Provides a conceptualisation of citizen journalism as a political practice developed through analyses of an historical and postcolonial case.

Provides a conceptualisation of citizen journalism as a political practice developed through analyses of an historical and postcolonial case.

Understanding Citizen Journalism as Civic Participation re-conceptualizes citizen journalism in the context of Habermas’s theory of the public sphere and communicative action, to examine how citizen journalism practice as civic participation may contribute to a heathier community and democracy in the civil society context. Citizen journalism has garnered growing attention owing to the participation of ordinary citizens in the performance of news production. Drawing on the authors’ decade-long collaboration on citizen journalism scholarship, this book posits a theoretical framework that relies on diverse communication perspectives to understand citizen journalism practice and its democratic consequences. This book will be of great relevance to scholars, researchers, professionals and policy makers working in the field of journalism and media studies, culture studies, and communication studies.

Citizen Journalism explores citizen participation in the news as an evolving disruptive practice in digital journalism. This volume moves beyond the debates over the mainstream news media attempts to control and contain citizen journalism to focus attention in a different direction: the peripheries of traditional journalism. Here, more independent forms of citizen journalism, enabled by social media, are creating their own forms of news. Among the actors at the boundaries of the professional journalism field the book identifies are the engaged citizen journalist and the enraged citizen journalist. The former consists of under-represented voices leading social justice movements, while the latter reflects the views of conservatives and the alt-right, who often view citizen journalism as a performance. Citizen Journalism further explores how non-journalism arenas, such as citizen science, enable ordinary citizens to collect data and become protectors of the environment. Citizen Journalism serves as an important reminder of the professional field’s failure to effectively respond to the changing nature of public communication. These changes have helped to create new spaces for new actors; in such places, traditional as well as upstart forms of journalism negotiate and compete, ultimately aiding the journalism field in creating its future.

Mapping Citizen and Participatory Journalism in Newsrooms, Classrooms and Beyond assesses citizen journalism within the context of hyperlocals, non-profits and large global news organizations, critically examining various forms of participation by citizen contributors to the news. The essays included within the book answer questions such as: Does citizen journalism close the news participation gap between the Global North and South? How can citizen journalism enable the socially excluded to overcome marginalization? What are the obligations of professional news outlets to citizen reporters in war zones? Furthermore, some contributors critique the ways traditional journalism makes use of non-professional content, while others propose new analytical frameworks such as reciprocal journalism, connective journalism and the Appropriation/Amplification Model. The book also investigates efforts to teach ordinary people journalism skills in Europe, the Middle East and both North and South America. Some of the programs scrutinized here instill under-represented groups with semi-professional news values. Other projects support citizen journalism infused with activism such as the photographers of the favela-based jornalismo popular or the volunteer digital humanitarians covering global crises and, in doing so, demonstrate new ways to respond to the rise of grassroots participation in the production of news. The chapters in this book were originally published as special issues of Journalism Practice.

This timely book explores how the internet and social media have permanently altered the media landscape, enabling new actors to enter the marketplace, and changing the way that news is generated, published and consumed. It examines the importance of citizen journalists, whose newsgathering and publication activities have made them crucial to public discourse and central actors in the communication revolution. Investigating how the internet and social media have enabled citizen journalism to flourish, and what this means for the traditional institutional press, the public sphere, and media freedom, the book demonstrates how communication and legal theory are applied in practice.

Where does journalism fit in the media landscape of blogs, tweets, Facebook postings, YouTube videos, and literally billions of Web pages? Public Journalism 2.0 examines the ways that civic or public journalism is evolving, especially as audience-created content—sometimes referred to as citizen journalism or participatory journalism—becomes increasingly prominent in contemporary media. As the contributors to this edited volume demonstrate, the mere use of digital technologies is not the fundamental challenge of a new citizen-engaged journalism; rather, a depper understanding of how civic/public journalism can inform citizen-propelled initiatives is required. Through a mix of original research, essays, interviews, and case studies, this collection establishes how public journalism principles and practices offer journalists, scholars, and citizens insights into how digital technology and other contemporary practices can increase civic engagement and improve public life. Each chapter concludes with pedagogical features including: * Theoretical Implications highlighting the main theoretical lessons from each chapter, * Practical Implications applying the chapter's theoretical findings to the practice of citizen-engaged jouranlis, *Reflection Questions prompting the reader to consider how to extend the theory and application of the chapter. blogging and other participatory journalism practices enabled by digital technology are not always in line with the original vision of public journalism, which strives to report news in such a way as to promote civic engagement by its audience. Public Journalism 2.0 seeks to reinvent public journalism for the 21st century and to offer visions of how digital technology can be enlisted to promote civic involvement in the news.