We the People: Citizen Journalism in the Era of Social Media

Abstract

Radsch presents a definition of citizen journalism and explains how and why citizen journalism develops as a form of activism in repressive societies. In Egypt, blogging was a way to bring attention to issues ignored by the mainstream media and helped shift the informational status by chipping away at the state’s monopoly on information. She shows through a series of case studies that citizen journalism is most powerful, or successful, when it influences the mainstream media, public policy, and public perception, and offers a framework for understanding when this is likely to occur. She shows how being designated a journalist enables access to certain resources, and the role that certification by media outlets and transnational activist networks plays in this process.