FWJ Mailbox: What is a Citizen Journalist?
September 30, 2009 by Deb
Filed under Web Content, What is...?
Deb’s note: I’m so bad about responding to email lately. To tell you I receive thousands of pieces of mail each week is an understatement. I’m going to try something new – responding to some frequently asked questions.
We see the words “citizen journalist” or “citizen journalism” often on user generated content sites. A citizen journalist is someone who reports news, but isn’t a traditional journalist and has no formal training. Many bloggers are considered citizen journalists when they discuss and analyze the news. Just because the word “journalist” is in the title, doesn’t mean a piece is well-written or well reported.
Is there money in citizen journalism?
Being a citizen journalist isn’t always lucrative. Most citizen journalism and user generated content sites pay by click, if at all. There’s a lot of discussion lately about responsibility to report fact over opinion on sites claiming to be the news, and many citizen journalists receive flack for editorializing. Citizen journalists used to be the people who read the news. Now, thanks to the Internet, they “report” the news as well. When you consider many citizen journalists are angry or activists, it might be best to take their reporting with a grain of salt. That isn’t to say all citizen journalism and user generated content is biased or factually incorrect. However, it’s always a good rule of thumb to consider your source before using it for a quote or information.
Where can we find work as a citizen journalist?
Honestly, I haven’t been able to find any “citizen journalism” jobs that pay much money. All Voices advertises often for citizen journalists and writers but the pay is per click and I haven’t found anyone who earns a livable wage from this website. Not all is grim, however. I found an ad today paying $20 per post for a citizen journalist for LiveCitizen. This is probably the only citizen journalism job I’ve seen that pays above the pay per click or traffic model.
Are you a citizen journalist? Do you have thoughts about citizen journalism? Please share below!
Do you have questions about freelance writing? Send it to wegetletters@gmail.com. I can’t promise to respond to it tomorrow. But I’ll respond as soon as I can.
Note: Very biased opinion below from a traditional journalist of nearly 35 years.
To be blunt, my thoughts about citizen journalist are …NOT.
Though “formal training” may not be all it’s cracked up to be, it does teach one to not report “half” of a story — though even some traditional journalism pubs fail in that regard today.
Of course, if one considers it as “introduction to journalism,” it’s probably fine, except you don’t get the feedback to improve your work.
I wish “formal training” guaranteed that a journalist would report more than half the story. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. It is no secret that sponsors may influence what is reported, and the race to be “first to report” usually leaves accuracy in the dust.
Take CNN’s report on September 11th that the U.S. Coast Guard fired 11 rounds of ammunition at a suspicious boat in the Potomac River in the vicinity of President Obama. Within 10 minutes, NPR had reported that the FBI and Coast Guard confirmed that NO shots had been fired during the routine training exercise. All it would have taken was a phone call, and CNN would not released a report capable of inciting panic and fear of a pending terrorist attack.
I have seen enough bias and misinformation provided by local, regional, and national news outlets in my lifetime that I usually attempt to verify the details of stories I find important to me. It is interesting how many conflicting reports one can find by doing so.
As a traditional ink-stained journalist for nearly 30 years, I’m with Phil on this one. Too often, people confuse gossip (did you hear what so-and-so said about such-and-such) for journalism. At any rate, CJ is essentially a creation of marketers who can’t pay AP or even a decent freelance budget.
I too am a journalist by education and trade, however I am younger than the gentlemen above & got my journalism degree in 2005 after practicing since 1999 so I’ve come on the scene while online journalism was new but at least being explored by colleges. Now OSU has the Kiplinger program that teaches seasoned journalists how to use social media & online news to help them tell their stories.
I’m more open to citizen journalists because they often highlight stories that are not covered in MSM or not covered in depth. Especially with the cutbacks in print today, CJ’s can help keep the grit and dirt of journalism alive with their coverage of micro beats.
However, the problem, like with much of online writing are those taking shortcuts or who write to hear themselves but don’t contribute to the general knowledge or public discourse. Often they don’t disclose their sponsors, ties or corporate backers, they don’t have knowledge of basic journalism principles and practices – unbiased reporting, etc. that make their work legitimate or they are simply bad writers.
I don’t think we can write off the entire group for those who are less journalism-y than we can write off all bloggers because some of them suck.
@Terreece: An example of citizen journalism done right is CNN’s ireport project. There, citizens provide extra ‘flavor’ or insight into a news story. The key is traditional news principles are still in charge, which gives the audience a better product. Where CJ goes wrong is when there is little or no oversight and the ability to attract more viewers or clicks is supreme.
Blogging has come a long way from its early beginnings. Today, there are a number of sites that break solid news and abide by real journalistic principles.
Citizen journalism is like citizen medicine. An amateur may perform as well as an educated and experienced professional, but it won’t happen often. Consumers should find citizen journalism as credible as their neighbor’s medical opinion.
John may have hit upon an interesting corollary. Just as a neighbor’s medical opinion is most often taken as a general recommendation (this doctor’s good, maybe you should have that looked upon) rather than specific advice (you certainly have a severe case of lumbago), citizen journalism should be taken the same way: a recommendation. This is where marketers got off a very useful track: trying to provide finished news product rather than exploiting the Internet for its ability to recommend consumers opinion on the news. I’d pay more attention to a friend who thought NBC sucks versus PBS, but his reporting abilities wouldn’t garner as much respect.
I’m torn about the benefits of citizen journalism. On the one hand, citizens are free from any influences that might be trying to stop them from publishing a story (if you believe in government or CIA conspiracy theories, for example). On the other, most aren’t trained in unbiased reporting, and might not even know that they’re only giving one side of a story, or inaccurate information.
Citizen journalism is like a box-cutter — a useful tool IF used carefully.
If you do not want to be a journalist for a living, but just want to cover a beat you know something about, it is a decent, if limited option
If you want to be a journalist for a living, I would strongly not recommend being a citizen journalist. A citizen journalist is no different from a blogger (not a bad thing), but with the fake prestige of being a real journalist “citizen” and “journalist” are basically higher class words, and nothing more. Journalism implies reporting, making beat contacts, and being able to be held accountable by your peers.
Newspapers have failed to do this themselves in recent years, but citizen journalism subtly creates the notion that those ideas are no longer necessary. This is a very dangerous thing, but if citizen journalism were to develop the ability self-regulate, it would be a viable option for journalism.