Citizen Journalism

Abstract

Last decade has brought several advanced technologies for journalists. This in turn brought in a new era of revolutionary concepts of journalism. One among those concepts is citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is a concept in media that refers to journalistic activities of ordinary people. It means citizens themselves report the issues confronting them. Although the practice of citizen journalism existed even centuries before, it is the new media only that have accelerated its pace in contemporary times. The proposed chapter, ‘Citizen Journalism: News Gathering by Amateurs', presents a detailed description of various aspects of citizen journalism, including its concept, parameters, significance, limitations and types. It provides a detailed history and evolution of citizen journalism. It reveals that citizen journalism has a history older than professional journalism. The chapter also draws a comparison between citizen journalism and mainstream journalism. Moreover, it presents status of citizen journalism in India and Indian-administered Kashmir.