It is crucial to recognize that each media outlet/organization operates on a particular agenda and has an ‘axe to grind’. The level and types of reporting are intensely affected by legislative and business interests in ecological and modern issues too. In a word, citizen journalism is by the people, for the people by which a conversation takes place – rather than a one-way broadcast medium. With the proliferation of digital media innovation and media convergence, citizen journalism is reaching a wider range of people. News content is now being delivered on a growing number of platforms, such as phones, tablets, laptops etc. The advanced development and connectedness that stamp online networking activities like blogging, tweeting, photograph sharing, and so forth, happen in what Axel Bruns calls a ‘produsage economy’, in which creation and consumption are interlinked; i.e, people are actively being involved in the production of their own news rather than the consumption of mainstream news alone. This happens to indefinitely pose a threat to news industries, as it breaks down the structures and notions of passive consumption and production between news organizations and their audiences.
For example, a gruesome and horrific revelation of underground hospital conditions and death tolls in Aleppo hospitals came to light when BBC journalist John Sweeney published ghastly footage proving so, sent to him by Dr David Nott. A scene that truly captured the tragedy and inhumane side of this war was when two dead boys were lying in a pool of blood next to a drain on the floor due to the lack of beds available. This did not only shed light on the humanitarian troubles of the Syrian war but also on the political dilemma, as these images were a result of the regime and Russian airstrikes that have been denied by the pro-regime side of the war. In the case of the hospital footage, Dr David Nott would occupy the first tier of citizen journalism as he was brave enough to momentarily detach from his medical role and take on the role of a journalist to report on a war crime with his portable low-cost video technology. Secondly, the BBC and its reporter John Sweeney would occupy the second tier as a mainstream media giant. He has picked up on certain news/truths and has decided to report on them. This is also commonly referred to as user generated content, when professional news outlets pick up on news reported by citizen journalists.
When those two tiers diffuse and work together, they can in fact be viewed as a development, addition and a progression to media industries, as this does not only democratize and revolutionize news making, but also systematically re-conceptualizes the public sphere. By exposing new truths and facts, mainstream outlets are now being forced to report on news that might have otherwise gone off unnoticed, this creates more diversity for news outlets and attracts a larger base of news consumers to stimulate this media outlet’s credibility.
This is when citizen journalism comes to harm news industries, as it inevitably highlights and exposes agendas of other news organizations. For example, the Syrian Arab News Agency, a regime-owned media organization chose not to report on the causalities caused by regime airstrikes or broadcast the images being spread. When traditional news industries fail to expose new truths, citizen journalism appears to tackle the ‘democratic deficit’ in traditional media, which in turn, harms their reputation. This does empower local communities and the public sphere, and so it is indeed re-conceptualized. However, this threatens the ‘sovereignty’ of those news outlets which operate on specific agendas, thus tackling the democratic deficit.
As networks of individuals begin to form, citizens and consumers begin to become more aware of what is happening around them and there is undeniably a loss of public trust and interest in news industries and the governments who lead their agendas. Individuals no longer care about mainstream news produced by their traditional journalistic industries. This poses a threat to the news industry, as it is an ‘organ of public opinion’ meaning that its influence has weakened and any pieces they publish are rendered ineffective in influencing the masses.
As the public becomes more aware and weary of media corporations and their agendas, a growing sense of curiosity and research takes place. Under certain circumstances, citizen journalism and the use of digital media can counter-productively strengthen gate-keeping practices in unusual and unexpected ways. This will further harm the credibility of news industries. Citizen journalists can accidentally reveal the wrongdoings and misreporting of established news organizations.
A great opportunity that citizen journalism and the usage of digital media offers news industries is cost effectiveness. User generated content is now being utilized in order to foster more growth, since using the work of employees alone in times of uncertainty and events taking place, is simply not enough. If news organizations were to hire new staff it would be too costly as well. As a result, media and news outlets are no longer forced to send their journalists and correspondents abroad into dangerous war zones for example, to record and cover on certain news events. This is due the influx of citizen journalist material such as recordings and images for example taking place across the world, offering a diversity of information to choose from.
However, media convergence has also encouraged individuals nowadays to mostly resort to their smartphones or any portable medium that allows access to social media especially, to access broadcast news and information online, rather than reading or watching the news on TV. The number of individuals who now possess mobile phones with cameras has substantially increased, leading many of those individuals to adopt the role of citizen journalists. As a result of the news industry being fiercely confronted with evolving media usage and the rise of citizen journalism, many news organizations have failed to remain innovative in order to remain profitable. Media owners are consistently being forced to deal with the rising competition citizen journalism has imposed on them, which has consequently led to lost market share. News organizations are forced to have their journalists work more with/for less money and resources, as working conditions deteriorate. Some news organizations no longer possess the financial ability to invest in staff training or new staff, especially when the majority of citizen journalists operate as free sources for news gathering, rendering their news efforts as ineffective, uncreative and habitual. With the obvious decline in reader and viewership that follows, many political parties and investors as a whole have held back on funding. This has indisputably challenged news organizations, as it has created more financial problems for them in spite of the cost effectiveness digital media and citizen journalism has offered them. This was evident in The State of the News Media reports in Pew Research Center’s in the year of 2012. This report reveals that print dissemination in the US alone, significantly declined thanks to increasing growth of online audiences and citizen journalism. The newspaper industry in its turn has gradually crippled, as it has shrunk by 43% since the year 2000. Digital revenue had also fallen behind losses in print advertising by a ratio of 1:10. This has forced the majority of news outlets to spread out their own content across social network platforms such as Twitter for example, in desperate attempts to at least preserve their reader base. Be that as it may, this has in fact further inhibited them from actively engaging with their audience and transmitting a wider range of content that does not belong to them - creating a vacuum in news transmission. Another more specific example to highlight this, is Al Safir newspaper, a prominent newspaper in Lebanon. It has operated for forty-two years until it was forced to fold in 2016, due to an acute decline in print circulation. This comes as no surprise or coincidence in the era of digital media and citizen journalism, as another ten Lebanese newspaper are also now facing financial difficulties as a result of low profits and lack of funding.
Overall, it is clear that citizen journalism does benefit the news industry to some extent, as it revolutionizes and democratizes news making. However, its threats outweigh its opportunities for the news industry, as it has risen as a serious competitor. It has overshadowed the importance of the traditional news industry, as it stood with the public in times of uncertainty, ambiguity and fear.
Saba Alkasim (Media specialist)
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