Introduction
In most parts of the world especially the United Kingdom, a movement is ongoing to guarantee that bloggers and other citizen journalists have the same rights and privileges as professional journalists. How does it feel to work as a journalist? In comparison to other individuals who seek to communicate information and ideas to the broader audience, journalists are distinguished by their independence (McNair, 2009). Is it true that a person’s status as a journalist is defined by whether or not his or her views are published in the media? Is he compensated, and if so, in what amount? On whether she only provides “objective” facts or also expresses her own views and opinions? Until very long ago, it seemed as if the line between journalists and the rest of us was rather stark. Everyone else was not considered a journalist, unless they worked for a “news” organization. When they saw the press in front of you, they assumed you were familiar with it. That was, of course, in the past. With the advent of the internet and the following growth of the “blogosphere,” the line between journalists and other individuals who communicate information, ideas, and viewpoints to a broad audience has been more blurred, to the point of being indistinguishable in certain cases (Hoskins and O’loughlin, 2007). Some of the blurring was caused by external reasons, while others were caused by the media industry’s development. Whatever the reason, determining whether or not someone is a journalist has grown more challenging than ever.
Discussion
Individuals from many walks of life are starting to provide high-quality reporting, and new organizations are forming to give opportunities for citizen and professional journalists equally, owing in great part to the Internet’s revolutionary influence. This transformation is contextualized in historical and legal contexts, as shown by Scott Gant’s recent and seminal work, which argues that we must rethink the distribution of journalistic rights and privileges in our society.
The emergence of citizen journalism is one of the most exciting things to have come out of the internet in recent years, and it is only going to get better. Due to the growth of social media and speedier ways of communication, the face of journalism has evolved away from television presenters and toward a larger public audience. Journalists used to often write for newspapers, periodicals, and broadcast media sources, as well as create news for them. While blogging and communicating with one another may be considered journalism, there must be some element of inquiry or trustworthiness involved. Individuals create blogs in order to be heard and express themselves. Despite the fact that journalism rejects inaccurate and subjective material, people get a significant amount of reliable information through social media, which enables journalism to stay accessible to the general population (Franklin, 1994). Others, on the other hand, contend that technological advancements have had little effect on how the word “journalism” is defined. The answer is no; not everyone is qualified to be a journalist due to the job’s training and education requirements.
Understanding Journalism and the public context
Journalism must remain true to its historical roots. Perhaps we are all purists, but any modification or alteration to a system designed to be a neutral, pure, and unbiased transmission of facts from source to reader creates concerns in the eyes of all parties concerned. Even if we believe that news is ever really objective, we are just not used to witnessing such prejudice (McNair, 2009). While we may all agree that “peace” is preferable than hatred, destruction, and conflict, imposing it or its values on anybody is ludicrous. When we use journalism to further any viewpoint, whether it is beneficial or detrimental, we are committing propaganda. Lynch and McGoldrick are striving to build a more grounded journalism enterprise. Their contrast of “Peace Journalism” to the currently dominant form of journalism, dubbed “War Journalism,” is based on Professor Johan Galtung’s Peace Research. Regardless of the titles, do not be misled. To put it another way, they are drafting guidelines for journalists to follow in order to ensure that the whole story gets reported. If you read between the lines of the most widely circulated periodicals, you’ll see that vilifying “enemies” and polarizing strife has become common procedure. If we ever lose our ability to think critically while reading the news, we may assume that the world is populated with non-human psychopaths! Everybody who is not an ally is participating in dark nuclear initiatives aimed at unleashing disaster on the planet or building a global empire. For no apparent reason, everyone who criticizes Western institutions is hell-bent on destroying them (Lynch, 2008). They make a persuasive case for how the structure and presentation of a story may be the narrative’s most destructive elements. If we disagree with the negative slant of a news item, the connotations and words penetrate our brains, and before we know it, we’re all supporting stereotyping, prejudice, and, most dangerously, apathy. According to the “Feedback Loop” idea, the media shapes public opinion, which in turn influences real-world actions and reactions.
According to an analysis, the media’s involvement in politics has been increasingly visible and contested in recent decades. The researchers traced the origins and development of this problem by examining complaints about BBC election coverage extending all the way back to 1966. The media’s involvement in politics has become more visible, divisive, and hazardous during the past twenty-five years, and it is only getting worse. Many feel the issue has reached a tipping point, and few would claim that present political communication in the United States and the United Kingdom is democratic in character (Lynch, 2008). Blumler and Gurevitch undertake a detailed examination of political communication systems as part of their inquiry into the origins and growth of this “crisis of communication for citizenship.” They examine the ties between politicians and broadcasters in the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as political communication in late 1960s election campaigns. Blumler and Gurevitch blame neither politicians nor the news media for the calamity. According to their view, the problem is connected to the present social and political atmosphere, which is characterized by an increasingly jaded public whose ability to comprehend civic issues is becoming more confused and dissatisfied with its government (Lloyd, 2005). They examine how political communication may be improved in the future in light of an altered public domain.
“The media does not create a reality that is supportive to current social and economic class dominance,” Parenti effectively argues, adding that the media is neither independent, unbiased, nor truthful. Rather than instructing us what to believe, the media molds the public’s perception of reality by determining what we will think about, as Professor Friedman demonstrates (Curran, 2012). As a consequence, he argues, media coverage of socialist or left-leaning governments’ triumphs, crises affecting American workers, or valid claims made by dissidents from the “approved” ruling class and government positions is lacking (Parenti, 1987). According to Parenti, official positions on Chile and Nicaragua are not questioned, and media creations such as Joseph McCarthy are lionized to the point of casting doubt on the legitimacy of ruling circles. A divisive and offensive work.
Integration of journalism within core disciplines
Zelizer has made a significant and sustained contribution to our understanding of the role of news, journalism, and journalistic practice in the fields of political science, sociology, psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and cultural studies, among others. This exceptional volume examines both the historical development of journalism studies and the field’s current theoretical concepts using an engaging and incisive approach. What did academics believe was critical in terms of news, journalism, journalists, and the news media in general? What explanatory frameworks did they employ in their research on journalistic practice? What academic disciplines have shaped their perspectives on journalism and the media in general? Author Barbie Zelizer discusses journalism as a career, vocation, practice, and cultural phenomenon, as well as the field’s long-term sustainability, in Taking Journalism Seriously: News and the Academy. According to her, academics have become overly involved in their respective professions, resulting in the formation of distinct bodies of knowledge. Academics are urged to approach journalism from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, as the author demonstrates in his critical map of journalism studies. To her credit, she advocates for a re-examination of how journalism has historically been viewed. Additionally, she encourages scholars to consider what journalism is and why they view it in the way they do. Historically, journalism education was preoccupied with what was referred to as “hard news.” Today, journalism education is more broadly focused (Zelizer, 2004). The importance of perspectives other than sociological inquiry, which are gaining popularity, is becoming clearer as a means of developing a more comprehensive research agenda. In the discipline of media and communication studies, both a “interpretative community” of journalists and a “interpretative community” of academics who study journalism coexist. The social sciences have influenced academic research, prompting criticism from journalists and journalism educators who believe that the social sciences’ theoretical contributions are incompatible with the training of professional journalists in their fields. Journalists and academics have used a variety of terms to define their profession. Journalism has never been effective without contributions from sociology, history, literature, politics, and cultural studies, to name a few fields of study. From the mostly white and male editorial rooms of newspapers and television stations in the 1960s and 1970s, we can trace the origins of each of these lenses, as well as its underlying concepts and authors, as well as their potential, adaptations, and limits. The sociological viewpoint on media organizations and ideologies is becoming more global in today’s globe, not just in American studies but also in other regions of the world, according to recent research. As a consequence, sociology has a wide range of applications in fields such as political science, philosophy, and cultural studies. It is claimed by the author that “social inquiry confined journalists to a single sort of actor in a given situation (Curran and Seaton, 2018).”. In order to make this picture more complicated, more discipline categories are required. ” When it comes to what constitutes “historical research,” history scholars and journalists have diverse perspectives on the subject. Due to a lack of clarity on the relationship between historical inquiry and the study of journalism, communication, and the history of the media, the position of historical inquiry in the study of journalism continues to be defined by different viewpoints and is a source of contention. The pragmatic studies are concerned with the settings in which discourses are carried out, such as the manner in which the journalistic story is conveyed, whether in huge newspapers, on television, on the Internet, or in alternative journalistic forms, for example (Zelizer, 2004). By placing an increased emphasis on journalistic narratives as well as journalistic language and classifications, researchers have been able to develop research that goes beyond the episodic and distinctive happenings that make up news, and they have also recognized the systematically created nature of journalistic labor. As a result, Zelizer focuses on three disciplines of political science in which the essentially normative characteristics of research are highlighted, all of which are concerned with disparities in the scope of the analytical approach. The investigation on journalists’ linkages with information sources placed a strong emphasis on small-scale journalistic activities, which were the focus of the research. An intermediate scale focuses on the confluence of journalism and politics in the study of election campaigns and civic journalism, integrating journalists’ contacts with political actors and viewers. This scale is used in conjunction with other scales. The relationship between journalism and various political regimes is studied at the most general level. This viewpoint may also be used to other parts of journalism research, such as the use of political language and the influence of such language on the public.
Citizen Journalism’s Blurred Lines
Because more than half of the world now has access to a mobile phone, information travels faster and reaches a larger audience than in earlier generations. Citizen journalism has taken on a whole new meaning in the internet era. It occurs when individuals actively participate in the process of gathering, reporting on, analyzing, and disseminating news and information (Curran, 2012). This has changed the way information about occurrences is disseminated and understood. Others from all walks of life may now use social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to share their experiences and capture their reality – and then share it with billions of others all over the world via these platforms. Citizen journalists have been able to share stories and experiences acquired from people from all walks of life since the advent of social media.
Citizen journalism and the use of social media, rather than erecting a barrier or acting as a broker between the producer and the viewer, allow for more personal engagement and connection. There are no constraints on what you may do with your time on the internet. The distribution of information has been transformed by social media, which enables everyone to take the role of a journalist. Instead of learning about an event that happened halfway around the world hours or days later, when information was supplied secondhand and censored for transmission, we now have the chance to learn about an occurrence that occurred halfway around the world nearly instantly (Curran, 2012). A platform like social media allows individuals who have been personally influenced by an event or who have seen something that would be considered news to quickly access personal stories and real-time updates that traditional news outlets are unable to give. In the sphere of social justice activism, the rise of online bloggers and vloggers, in particular, has revolutionized how people may bring attention to abuse and injustice. Citizen journalists are gaining popularity due to their ability to get personal testimony, often prior to media coverage of an event. As a consequence, they are becoming more popular as an alternative to traditional media sources.
Social media and the internet enable individuals who have historically been excluded and underrepresented by news outlets to express themselves uncensored and without media bias. Individuals that have previously been marginalized now have a voice and a platform to express themselves (Lies, 2004). The speed with which information travels on social media has the potential to be both beneficial and detrimental. While community journalism is challenging all traditional notions about breaking news, faults may begin to emerge if information is disseminated too quickly. If coverage is released too quickly before all of the facts are accessible, the information may be warped, resulting in too scary scenarios. Citizen journalism is not without problems; it does not always follow to professional media norms and ethics, and it is not always grounded on true facts. We are more forgiving of human error and imperfection in citizen journalism than in established news sources, implying that we favor citizen journalism (Curran, 2012). Citizen journalism will continue to disrupt conventional routes and provide new insights into how news may flow as a result of the rise of social media and the rapid distribution of information.
An examination of a case
In a court case in Diyarbakr, Turkey, in 2011, a student was charged with being a member of a terrorist organization. Although the case is technically open to the public, no journalists are present in the small, cramped courtroom. After a few hours, one of the cops outside notices that someone is tweeting trial updates on his Twitter account. During a brief pause, he storms in and obstructs the mystery user’s coverage of the proceedings. When the Tweets continue, the officer contacts the court, who orders the Tweets to stop as well. They, on the other hand, do not. “They don’t know who we are,” Engin says. With a smile, Onder stated after months of telling this story. He paused after taking a sip of his lemonade. He had chosen a bright, lively café in Istanbul for the interview, which seemed a million miles away from the gloomy courtrooms in southern Turkey. “They don’t know who I am. It’s possible that I’m texting my father.” Onder, a 21-year-old Bahçeşehir University student in Istanbul, co-founded 140 Journos, a group that uses volunteers own mobile devices to distribute unfiltered news to the public via social media platforms like Twitter and Sound Cloud.
The group 140 Journos, named after Twitter’s 140-character limit, has never surpassed 20 members. Despite the fact that they seek help from sympathetic experts on a regular basis, none of the members are journalism students. Nonetheless, they are challenging the notion of what it means to be a journalist in a country that, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, has the highest number of journalists imprisoned of any country. Last year, the Turkish government launched the country’s largest press trial to date, accusing 44 pro-Kurdish journalists of supporting the Union of Kurdistan Communities, an illegal Kurdish party (KCK). The defendants may have been detained as terrorists, which is possible given the government’s use of a broad legal definition of “terrorism” to silence critics. Students could face jail time for protesting tuition costs, and journalists could face charges of “denigrating the state,” according to a September 2012 indictment. Onder stated, “Now we’re all journalists.” “We have our own gadgets, which effectively blurs the line between the person who sees the news and the person who creates it. “After 35 Kurdish civilians were killed in an airstrike on the Turkey-Iraq border on December 29, 2011, Onder became interested in a “counter-media” movement. “It was only 12 hours later that the first information was made public,” Onder said. “At the same time, however, social media was a whirlwind.” Onder went out for drinks with a friend a week later, and he mentioned that an alternative news source was desperately needed. Onder put together a team to do just that, and he showed an early version of 140 Journos to his Bahçeşehir communications professor, who told him it would never work. On the other hand, the university’s president saw things differently and granted Onder and his new group a small office in Galata, one of Istanbul’s most important districts. Since then, 140 Journos members have used the group’s Twitter account to cover LGBTQ movements, student trials, demonstrations, and terrorist cases.
The importance of their work became clear during their coverage of the OdaTV trials last summer, in which the news website’s owner, Soner Yalçn, and staff journalists Barş Pehlivan and Barş Terkolu were accused of being members of a terrorist group and disclosing classified state secrets. Frustrated by the lack of media attention, 140 Journos dispatched members back to the courtrooms to tweet, only to find that thousands of people were following them on Twitter. “We go anywhere there’s something lacking, and everywhere the mainstream media doesn’t want to go,” Onder said.
Conclusion
Now that more than half of the globe has access to a mobile phone, information moves quicker and reaches a bigger audience than it has in previous generations. In this digital age, citizen journalism has taken on a whole new meaning. It happens when citizens actively engage in the process of obtaining, reporting on, assessing, and sharing news and information. This has altered how information about events is spread and interpreted. People from many walks of life may now share their experiences on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. As Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel said in their book The Elements of Journalism, “the goal of journalism is not decided by technology, nor is it determined by journalists or the instruments they use.” “Rather, the ethics and purpose of journalism are decided by something more fundamental: the function that news plays in people’s lives,” according to the author. Keeping up with changing events, circumstances, and people in our immediate environment is a critical component of communication, and news is the component that does just that. Though news may be intriguing and even humorous at times, its fundamental value lies in its ability to empower those who are well informed. Individuals should be empowered to make the best decisions possible about their own lives, communities, societies, and governments, and this is the objective of journalism in this respect.
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