The encouragement of citizen journalism: Summary of module 6

             The comments I received on this week's blogpost were in response to the question of what is citizen journalism and how does it differ from professional journalism. Before we can address the question of whether or not new digital and social media encourage participation in citizen journalism, we must determine what is encompassed under this type of journalism. As Dahlgren (2012) notes, civic journalism includes civic engagement and democratic renewal through new digital and social media. Although this does include social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, it is important to remember that just because an individual posts a Tweet or posting on Facebook regarding news or world events does not make this individual a "journalist".
              As Lindsay notes, just because an individual simply has a blog dedicated to a specific topic, does not mean they are a journalist. As Kamalpreet recognizes, although social media outlets allow and encourage participation in regards to democratically sharing information and news events, thus encouraging citizen journalism, it is important to determine a solid difference between citizen journalism and professional journalism. Individuals who participate in the world of professional journalism should not go unrecognized for the verified and resourced work that they complete. This also highlights Bruns and Highfield's (2012) concept that citizen journalism is actually replacing proper journalism. I think it is good that new social media platforms are encouraging participation in citizen and democratic journalism. However, with Bruns and Highfield's (2012) regard of replacement of proper journalism with citizen journalism, I think it is also important that users properly verify and resource information as is done with proper journalism.
            Finally, I agree with Nella's comment that social media platforms exceed the passive nature to just consume information, but encourage users to produce and share information as well. As Nella regards with her comment, this is when it is especially important for individuals to be mindful of what they do consume and take to be true when accessing the Internet as not every individual properly verifies and resources the information they post and share, even if they claim that it is. The democratic nature that citizen journalism holds, as suggested by Dahlgren (2012), allows for anyone to post and share information.
            In conclusion, although social and new digital media encourage participation of citizen journalism in Online communities, it is important to be more conscientious when consuming information through citizen journalism with varying verification and sources.