The Dilemmas of Citizen Journalism
As someone who lives in Australia and often consumes citizen journalism through social media, having to distinguish fact from fake is typically the only disadvantage of this practice in Western countries. However, for countries such as China this practice has various positive and negative impacts due to the strict media control imposed on Chinese citizens. Does this make it a good thing, or a bad thing?
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Citizen, What?
Citizen Journalism refers to the public gathering or creating content, which is then used in the process of producing mainstream media (Luo & Harrison, 2019). This has resulted in social media platforms being overloaded with a mix of verified and unverified journalistic sources, leading to the debate of whether this is good, bad or both.
Within China this process is increasingly complex due the severe media control posed over Chinese citizens. Unlike western countries who have access to Facebook and Twitter, China has banned these and implemented their own platforms such as WeChat and Weibo in order retain control over what is viewed (Luo & Harrison, 2019). This is also exhibited through the implementation of China's 'great firewall' (Chan et. al. 2011) They are essentially the CEO of helicopter parenting if you ask me.
I believe citizen journalism, particularly in China is both a good and bad thing, here's why.
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It has been examined that whilst citizen journalism alone isn't strong enough to evoke substantial social change, by working with mainstream journalism it increases the difficulty of media control for the government (Xin, 2010). This is a significant advantage, as it is assists with increasing the freedom of Chinese citizens. Chinese platform Weibo also verifies and fact checks sources from the general public which has a positive impact by avoiding misinformation (Zeng, 2020). Ultimately, allowing individuals from outside the country to receive a truthful representation of certain circumstances.
An example was highlighted in February 2020, as Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan risked her safety in order to report on Wuhan during COVID-19. She released 4 shaken up videos, which provided outsiders with a rare glance into the streets and hospital corridors of Wuhan. In turn, exposing the mistruth of what was being reported by the Chinese government.
A snapshot of the videos posted by Zhang Zhan
However, whilst this was highly advantageous for outsiders, assisted with promoting freedom and exposing truth, it led to harsh consequences for Zhang Zhan.
Participating in the act of citizen journalism in China sparks an immense danger towards one's safety. Due to the media restrictions, if one is caught failing to comply the outcome is detrimental and results in imprisonment (BBC, 2020). Thus, making it more difficult for the voices of Chinese citizens to be heard. This is a factor that citizens of western countries are not affected by, reinforcing why it is both a good and bad practice.
Overall, citizen journalism through social media has its positives and negatives. Some, more extreme than others. I know personally, I find it eye opening to be exposed to certain truths, specifically in this case knowing the consequence that comes with having a voice in certain countries.
Were you aware of the consequences faced by many citizen journalists?
REFERENCES
Xin, X 2010, 'The Impact Of "Citizen Journalism" On Chinese Media And Society', Journalism Practice, 8th January, viewed 24th August 2022
Luo, Y & Harrison, TM 2019, 'How citizen journalists impact the agendas of traditional media and the government policymaking process in China', Sage Journals, 25th March, viewed on 24th August 2022
Zeng, J & Burgess, A, Bruns, A 2019, 'Is citizen journalism better than professional journalism for fact-checking rumours in China? How Weibo users verified information following the 2015 Tianjin blasts', Sage Journals, 25th March, viewed 23rd August 2022
Chan, C & Dao, A, Hou, J & Jin, T and Tuong, C 2011, 'Chinas Great Firewall', Stanford, viewed 24th August 2022
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