The Importance of Citizenship: Theoretical Issues in Studying Citizen Journalism in International Context

Abstract

International comparative research into traditional journalism has shown that the notion of what journalism is and what it means to be a journalist varies significantly around the world (reported by Weaver and Willnatt [The Global Journalist in the 21st Century, Routledge, London, 2012]). Unlike studies of traditional journalism, the literature on citizen journalism has arguably had an international and comparative dimension from the outset, and within that literature debate has focused pretty much exclusively on the practices, nature and form of the journalism produced within citizen journalism (e.g. reported by Thorsen and Allen [Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives Volume 2, Peter Lang, New York, 2014]). By comparison, however, citizen journalism debates in the literature have spent significantly less time considering the conceptualisations of citizenship within citizen journalism. This chapter will highlight the range of conceptualisations of citizenship often more implicit than explicit in discussions of citizen journalism and will argue that—when considered in international context—questions of the conceptualisation and meaning of citizenship are at least as important, arguably even more important, in attempts to research and understand citizen journalism in the variety of civic contexts in which it exists.