Definition of citizen journalism: The collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet.
A new kind of media outlet has emerged and the role of the audience has shifted from passive to active. Citizen journalism has posed as a threat for the traditional journalism as the people are now using their right to freedom of speech to have opinions on worldwide topics. The public are no longer just influenced by the content created from media publishers and journalists, the public is also exposed to the views and opinions of citizen journalists.
Many online information outlets or open news sites including Wikipedia act as tools for content production, the sites provide the users the option to edit or alter the information on the site to better the facts and evidence of the story or news. This is also happening in the gaming world, gamer’s are able to decide how the games ends as the makers have provided an unfinished product encouraging open source development and putting the fate of the game into the users hands. Axel Bruns a professor and the author of Towards Produsage: Futures for User-Led Content Production has said games like The Sims are booming in popularity as it is created with an open ending and consumers love the idea of being in control.
Citizen journalism is developing its own journalistic role beside traditional journalism, when working together they can create mutually complementary forms of contextual information and opinionated analysis. The audience will learn of an issue via the traditional news media, and if they are interested, will then seek opinion, analyses or further information from bloggers or citizen journalists who they trust.
Elise Manning 