Question

Growth of journalism and its impact on society

Answer 1

Though, there is no unanimity and agreement on the name of this method of collecting, analysing and disseminating news by the citizenry for the general public, it is to be noted that its practice has increased over the last decade. And like the traditional journalism, argues Jemima Kiss, it aims to inform and educate, hold people and authority to account, document and interprete development and changes. Citizen journalism is useful to society at two levels. While on one hand it educates and informs the society on the other hand it gives them the opportunity to tell and report their stories.

1.1. Educating and informing the public

For some good reasons, citizen journalism is pinned to Internet as inferred by Mutsvairo et al. (2012)2 though it does not begin nor end online. "Broadcast news … feeds off and incorporates elements of citizen journalism" (Goode, 2009).3 Thus, the phenomenon that is the current focus of attention is present in citizens’ life to educate and inform them.

1.2. Platform to speak

Besides being a source of information and education, citizen journalism helps members of the public voice their views and tell their stories. The considerable number of community blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts flourishing daily on Internet serve as example. On the fight in Syria and particularly in Aleppo, even though professional journalists were reporting, bloggers had their stories to tell