The news is all around us, it’s global. It’s been around for hundreds of years starting as forums, symbolism then eventually the printing press in the 1400s (Dittmar, 2011, pg. 1133). Then the news started to get a little bit more complicated as years went on, becoming less trusted. It’s broadcasted across the television and radio, eventually expanding all over the ‘thing’ that we all love and hate so much; the internet.
It’s 2020, ‘everyone’ has a smartphone. We can all post whatever we want on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the list continues. We can like, share and send anything we want to family and friends. Information going viral within minutes. This is scary to me. “The old scripts by which media industries operated or consumers absorbed media content are being rewritten” (Deuze, Jenkins, 2008, pg. 5). This statement suggests that because of convergence culture the flow of content across media platforms becomes extensive as technology is developing internationally.
As convergent culture expands so does citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is an uncertified journalist documenting an event and uploading it online (Albarado, 2018). This usually happens when there’s a protest, human provoked or environmental disaster.
Is citizen journalism good or bad? This is a difficult question.
In some cases, citizen journalism can sometimes lead to a blow out of false information. This is proven by the horrific incident unfolding on Redditt after the Boston bombing marathon when Sunil Tripathi was wrongly accused of murder leading him to suicide (Madrigal, 2013). This is a flawless example of how citizen journalism at foremost, can ruin lives.
However, it can be a great source for countries like China where the media is strictly controlled by the government (Xin, 2010 pg. 333-344). It enables individuals to share issues publicly, seek change and uncover topics that are censored by ruling government parties. When exploring the statistics on false news in China I found that around 50% of citizens don’t believe in the Chinese media (Mark, Wang, 2016).
Citizen journalism is acceptable in China, although there have been incidences of imprisonment and torture among individuals speaking out against political and world issues at sensitive times. Zhang Zhan from the city of Wuhan in China was detained by police for speaking out on social media about COVID-19. She criticises China’s way of controlling the virus and outs them about their secrecy around death figures. “(The Communist Party) is so cruel that the fear it instils completely destroys human nature” (Zahn, 2020).
Zhan isn’t the only person to feel this way. Many Chinese people are unhappy with the media and how censored it is (Mark, Wang, 2016). In 2015 the Chinese government blocked 3,000 sites online such as Google, YouTube, Instagram, suppressing citizens from sharing and discovering information (Mark, Wang, 2016).
So do I believe that citizen journalism is good or bad? Well, I think it would be fair to say that it’s both. Social media is a great way for individuals to speak their views and get in touch with uncensored news stories. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in countries like China that would rather stay quiet then get thrown in jail for trying to speak up about sensitive issues. Although, I do believe that eventually, China’s propaganda will ease throughout the media due to citizen journalism. Hopefully more information will be smuggled out of there country, globally enforcing pressure on their government to make changes to enforce social justice.
References:
Albarado, 2018, ‘Citizen Journalism’, Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/citizen-journalism (Viewed 19 August 2020).
Au, 2020, ‘Coronavirus: Chinese citizen journalist detained after live-streaming from Wuhan’, South China Morning Post, Coronavirus China. https://www.scmp.com/video/coronavirus/3084983/coronavirus-chinese-citizen-journalist-detained-after-live-streaming (Viewed 19 August 2020).
Deuze, Jenkins, 2008, ‘Editorial’, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, Issue 1, Vol 14.
Dittmar, 2011, ‘Information Technology and Economic Change: The Impact of the Printing Press’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Issue 3, Vol 126.
Madrigal, 2013, #BostonBombing: The Anatomy of a Misinformation Disaster’, The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/-bostonbombing-the-anatomy-of-a-misinformation-disaster/275155/ (Viewed 19 August 2020).
Mark, Wang, 2016, ‘News trustworthiness and verification in China: The tension of dual media channels’, First Monday, Issue 2, Vol 21.
Yin, 2010, pg. 333-344, ‘The Impact of Citizen Journalism on Chinese Media and Society’, Journalism Practice, Issue 3, Vol 4.
Zhan, 2020, ‘Chinese Lawyer On Situation Inside China’, NTD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9edfNk7G-mw (Viewed 19 August 2020).
camelliabizimovski.wordpress.com 