Okuzeka
Journalism & Media vocabulary · Online and Digital Media

Citizen journalism

Meaning in journalism & media, with examples

nounCommon term

In journalism & media, citizen journalism means: News reporting by ordinary people who are not professional journalists, often using their phones to record and share events they witness.

In Turkish: yurttaş gazeteciliği, vatandaş gazeteciliği

How it is used

Discussed in media studies and newsroom debates about digital change. Citizen journalists can be first at the scene, but their material must be checked carefully. Newsrooms often call the content they send user-generated content.

Example sentences

  1. Citizen journalism played a big role in reporting the first hours of the flood.

  2. The course compares citizen journalism with traditional newsroom reporting.

Common collocations

  • citizen journalist
  • rise of citizen journalism
  • citizen journalism platform
  • user-generated contentPhotos, videos, posts and other material created by members of the public rather than by journalists, which news outlets may verify and use.
  • eyewitnessA person who saw an event, such as an accident, crime or disaster, with their own eyes and can describe what happened.
  • verifyTo check carefully that information, a photo, a video or a source is real and true before you use or publish it.
  • go viralTo spread very quickly and widely on the internet as people share it again and again, usually on social media and messaging apps.

More terms: Online and Digital Media

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