The point of view of any event or scene gives us the momentarily belief we have witnessed this scene. But in actual fact we have not, only the photographer has and therefore, we don’t really know what is real or not.
In this era for webcams and drones, even the photographer doesn’t have to be there!
Exercise
Find some examples of news stories where ‘citizen journalism’ has exposed or highlighted abuses of power.
How do these pictures affect the story, if at all? Are these pictures objective? Can pictures ever be objective?
Write a list of the arguments for and against. For example, you might argue that these pictures do have a degree of objectivity because the photographer (presumably) didn’t have time to ‘pose’ the subjects, or perhaps even to think about which viewpoint to adopt. On the other hand, the images we see in newspapers may be selected from a series of images and how can we know the factors that determined
the choice of final image? Think about objectivity in documentary photography and make some notes in your learning log before reading further.
Citizen Journalism (Oxford English Dictionary): – noun:
The collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet –
source: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/citizen_journalism [accessed 6.10.18]
Although I found many many articles and twitter and Instagram accounts dedicated to Citizen Journalism, what it is and what it has achieved, it’s very difficult to find recent images that have been shared which expose abuses of power. It seems the Citizen Journalism, which first appeared in the early 2000s and was heralded as the movement that would change the face of journalism for ever.
It seems that in a way it has, but with ‘Fake news’ currently being in the spotlight it would appear that citizen journalism has had it’s day. Ordinary people had an opportunity to show events from their own perspective, but unlike traditional journalism, what they say is not subject to the ethical scrutiny which means that some question the validity / truth of the comments being told. Having also looked a number of newspaper sites, it is clear that traditional media now uses much more footage shot by ordinary citizens
Study.com defines Citizen Journalism as “the collecting and reporting of information via social media, plubkic platforms and traditional new outlets, either by non-traditional sources or the public”. Although it is widely thought of as a modern phenomenon there are examples as far back as the 1960s.
- “Fake news destroyed citizen journalism, but not before it changed the face of professional media.” – https://minutehack.com/opinions/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-citizen-journalist