The most recent uprisings in the Middle East have brought citizen journalism back into the limelight, but bloggers and independent reporters have been breaking stories that major media outlets never could for some time. Janis Krums’ iPhone snapshot of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 emergency landing on the Hudson River, George Allen’s infamous “macaca” incident, or the continuing reports of protests from Syria in the face of violent oppression are just a few examples.
This new source of information fills a void left by a diminished traditional media corps. In some cases, the media have openly embraced citizen contributions, most notably CNN with its iReport features.
To help foster this new trend, sev eral non-profits and social enterprises are actively working to improve the strength of that citizen media across the world.
Non-Profits Back Citizen Media
Citizen media is seen as a benefit to society and democratic principles. Many organizations are actively dedicating resources to improving citizen journalism, including the venture capital-backed AllVoices, three non-profits (Global Voices, Internews and Small World News), and the U.S. State Department.
Internews, Small Word News and the U.S. State Department provide various training programs, grants and technical resources to citizen journalists. For example, Small World News, which focuses on conflict and post-conflict situations, is in Benghazi training Libyans to report stories using video. Its team of citizen journalists has been so successful that it is now breaking footage that no mainstream media outlet has been able to capture.
“We believe it takes more than a citizen a nd a media creation...
