◦ http://connectusfund.org/4-advantages-and-disadvantages-
of-citizen-journalism
◦ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism