www.medialiteracycouncil.sg
I Shoot, I Write, I Post
With the help of the internet and digital tools, ordinary citizens can also report news and events
online
Thanks to the Internet and digital technologies, ordinary folks have been able to report news and
events online as citizen journalists. What is citizen journalism and why has it become a part of
our digital lives? Are you a citizen journalist if you simply post photos of events you have
witnessed and comment on them?
What is citizen journalism?
Citizen journalists are ordinary individuals who are not professionally trained journalists. Some
citizen journalists report on happenings in their countries, neighbourhoods or cities, as
professional journalists do; others may be activists or advocates focused on specific topics, such
as human rights and environmental causes.
Citizen journalists may publish their news, opinions, photographs and videos on citizen
journalism outlets. Examples of these outlets are examiner.com, The Latest, and The Human
Rights Channel, which is a collaboration between YouTube, human rights organisation WITNESS
and online news media Storyful. Citizen journalists may also publish opinion and editorial pieces
on their personal websites or blogs.
While citizen journalists are not professionals, they often exercise significant editorial judgment
for their reports and opinions. For example, they decide on what stories, interviews or
information to include or exclude. Professional journalists make that judgment based on criteria
such as public interest, ethics, audience demographics and their media outlets’ standards. Citizen
journalists may or may not have meaningful criteria for the editorial judgments they make, even
though the impact of their reports can be potentially significant.
So, are you a citizen journalist when you take photos and videos of events you have witnessed
and simply upload them online? When you do so, you are more likely participating in citizen
reporting (rather than journalism). For citizen reporting, the public may share their reports,
photos and videos online simply because they know others would also like to know about what
they have witnessed. In such situations, people apply little journalistic judgment when they post
their content. (Please refer to the box below for more on citizen reporting.)
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Why is citizen journalism criticised?
Citizen journalists, being amateurs, may not follow valued journalistic practices such as factchecking and naming of sources. They may also not know about or adhere to the ethical
standards expected of professional journalists, such as truthfulness, objectivity, and
transparency. Recently, for example, Syrian citizen journalists covering the Syrian civil war were
discovered to have embellished their videos with special effects, such as adding a smoking
backdrop, to get the world to take notice of their messages.
Citizen journalists have also been criticised for not being objective, a value traditionally upheld
by professional journalists, as they are often advocates of the issues they write about.
How to be a responsible citizen journalist?
Professional journalists observe a code of ethics. These are principles that guide them in
reporting truthfully and fairly; they help them make the right decisions when faced with
challenges such as ethical dilemmas and conflicts of interests. One example is the SPJ Code of
Ethics from the Society of Professional Journalists.
By following ethical principles, professional journalists are able to build credibility and earn their
audience’s trust. You too can abide by similar principles and raise the editorial and ethical
standards of your posts, whether you are a citizen journalist or simply sharing information with
your social networks:
• Be truthful and accurate
Report what happen and what you observe firsthand. Don’t embellish facts or details, modify
quotes of interviewees, pictures or video footage and take them out of context, stage events or
use posed pictures as news. Check the facts before you publish. Avoid reporting information you
cannot verify – that is tantamount to spreading rumours and conjecture. Never plagiarise and do
credit your information sources.
• Differentiate between facts and opinions
If you are reporting news, stick to the facts and leave out your personal opinions and judgments.
If you are writing an analysis or commentary, be clear that you are expressing your personal
views.
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• Be fair and transparent
Give both sides of the story a fair chance. If your interviewees make claims about others, give the
people in question opportunities to respond. If you have any vested interest in a story or a
conflict of interest with it, declare it to the readers so that they know where you are coming
from. Let’s say you are a blogger who has written a review of a product – you should disclose if
you have received the product as a free sample or if you have been paid to blog about it.
• Minimise harm
Be aware that some subjects may find it discomforting or difficult to talk to reporters. People
also have the right to protect their privacy. So be respectful towards your subjects and be extra
sensitive when it comes to children and victims of tragedy. And don’t risk your safety to report a
story.
• Be accountable
Take responsibility for what you write and produce. Be receptive to comments and feedback. If
you have made any mistakes, admit them and set the facts right quickly.
Where is citizen journalism heading?
Although there has been some negative criticism, there is still no denying the potential of citizen
journalism to cover events and issues that mainstream media may otherwise overlook or forgo.
But for citizen journalism to be sustainable, its participants will need to be responsible news
gatherers guided by ethical principles.
ARE YOU A CITIZEN JOURNALIST?
By just posting photos of an incident you have witnessed, are you a citizen journalist? The
answer is no, as you are sharing information without the editorial judgment that journalists
exercise and providing your personal perspective on a particular issue or event. This is generally
termed as “citizen reporting”.
Citizen reporting occurs when the public may take pictures and videos, comment on what has
happened, and upload their content to their personal websites, blogs, social networks such as
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and photo- or video-sharing sites such as Flickr and YouTube.
They are often people who happen to be “in the wrong place at the right time”, such as during
crises, emergencies and natural disasters. Eyewitnesses to the events, they capture images with
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their mobile devices. Such content may be picked up by mainstream media if it is found to be
newsworthy. Some foreign mainstream media have enabled the public to upload their content
directly to their websites, such as CNN’s iReport and Guardian Witness.
In Singapore, there has been criticism that certain forms of citizen reporting encourage triviality
and privacy invasion. In 2013 when two young brothers were killed in an accident in Tampines,
graphic pictures of the crash taken by onlookers were soon circulated online. Netizens had
arguably crossed the line with their disregard for the grief and privacy of the victims’ family.
Also, readers of Stomp may often find citizen-submitted videos that verge on privacy invasion, or
seem too trivial or inane, or have even been taken out of context. These videos often focus on
scuffles and idiosyncratic behaviour in public. The contributors of such content may be
motivated by a sense of righteousness, thinking that they are bringing to light wrongdoing and
deterring others from doing the same. But is it vigilantism or voyeurism? Does such reporting
fuel a culture of insecurity where our actions are constantly being watched and our social
blunders become instant public fodder? These are questions that are worth pondering as citizen
reporting continues to stake a place in our media landscape.
So the next time you want to post a photo or video online, remember the golden rule of
empathy: “Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to yourself”. Be sure that your photo or
video is in good taste and does not invade people’s privacy or hurt or embarrass them.
REFERENCES
Citizen Journalism: Back to the Future?, by Clyde H. Bentley, on Knight Community News
Network
Your Guide to Citizen Journalism, on Mediashift
Are Syrian citizen journalists embellishing the truth?, on The Washington Post
The trouble with citizen journalism in Singapore, by Nick Yeo, on The Lion Raw
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