Citizenship Journalism

As I wasn't in class week 3 I decided to do a little digging to discover what people are saying about this phenomenon being dubbed 'citizenship journalism.'

www.responsiblecitizen.co.uk/citizenship-journalism outlines citizenship journalism from the perspective of the citizen- it lists advantages to media outlets claiming it allows for the media to have 'on the spot footage'. It lists the disadvantages as danger to the public and legal risks taken by these untrained journalists.

With the rise of the internet era it was only a matter of time before members of the public took to their computers to have a crack at wriritng articles or headed for their digital cameras to take weather and crime scene photographs however the encouragement this type of Journalism bothers me as a journo-in-training.

Prime weather has a mobile number and email address specifically for members of the public to send their weather photos- a job that once would have been given to a photographer within the station- a position that is no longer required.

With the number of positions for journalists declining this new type of FREE journalism is all too tempting for media outlets trying to save money. The issue that arises from this for Journalism in general is the question of quality. If a media outlet is relying on just anyone for news this can lead to not only legal issues but issues of quality. As a training Journalist where the idea of maintaining quality and ethical journalism is paramount I think using this type of Journalism is just wrong.