Assignment for Class Three

“Citizen Journalist.”
What does it mean to be one? Are you one? Do you know someone who is? How would you define it?

I believe I, like many people in my generation, am, on a small scale, a citizen journalist. Everyone who has a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blog, or other type of social media has at some point been a citizen journalist in his or her life. These forms of social media have made it possible not just to connect with family and friends, but possibly millions of other users online to share their stories, whether dramatic or simple and the information put on those sites is typically some sort of reporting, except for maybe selfies. A picture is taken, a small story is told: “Hey, look at my friends,” “Look at this weather,” “My adventure on the road trip,” etc.
Citizen Journalism is officially defined as “the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet.” Although their reports may not always be hard news, or for that matter accurate, people who use these social media sites are all connecting with other people through their stories and posts.

Is Julian Assange a citizen journalist?

Julian Assange is a kind of citizen journalist. If one were to Google his name, Assange’s title is, in fact, “publisher and journalist.” However, Assange is not what one would call a conventional journalist. Known mostly for (illegally?) “leaking” government information over the internet, Assange founded Wikileaks, a website that releases this private government information. In a way, he is a citizen journalist because he personally publishes articles with these topics for many people to read and consume.

Consider what it means to accept money, as a private citizen, to write something on your blog. Does it corrupt the content of what a private citizen writes? How is (or isn’t) that different from the typical advertisements you see in the newspaper?

To accept money as a a private citizen to write on a blog, personal or otherwise is a new and interesting concept in this generation. In a way, it is a reinforcement to keep up with the blog. However, I think writing on a blog should be something that a person does for the sake of interest. Not to say that a paid blogger isn’t interested in what they are writing, by all means, I would hope that there was some interest there. However, if a blogger is getting paid to do such work, per article, or per post, or for a certain length of time, especially, the content of what this citizen writes might not come from as deep and as passionate a place than if this person were to write spontaneously.

When it comes to sharing information, what advantages do blogs have over traditional ‘old’ media? Where do blogs fall short?

Blogs can reach a much larger audience because the internet is available to virtually everyone in the world, and this is one of the biggest advantages blogs have over traditional ‘old’ media, such as papers and books.
However, because almost anyone can create a blog, and there is hardly any live face time, it may not always be a reliable source, as it could contain false information or false sources.