“Citizen journalism is when regular citizens produce and publish news content.” - Walter Cunanan

With internet usage getting increasingly common, smartphones becoming more accessible, and social media usage becoming more regular, people can share information with one another faster than ever. One of the most common pieces of information shared through the different social media platforms is news. The news shared through social media can be published by news agencies, or by regular people through the act of citizen journalism. 

The journalism industry underwent a huge shift from traditional media to the internet because of its convenience. This shift allowed for citizen journalism to flourish. Citizen journalism is when regular citizens produce and publish news content. The idea behind citizen journalism is that ordinary citizens who are around the area where an event happened will be able to share the news to other people with the help of their smartphones. This allows for news to spread faster in comparison to traditional media.

As mentioned earlier, citizens around the area where an event happened will be able to report the news. This allows for live and unfiltered news to be shared to the general public which speeds up the process of creating news that is broadcasted to the public, as citizen journalism does not have to go through the same procedures that traditional journalism does. This makes the news feel more “personal” as it does not have to go through different types of censorship. Additionally, aside from speeding up the process of producing and spreading news, citizen journalism also speeds up the process of receiving news. Since most of citizen journalism happens through social media platforms, most of the news it bears spreads fast to other people. With the help of the smartphones, people are able to view different pieces of information published in the different social media platforms. This allows people to have access to the news citizen journalists publish as soon as they are posted. With that being said, as billions of people are said to be using social media nowadays, it is not uncommon to think that word will spread quickly. 

However, citizen journalism is not all sunshine and rainbows. It also has its own downsides. With citizen journalism and social media providing instant and unchecked pieces of information, disinformation and misinformation are concerns one needs to be wary of. Citizen journalism could be shared with misunderstandings. As information is taken and shared as it is, people could have the wrong ideas behind what the is actually happening, especially when something misleading is said or done in the information that is shared. Furthermore, there could be immoral “citizen journalists” who create and share fake news. This is dangerous as it could potentially develop dangerous mindsets and ideas to the general public.

The rise of internet, smartphones, and social media allowed us to have access to different kinds of information, such as news. Citizen journalism allows news to spread faster, both in creation and in reception. However, citizen journalism also brings with it concerns regarding disinformation and misinformation. Thus, it is of great importance for us to stay vigilant in absorbing information, so that we can truly say, “alam ko na ‘yan!”