The rise of citizen journalism and its evolving role

Citizen journalism has been on the rise over the past couple of years. Citizen journalism is journalism that is conducted by people who are not professionals but disseminate information through websites, blogs, and social media.

In a conversation on Citizen Digital X spaces on Tuesday, the question of how citizen journalism can be used to tell our stories in an accurate way was tackled and expounded on by professionals in different spaces.

Wananchi Reporting is Citizen Digital’s citizen journalism platform, which gives an opportunity to ordinary citizens to share unreported and underreported stories, with published stories receiving Ksh.1,000 compensation.

According to Zack Chiliswa, a media lecturer at Meru University of Science and Technology, one of the main challenges with citizen journalism is the creation of multiple realities that in turn result in confusion.

It poses a challenge to professional journalists as well because the information they publish can conflict with that disseminated by citizen journalists, leaving the audience in confusion.

“Social media has made it possible for people to produce multiple realities. For instance, there are so many images that are coming from Gaza and it is hard to know who is telling the truth: Is this a real situation or one that has been fabricated?” he said.

The question then arises on the role mainstream journalists should play in the view of citizen journalism.

Chiliswa said that professional journalists should play the role of helping people make sense of what exactly is happening.

“There are two types of journalists, fast journalists who live in immediacy and slow journalists who are more reflective on the matters and try and put the matters into perspective. The role of professional journalists should then be slow journalism to help people understand what is happening around them,” he said.

“Journalists need to be trained not to be breakers of news but integrators of news who help people make sense of what is happening.”

Edwin Anjago, a news editor for Viusasa News and Wananchi Reporting, added the critical role citizen journalism plays in highlighting underreported stories.

“The question arises on whether the media makes money to publish stories or publishes stories to make money,” he said.

Mwende Musyoki, a journalist and editor, emphasized the importance of advocating for citizen journalists to be compensated and creating more room for citizen journalists to help them understand media ethics.

Some of the opportunities that exist in citizen journalism according to the panel include:

1.    Social media and podcasting

2.    Elevation of conversations in indigenous languages.

3.    Partnering with organizations to tell big stories

Citizen Digital holds X (formerly Twitter) Spaces every Tuesday at 7pm.