Genocide of Thought by Bisrat Woldemichael Handiso

Author:Bisrat Woldemichael Handiso [Handiso, Bisrat Woldemichael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Evatas Foundation
Published: 2015-08-27T22:00:00+00:00

_ 3.3 Citizen Journalism

Mark Glazer takes the credit for the introducing the theory of citizen journalism. He reckons that, this type of journalism enables the general public to access information from different sources, in addition to mainstream media. The contemporary era is known for the ever increasing eagerness for information; everyone wants to read and watch new tips, features, personal stories, including on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, blogs, and LinkedIn. The international flow of information is favouring information from alternative sources. As every community has its own distinct nature, citizen journalism can provide a custom-made model of journalism which may be useful to ensure a sense of ownership among the local communities.

Modern technologies, including smart phones, have contributed to the fast acceptance of citizen journalism as a new model for the ever increasing attention it is getting from various stakeholders, including progressive politicians. These politicians are utilizing the new media to communicate with their supporters. And at the same time they gather useful feedback from them.

The people around the world have been able to exchange opinions, views, and to learn from best practices of other communities. The use of blogs as platforms to reach out to a heterogeneous target audiences online promotes the habit of reading. Citizen journalism can greatly contribute to the awareness of major political, economic, human rights, or environmental issues.

Terry Flew, who is a specialist on the new media, suggests three reasons for the fast growth and acceptance of citizen journalism: (i) free and transparent transmission, (ii) collaborative alliances, and, (iii) the accessibility of content. Other analysts state that citizen journalism managed to penetrate into countries without a free press due to the fact that in the past the general public was unable to find information from different sources, since most of the authoritarian governments have been doing their level best to silence alternative voices.

In 1980, citizen journalism was introduced in Northern America, when forecasting the result of the American presidential election. The significance of citizen journalism was especially seen in Tunisia where the Arab revolution started, after Mohammed Buaziz burnt his body in protest against the Ben Ali regime. The role of this journalism reaches up to overthrowing dictatorial leaders. Sending photos of Mohammed Bouaziz’s burnt body by mobile phones strengthened the peoples’ revolt against the system, which made this form of citizen journalism successful in no time.

The beginning of the Arab revolution in Tunisia intensified the revolt in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Morocco, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which resulted in the downfall of the authoritarian regimes in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.

The application of citizen journalism in Ethiopia is poor, with minimal participation. The main reasons for this are government’s total control over the telecommunication services, government’s hacking of various websites, inaccessibility of alternative telecom services, the unaffordability of government telecom services, the poor nature of the services’ quality and accessibility. As a result, the population’s interest in and usage of the technology is poor.

However if everybody can freely use the technology at hand, citizen journalism has great potential in information sharing and awareness-raising.

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