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A Primer on Emergence and Growth of Citizen Journalism,
with Special Reference to India
RABIA NOOR
PhD Scholar
Media Education Research Centre
University of Kashmir

 Enables ordinary people participate in journalistic
activities
 Information and Communication Technologies
proliferated CJ
 Internet, cellular phones, camcorders accelerators of CJ

“Citizen Journalism is the act of non-professionals,
playing an active role in the process of collecting,
reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and
information”
Shayne Bowman & Chris Willis

Emergence of CJ
 Generally seen as a new trend
 The term CJ came to be used in the Digital Age
 CJ older than professional journalism: Media researchers
 World’s first journalism school established in 1908 by
University of Missouri
 Earliest newspapers started in Germany in 1605

First newspaper of America
Started on September 25, 1690
Last page was left blank
for Bostonians to add
news items by hand
Publick Occurrences
Both Forreign and Domestick

Modern Citizen Journalism
9/11 gave rise to ‘do-it-yourself journalism’
During Iraq War, BBC asked its audiences to send in images,
and published the best ones on its website

Media term for revolutionary demonstrations in the
Arab world
 CJs at forefront of documenting uprisings
 Highlighted atrocities meted out by authorities
 Facebook, Twitter, iPhones triggered massive protests
 Al-Jazeera’s Sharek portal carried variety of CJ content
Arab Spring

Citizen Journalism in India
Early days for CJ in India
 Still limited to a small segment
of the population
 Growing despite all odds

 CNN-IBN first TV channel to initiate CJ in 2005
 ‘The Citizen Journalist Show: Be the Change’ started in 2007
 CNN-IBN in partnership with Idea introduced ‘Citizen
Journalist Awards’ in 2007
Television Citizen Journalism in India

 IBN-7 too came up with its show ‘Citizen Journalist’
 Later MTV India started ‘My India Report’
 NewsX launched ‘Speak Out India’ in January 2011
 NDTV 24x7 gives space to text messages from viewers
 Post 2004 Tsunami, CJs would send in eye-witness accounts to
TV channels through SMSes

 Coverage of Mumbai incessant rains in July 2005
marked beginning of Online CJ in India
 Rediff.com became a crucial link for rescue acts
 MeriNews first CJ news portal launched in 2006
with the motto: “Power to People”
 CJ on Social Media accelerated in 2008
following 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks
Online Citizen Journalism in India

Citizen journalism in Kashmir
 CJ came to its own in
Kashmir in 2008
following Amarnath
land row
 Trend continued in
2009 following Shopian
incident and during
2010 agitation
 CJ assumed
significance in the
wake of media gag

Convener J&K RTI Movement Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat conferred
Citizen Journalist Award by CNN-IBN on February 15, 2010
Greater Kashmir publishes CJ content on City page
Wahid Bukhari works as senior sub-editor at MeriNews
Abid Shafi works as correspondent with Cj.IBNLive

 CJ holds potential benefits as a source of news
 CJs cover issues missed by or inaccessible to
professional journalists
 Given the advances in ICTs, CJ is likely to spread
further in future

Citizen Journalism has come a long way and has a
long way to go

A Primer on Emergence and Growth of Citizen Journalism, with Special Reference to India

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A Primer on Emergence and Growth of Citizen Journalism, with Special Reference to India

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A Primer on Emergence and Growth of Citizen Journalism, with Special Reference to India