What Is Citizen Journalism?

Citizen journalism is an incredibly broad term. It covers concepts ranging from public comments on articles to user generated content to so called “WikiJournalism,” where editors disappear entirely. Steve Outing, writing for the Poynter Institute, describes what he calls “The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism.” This list starts with the simplest implementations of reader participation and builds up to some radical views for the future of journalism. Here are Outing’s 11 Layers:

1. The first step: Opening up to public comment
2. Second step: The citizen add-on reporter
3. Now we’re getting serious: Open-source reporting
4. The citizen bloghouse
5. Newsroom citizen ‘transparency’ blogs
6. The stand-alone citizen-journalism site: Edited version
7. The stand-alone citizen-journalism site: Unedited version
8. Add a print edition
9. The hybrid: Pro + citizen journalism
10. Integrating citizen and pro journalism under one roof
11. Wiki journalism: Where the readers are editors

As you can see, these layers follow a very obvious progression. The first steps are relatively easy to implement, with professionals still doing most, if not all of the reporting. Eventually, citizen journalists take on larger and larger roles, moving from commenting, to assisting reporters, to writing their own content. By Layer 7, mainstream media is totally out of the picture.

Think about these questions:

• What strengths and weaknesses do you see in the layer metaphor for citizen journalism?
• Will these changes influence the effectiveness of journalism in conveying information?
• Will they affect the credibility and objectivity of journalism?
• Do you know of any interesting examples that match one or more of Outing’s layers?

As a reminder, please leave your age, profession, and contact information in your comment.

“The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism”