Citizen Journalism

Though people may not know what citizen journalism is, almost everyone in our society has been exposed to it. The concept of citizen journalism is people with no professional journalism or writing training can use modern technology to report and broadcast news worldwide. Just think of all of the websites and blogs that exemplify it:

• You Tube
• Face Book
• My Space
•Wikipedia
• Blogs
• Online Forums
• Independent Websites

This blog that you’re reading now is a form of citizen journalism. The key to being a successful citizen journalist is providing first hand account, reliable, and relevant information. Especially in a time when this field is continuously growing and evolving; content is everything. Though this developing field demonstrates a modern and loose form of democracy amongst our citizens, it’s turning into a frustrating notion for mainstream media.

Professional Journalists are now starting to fear an evolving extinction of their occupation. With the current technologies and the development of citizen journalism, some forms of journalism like news paper companies are definitely declining in popularity. Could this new concept be the eventual “death of professional journalism?”


Bowman, Shayne and Chris Willis. "The Future Is Here, But Do News Media Companies See It?." Neiman
Reports 2005 6-10. Web.01 Apr 2009. .