Citizen Journalism and Social Responsibility

In this era of new media, anyone can be a citizen journalist but the question of social responsibility lies in stack. Citizen Journalism, also known as participatory journalism, is defined by Jay Rosen as, ‘when the people formally known as the audience employ the press tools in their possession to inform one another.’ Perhaps, before the advent of internet, it was not easy to be a citizen journalist although there are some accounts of citizen journalism during the 1960s like Abraham Zapruder’s footage of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. A major entry of citizen journalism was in the year 2000 when OhYeon-ho, a South Korean declared “Every citizen is a reporter” and started an online daily newspaper, ‘OhmyNews’ which was a website for volunteers and citizen reporters to generate its content. As technology penetrated globally, platforms for sharing content sprung up and became easily accessible to all. Citizen journalism, in a way, gives voice to the voiceless and many a time, it provides news coverage of issues which the mainstream media fails to cover first. For e.g., the Tsunami, Corona Virus at Wuhan, and the Mumbai terror attack were all first reported by citizen journalists. While there are fine reasons to be a citizen journalist, it could be a malicious pursuit if not reported with social responsibility.

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Citizen journalism does not involve much researching, and usually citizen journalists upload their content immediately via platforms like Websites, Blogs and Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tiktok, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc. The concern is how these contents are dealing with the ethical question of journalism. This concern has become real with the mushrooming of citizen journalists in Nagaland after the advent of social media and internet. Some Naga citizen journalists create fake news and confusing contents which are circulated on Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook creating chaos in the society at times. In the year 2020, a lady was caught by the Nagaland police for spreading fake news about Corona Virus in Nagaland. On August 3, this year, the Nagaland Police Department issued a press release regarding the fake news of the recruitment to various posts in Nagaland Police Department. Spreading such fake news is indeed a criminal offence. Another very insensitive trend is the forwarding and exposing of victim’s face in social media, especially on Whatsapp, whenever there is an accident or murder case. Respecting the victim’s privacy is vital not only for the deceased person but even for his/her loved ones and family. For some cases, it is a requirement for the reporter to ask for permission from the presenter before posting it in social media but there are cases in Nagaland where the content is uploaded and forwarded without the person’s consent and the person’s character is assassinated. Such act also creates havoc in the family, workplace and church. Some citizen journalists, in their rush to give breaking news, capture and post the incidents without proper information which mislead the public. Perhaps some conscious people may wait for the mainstream media to verify the news, but most people go for instant news and at such times, citizen journalists should understand the seriousness and impact of the content that they are feeding to the audience. Any news, once it is in public domain, has the power to either build or destroy a society, and journalism should not be practiced without understanding this impact. To be resourceful and informative for the society is a noble deed but if done without social responsibility and media ethics, every citizen journalists need to reconsider their content. Honesty and accuracy are two essential elements in journalism but unfortunately not all citizen journalists adhere to these two elements. As AI envelopes society and as technology advances, alternative journalism like citizen journalism will gain more momentum, thus it is time every citizen journalist gets acquainted with decency, truth, accuracy and social responsibility in their contribution in public sphere.