Citizen Journalists: Who are they and how can we trust them

Hello and welcome back! Our topic this week is blogs and citizen journalism. If you are reading this I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of a blog. According to First Site Guide, there are over 600 million blogs in the digital landscape and approximately 7.5 million blog posts a day. This goes to prove that anyone with access to a computer can create a blog and share their opinions with the world. So, how do we differentiate between factual news and clutter in this digital world? Just as we discussed last week, most people will share their own versions of news online. So how do we know who is telling the truth and who is just fabricating a story for views?

Well to uncover that answer, we must first discuss the idea of citizen journalists. Citizen journalists are private individuals, normally the consumers of journalism, who generate their own news content. These individuals are not linked to any networks or newspapers. Most do not have journalistic qualifications other than owning a computer and creating a blog. However, that does not matter thanks to the power of the internet. These are individuals who are doing their own research and reporting on their first hand accounts of news. This news may not always be the most accurate though because citizens are not doing the same in-depth research and fact checking like professional journalists. Citizen journalists are the people we see on social media who are recording things as they happen. They are also people who give detailed accounts of what happened at an event on their blogs. Citizen journalists are everywhere.

In her textbook, Citizen Journalism: Practices, Propaganda, Pedagogy, Melissa Walls names Venezuelan rebel leader, Oscar Perez as an example of citizen journalism.

Source: The New York Times

Perez filmed his raids and even some of his last few moments alive and posted them to social media to give a first person account of what was happening. By posting to social media, he allowed the world to see what was happening in real time. From his raid on the Venezuelan National Guard to his final moments being shot at in a safe house, Perez took to social media and allowed the world to be a witness. This has become expected now. People do not want a recap anymore, they want as it happens alerts and even live streams of events to feel like they are not missing anything. This also ties back to citizen journalism. Anyone with a cell phone can now become a journalist by simply hitting record. 

How many times have you gone on social media and watched a live stream of an altercation or even a "story time" on TikTok? These are examples of citizen journalism. No matter how small or trivial they may be. An individual who creates news content on any platform is a citizen journalist. So how do we know who we can trust and who's story we should take with a grain of salt? This is where we need to, in layman's terms, consider the source.

Just today I saw a post on Facebook of a mama saying her grown adult son was beaten by his girlfriend and left for dead in the woods. Under her post were comments sending positivity and prayers. Meanwhile, just three profile clicks away was the girlfriend's post sharing her side of the story. Under her post were 3,000 comments of people arguing about who was right and who was wrong in the scenario and what really happened. As the saying goes, there is three sides to every story: my side, your side, and the truth. In this case we, as an audience, do not know the truth. So, while yes there is an aspect of citizen journalism here with the first hand account of the girlfriend, do we take her at her word and see her as a credible source? While this is a completely crazy example, this is the type of thing that we often see on social media. We have to make sure that we don't take a story and run with it. This is often how "fake news" spreads.

Now that we have discussed an example of an unreliable source, let's flip the switch and talk about credible citizen journalists. These are people who have proven themselves to be experts in certain fields and have some journalistic integrity. In Alabama, where I live, there has been an influx of political blogs. One of the most popular is Alabama Daily News. This is because the founder, Todd Stacy, has solidified himself as an expert in the political field after an extensive career in Washington DC. According to his biography, "Todd left Washington, D.C. in 2017 to start a news organization that gives readers high-quality coverage of government and politics without political bias or corporate spin. Alabama Daily News has since grown to become the news outlet of choice for the state’s top political and business leaders." He and his partner, Mary Sell, produce a daily news digest, daily content on all things politics, and even host their own podcast titled "In the Weeds" where they interview local and state politicians. Todd Stacy has built a reputation of credibility by simply doing the research, telling the full story, and not adding in any bias.

So what can we take from these examples and apply to our own blogs to be better citizen journalists? I think that answer is rather simple. We must hold ourselves accountable. We must establish our credibility from the beginning. By being honest about our experience and knowledge and admitting our shortfalls we can gain the reader's trust. Another thing that is important is doing the research. Not skipping steps to get the news out first. Journalistic integrity goes a long way, even for us amateurs. Lastly, we must do our best to tell the news without any preconceived bias. Being able to tell the facts without attempting to sway a reader's beliefs is when journalism is at it's finest. If we do all of these things to the best of our ability, then we can succeed at being credible citizen journalists.