September 20, 2018
Nowadays, we don't just read the news – some of us, at least, actively participate in creating it. Deborah Chung, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky and an Affiliate of the IU Center for Computer-Mediated Communication, studies the phenomenon of citizen journalism, whereby ordinary citizens engage in the news using interactive, participatory tools such as Flickr, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Chung and other researchers in the area have found that the most compelling contributions of these citizens are typically visuals shared via online news sites, magazines with accompanying website, and photo agencies. Mobile technology has allowed the widespread distribution of images and videos, especially during crisis situations, such as the London Bombings or during Hurricane disasters when professional journalists were not yet on the scene. Such visuals would not be possible without citizen journalists, and thus they are the amateur journalistic contributions with the highest news value.
Unfortunately, however, these contributions are not equally valued by professional journalists. As Chung found through an online survey, professional visual journalists generally express dislike toward citizen contributions. Professionals do think that citizen-created visuals are important within citizen journalism, but they do not think that the two disciplines share similar functions. Also, they do not believe that citizen journalism is as important to society as professional journalism. Yet at the same time, they consider citizen-submitted visuals to be a threat to their livelihood. Professionals, it seems, find it uncomfortable to no longer be the sole gatekeepers of the visual presentation of news.
Chung cautions against outright dismissal of citizen contributors, however. Instead, she encourages better communication between traditional news providers and emerging visual story tellers. Collaboration between visual professionals and amateurs will allow us to embrace the news of the future in a constantly changing, increasingly high-tech, interactive, social and participatory media environment.
Read more about online citizen journalism in these articles by Deborah Chung:
Chung, D. S., Kim, Y. S., & Nah, S. (forthcoming). A comparison of professional vs. citizen journalistic roles: Views from visual journalists. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. doi: 10.1177/1354856518784022. link to article
Chung, D. S., Nah, S., & Yamamoto, M. (forthcoming). Conceptualizing citizen journalism: U.S. news editors’ views. Journalism: Theory, Practice, & Criticism. Advanced online publication. doi:10.1177/1464884916686596. link to article
Yamamoto, M., Nah, S., & Chung, D. S. (2017). U.S. newspaper editors’ ratings of social media as influential news sources. International Journal of Communication, 11, 684-700. download article
Nah, S., & Chung, D. S. (2016). Communicative action and citizen journalism: A case study of OhmyNews in South Korea. International Journal of Communication, 10, 2297–2317. link to article
Nah, S., Yamamoto, M., Chung, D. S., & Zuercher, R. J. (2015). Modeling the adoption and use of citizen journalism by online newspapers. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 92(2), 399-420. link to article