Citizen journalism can be defined as the participation of interested members of the public playing an active role in receiving and producing up to date information and news on the web. It can also be known as ‘street journalism’ and first emerged in the early twenty first century when the public demanded an avenue for news content to be independant, reliable, current and less controlled.

As stated by Terry Flew there are three fundamental areas that are essential to the involvement of citizen journalism including open publishing, collaborative editing and distributed content.

Lasica (2003) has catagorised citizen journalism into six types including:
1) Audience participation (Blogs)
2) Independant news and information sites
3) Participatory only news sites
4) Collaborate media sites
5) Sent forms of media (e-newsletters)
6) Personal broadcasting sites (UTube)

One of it’s main purposes is not to impose and take over the world of traditional journalism but to contribute and add an innovative depth to the content and information published online. Citizen journalism allows users from all over the world produce and  distribute through open communication channells such as blogs. As seen on many online new websites the audience are now allowed to contribute and add opinion to stories published based on their own knowledge and experiences and Meikle has defined this process as the creation of ‘DIY media’. Axel Bruns discusses that the concept of DIY Media as much as it is an opportunity it is also a hindrance. As content cannot be controlled and the audience can write whatever they feel that may not even be relevant to the information presented, this causes  poor quality in content. Websites have developed tools and functions to help control the quality of content produced by the public however some websites have lost credibility due to the content published and distrubuted on their site.

However in some cases citizen journalism has given websites the market advantage as they have been given the opportunity to report on breaking news and events that has been initially overlooked by mainstream media. This ability for the audience to choose and report on what they believe is newsworthy has become increasingly powerful and has been acknowledged by the mainstream media. It has evolved the way main stream media deliver their news and information. For example the Korean news publication OhmyNews have combined some of their conventional attributes of journalism such as the editing processes with citizen journalism qualities and have developed a very successful method of delivering content.

References:

Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: from production to produsage. Peter Lang Publishing: New York. (pp69-87)

Flew, T. 2008. New Media: an Introduction 3rd Ed. Oxford University Press: Melbourne. (pp144-146)

Lasica, J. D 2003. What is Participatory Journalism? Online Journalism Review.