by Garvita Gahlot

Weblink: https://youtu.be/qYy1Akj5A7A

This webinar deals with the important topic of Citizen Journalism and its relevance and dynamism in today’s times. After the brief introduction by Mr. Ravi Kumar, one tends to distinguish between journalism and citizen journalism wherein journalism is done by affiliated and professional journalists which tend to bring out and represent the facts about events taking place nationally as well as internationally whereas the latter means when citizens take the responsibility to disseminate the information among the masses or to aid the media houses with true and reliable information. Hence, it has been referred to by varied names like participating Journalism or Network Journalism or Grassroots media or even Local Journalism and so on.

This session commences with a brief history of journalism and how Citizen Journalism did come into being that is mainly with the increasing technology and medium like radio, television, and most importantly mobile phones. Further, the need for citizen journalists is discussed where the emphasis is put on the fact that as a professional reporter cannot be present everywhere to capture the facts and information, so citizens are required to extend a helping hand or simply to spread the information on time to create a buzz for the same

Some examples like about COVID 19 situation in Delhi and other regions, the Indo-china conflict, the cases like that of George Floyd, etc. were cited and discussed.

Moreover, the qualities of a good citizen journalist were discussed like the need to create original and reliable content and avoid creating fake stories which also means avoid creating unnecessary hype for a piece of information, also the importance of backing up the information and facts with proper proofs so one should be assertive and attentive all the time which will in the long run help in creating the brand value, one should do as much networking as possible and should try and create a niche for like-minded people and always encourage optimism and patience in one’s approach. As a citizen journalist, one should constantly ensure the strengthening of one’s skills of being an efficient reader, writer, and analyst to deal with every piece of information at hand with utmost effectiveness. Some of the most important qualities of a citizen journalist mentioned, include being consistent in providing trustworthy and reliable information and becoming conscious of one's surroundings. The conduct should also be ethical and a caution that must be kept in mind is that one should avoid taking any sort of side and should be neutral that only one can furnish the truth to the public. An inevitable fact that should be abided by is that a journalist should not consider himself or herself as a judge and should avoid announcing a verdict, instead allow the public to ponder upon it.

The medium which can be used for the dissemination is varied ranging from a simple blog or a website to using one’s digital platform accounts to bring awareness and to spread vital and well-researched information that is cheap and user-friendly to use. The presenters also tend to elaborate on the advantages of citizen journalism that one can be present at the moment, it allows us to look at all the angles of the story which the media houses might sometimes miss out on and is more accurate, and it helps in the empowerment of local communities. The disadvantages of the same include the fact that the information furnished by them might not be credible enough as the facts are not always checked, hence reducing the reliability.

After discussing the various schools of thought, the presenters finally give their viewpoints as to describe the practice of citizen journalism as a boon or bane for society, the best solution according to them, has to be the collaborative effort done by both the media houses with professional journalists and the citizen journalists.

The session then ends with the words of wisdom by Mr. Dr. Sanjay Kumar Bahl who is the Director at Pyramid College of Business and Technology and also the mentor for the talk, who citing various examples enlightens the panelists.