How are civic and citizen journalism related?
So what is citizen journalism? How does it relate to civic journalism and journalism in general? See the discussion below, that started here this weekend.
The AEJMC’s Civic Journalism Interest Group (CJIG)is thinking about a name change. The new name the group will be voting on is the Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group. The discussion at the group’s listerv goes beyond just a simple name change as Jan Schaffer of the J-Lab points out:
I applaud the idea of a name change for the CJ Interest Group. I think the timing is right — both for the future of journalism and for our timeline to renew our status as an AEJMC interest group. Cole and Len and Venise and Andrea and others have made extremely good points.
But I wonder if we might want to entertain a name change that embraces more possibilities instead of one that might limit us to just two categories — citizen and/or civic.
Maybe something like the Participatory Journalism Interest Group?
Why? What I see happening is a tremendous appetite for tech-savvy citizens to want to participate in news and information — but in many, many ways. Sometimes by creating it (from writing to uploading photos and videos, sometimes by responding to it, sometimes by engaging in an exercise or a brainstorming session, sometimes by collaborating on wiki-like content, sometimes by querying an interactive database — and, sure, sometimes by blogging as well. But I think the momentum that is emerging is going to reach beyond blogging.
I really am coming to believe that a new definition for civic participation might very well become “media articipation.”
I agree that not all citizen journalism is civic — although it can be. Certainly, many of the aspirations of citizens journalists are very civic — if you look through the 243 New Voices proposals we received. Time will tell whether their execution is really what we could call civic.
I also can personally attest that with the emergence of the citizen journalism movement, there has been a renewed interest in civic journalism.
Why? I would assert that it’s because civic journalists are grounded in aspirations that can add value — instead of just more noise — to journalism. And I think added value will be a crucial component of news that succeeds in engaging citizens in the future.
But a far more fundamental, transformative change is underway for the both the deliverers and consumers of news. Not all news organizations know what to make of this yet, nor do the consumers, nor the enablers in the tech world.
As I’ve stepped back so that others could take ownership of this interest group, I see a strong commitment from the current members and wonderful leaders. I’d assert that this group has always been on the forefront of emerging trends in journalism and that we have a very logical and opportune — and important — moment to position the interest group as one of the most forward-looking in the academy.
If we were to adopt a name that might embrace contingencies that we may not even be able to imagine at this point, we would be nimble in responding, and we’d likely benefit in attracting new members and new research.
