IS CITIZEN JOURNALISM A THREAT OR A CHALLENGE TO PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM

Citizen journalism to a large extent is both a threat and a challenge to Professional journalism. In the sense that though a citizen journalist is not formally trained as the professional journalist, they all strive to attain a similar interest that is to inform and educate the public.

Citizen journalism becomes a threat to professional journalism as they sometimes do not thrive to attain journalistic standards. That is publishing any information without vigorous research or thorough follow ups, to make sure the stories they publish do no lack quality and content. The audience then begins to question credibility and authenticity of the information they receive from the media.

However citizen journalism has become a challenge to professional journalism due to the fact that it is the public that most often gets first hand information with the now easy accessibility of digital devices. This has challenged professional journalist in a way that they encourage the citizen journalist to contribute to the information they provide to the public.

Tv3 for instance has a segment on their News 360 where viewers make their own news by sending videos or pictures of events, activities or any issue they wish to express their opinion on.

This has also made professional journalist to be more objective on issues and for them to also vary their reportage. That is not concentrating only on events happening in the urban areas. In a way professional journalist are themselves citizen journalist since they also maintain a blog where they post stories.