International Journal of Recent Advances in Psychology & Psychotherapy

Vol. 3, Issue 1 - 2019

CITIZEN JOURNALISM AND IT'S IM PACTS ON PROFESSIONAL

JOURNALISM IN PROGRESSIVES SOCEITY: A STUDY OF 2019
GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION IN CROSS RIVER STATE
*
DAVID NANDI ETIKA

ABSTRACT

The paper aimed to examine citizen journalism and its impacts on professional
journalism in progressives society: A study of 2019 governorship election in
Cross River State. There is no doubt that citizen journalists play a salient role
that compliment professional journalists through their reportage they
contribute to t he public. For instance, the just concluded 2019 general
elections w as reported to be characterized by irregularities via the videos and
pictures reported online. The paper used Democratic participants media
theory to backup its view s. The study revealed that citizen journalists played a
sacrosanct role during the 2019 governorship election in Cross River State.
They reports a lot of stories across the nooks and cranny of the State w hich
show s all manners of irregularities and violent that occurred during the
election. Some of w hich varies from snatching of ballots boxes, multiple
voting, vote buying and many more w hich w as posted on social media
platforms. The study concluded that citizen Journalism has become an integral
part of the modern-day society because it has given voice to the voiceless in
the society. The researcher recommend that Journalism profession should
fashion out modalities on how to check excesses by its members and they
should be campaigns and advocacy that targeted the abolition of fake new s
reports and they should enlighten the public on the dangers of fake new s so
that even if they w ant to participate on new s coverage, it w ill dissuade them
from reporting fake new s.

KEYW ORDS: Citizen Journalist, Journalism, Journalist, Progressives Society

And Election.

INTRODUCTION

It is quite germane to note that truthful and w orld is much more easier because technology
relevant information is a good recipe for the gave birth to internet and other forms of social
grow th of the society. With the advent of media platforms w hich is the major avenue
technology, the w orld has become a global used by citizens journalists to feed the public
village. Dissemination of information across the w ith information.
*
Departm ent of M ass Comm unication, Cross River University of Technology, Crut ech, Calabar.
Correspondence E-mail Id: edit or@eurekajournals.com

© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 2581-4052

Citizen Journalism and it's Impacts on Professional Journalism in Progressives Soceity: A Study of 2019
Governorship Election in Cross River State - David NE 14

There have been certain issues about citizen Citizen journalism research has garnered a
journalism that need to be address ot herw ise, it grow ing amount of attention as citizens
w ill continue to portend danger to our peaceful participate in new s-making processes and the
coexistence. One of this problem is treacherous production of new s-related content, such as
act of reporting undiluted new s contents that is stories, photos, videos and comments. These
tantamount to fueled disorderliness. Citizen citizen-generated contents (CGCs) can play a
Journalism is a form of Journalism that aid or pivotal role in prompting democratic
complement professional journalism. conversation in the public sphere. Citizen
journalists may offer alternative perspectives
Citizen journalism is an emerging trend in the
from ordinary citizens w hich otherw ise may not
media industry that has been very instrumental
have been covered by mainstream new s media;
to the success or grow th of media industry in
thus citizen journalism simultaneously
the w orld and Nigeria inclusive. The w orld is
competes w ith and complements professional
infotech, t he new media is fast evolving in such
journalism. The major line of scholarship in this
a w ay that has given credence to citizen
regard centers on the similarities and
journalists to thrive. This form of journalism is
differences betw een citizen and professional
the type that gives citizens the opportunity to
journalism such as journalistic role conception.
reports events that happened in their
environment on social media platforms. They Citizen journalism has attracted a great deal of
also play the role of sending pictures or report attention of media scholars and researchers in
of activities and events that occurr in their recent decades and there have been extensive
communities to the main stream media. For studies on the phenomenon of citizen
example, Channels television and other journalism, in part because it encourages ‘the
conventional media have their handles or man or w oman in the street’ t o become a new s
platforms such as Tw eeter, Facebook and contributor. By providing the coverage of new s
Instagram w here the public send in stories and on a w ide range of issues, these people may be
pictures of incidents or events as it breaks in able to tell their stories, expressing their
their areas. political view s w ith few editorial constraints.
They may also be able to address the
Dugan (2008) concluded that citizen journalism
'democratic deficits inherent in a corporate-
could complement w hat professional
dominated, highly commercialised media
journalists did, but it w ould not be a
system, its inequalities of access,
replacement for professional reporting nor w as
representation and political/ ideological pow er,
it a panacea to the grow ing reader concerns
its economic and structural integration w ith
about traditional media’s credibility. Dugan,
globalizing capitalism and consumer culture’
how ever, insisted that journalists must be
(Carroll and Hacket, 2006 p. 83). Therfore, it is
careful to ensure that the ethical standards
often suggested that citizen journalism may
w ere follow ed by both professional and citizen
play a crucial role in conveying alternative
journalists. (Xin 2010) came up w ith a similar
opinions on important new s issues and at the
finding that citizen journalism w as used by
same time, perform the critical role of a
mainstream media as a new s source or an
w atchdog. Bentley (2008) posited that Similarly,
alternative channel for distributing politically
citizen journalists don’t w ant new sroom jobs-
sensitive information, w hich show ed that
they just have something to say and often they
citizen journalists could w ork effectively
w ant to say it because those of us on the
together w ith mainstream media to expose
professional side are too busy w ith the big
social injustice cases.

© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 2581-4052

 International Journal of Recent Advances in Psychology & Psychotherapy
15 Vol. 3, Issue 1 - 2019

stories to see the little items that mean so conventional journalistic processes or
much to people. methodologies and they usually function
w ithout editorial oversight. Citizen journalists
With the introduction of modern technology,
gather, process, research, report , analyse and
people are actively engaging in the new s media.
publish new s and information, most often
From the introduction of emails or emailing lists
utilising a variety of technologies made possible
to the current era of online discussion forums
by the internet (Ross & Cormier 2010: 66).
and social media, w e are witnessing a rapid
grow th in the use of the Internet and people Citizen journalism has played a consequential
are communicating w ith each other online in role in the mass media industry in Nigeria and
many different w ays. Using the Internet, people across t he globe. Before now , people solely
from one continent of the w orld are able to depend on t he main stream media for
share their w ork experience w ith that of information. But the nascent technology has
another (Thorsen, 2009). Social media has turned the pace of information dissemination in
further changed the mode of communication, the media industry, one of w hich is
making the flow of new s and information more participatory journalism w hich is perceived to
dynamic and changing the w ays in w hich new s be citizen journalism. This form of journalism
and information are produced, transferred and encourages citizen participation in new s
consumed by the public. coverage / gathering as w ell as reporting.

In spite of the enormity of benefits accrued to
citizen journalism, there are certain negative
implications of citizen journalism noticed in the
just concluded 2019 general elections in Nigeria
w hich left lofty doubt about the credibility of
elections results in the minds of the public.
Fake results w ere published by citizen
journalists even before INEC announced the
result. As w e all know , it is the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) that is
saddled w ith the responsibility to conduct and
announce election results. But w ith
increase misdemeanor of citizen journalists
w ho report fallacious stories that portend
danger to our democracy and corporate
existence.
STATEM ENT OF PROBLEM
Citizen journalism is a rapidly and evolving form
of journalism w here common citizens take the
initiative to report new s or express view s about
happenings w ithin their community. It is new s
of the people, by the people and for the people.
Citizen journalists are independent, freelancing
citizen reporters. They are not constrained by
Being abreast of happenings and events w ithin
your environment is sacrosanct to our
individual lives including our social w ellbeing.
How ever, the grow ing concern about the
emerging form of journalism is factored on
certain infractions occasioned by citizen
journalists. There is no ambivalence that t hey
play a key function in complementing the main
stream media by reporting incidences and
events that happen in their environment. The
issue centred on hoax and unverified sources of
the their new s stories. Like in Nigeria, fake new s
has become a public concern, a situation that
has propelled government to rise up and
launched a fight against fake new s w hich is
perceived to be dangerous to our corporate
existence. In spite of all these efforts fashioned
to stem the tide of fake new s, have there been
significant impacts in curtailing the spreads of
fake new by citizen journalism? If no , w hat are
they doing to stop it?.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study is focused on citizen journalism and
its impacts on professional journalism in

© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 2581-4052

Citizen Journalism and it's Impacts on Professional Journalism in Progressives Soceity: A Study of 2019
Governorship Election in Cross River State - David NE
progressives society, w ith emphasis on 2019
governorship election in Cross River State.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
THE CONCEPT OF JOURNALISM
Joe (2018) avouched that Journalism is the
collection and editing of current interest for
presentation through new s media. It could also
be regarded as the event of the day to day
activities w ith the uses of w ords, sounds or
pictures to satisfy human curiosity w ith a w ord
that is alw ays interested in know ing w hat is
new . The introduction of journalism and its
media are electronic and print w hich have
reduced a lot of ignorance from the society
because from the observation both print and
electronic media journalists disseminate to the
public. The journalists are those that practice
journalism. They gather new s from the public
and send it back the public also. Enw efah
(2016,p.17) opined that journalism, w hich is the
investigation and reporting of events,
occurrences, issues, happenings, et c. in the
society to a large audience, w as the exclusive
preserve of the men-folk at inception.
The World Book Encyclopedia in Onyeagba
(2014) defines journalism as the profession of
recording events that maybe of interest to the
public. Journalism is the collection, preparation
and distribution of new s and related
commentary and feature materials through
such media as pamphlet, new s magazines,
radio, motion pictures, television, bill boards,
the internet and books. Journalism is also
defined by (Ganiyu 2004) as the w riting and
disseminating of new s and view about the
society through the means of mass media.
According to w ikipedia in Onyeagba, (2014)
journalism is the discipline of collecting,
analyzing, verifying and presenting information
regarding current events, trends, issues and
people. People w ho practice journalism as a
© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved.
16
profession are called journalists. It is therefore
both w orld-w ide in scope and as limited as the
territory covered by the smallest w eekly paper.
M en and w omen w ho are engaged in new s
gathering task call themselves journalist and
such modern. Journalists use every means of
communication to report the new s of t he w orld
new spaper, magazine and the new s rooms of
radio and television.
CITIZEN JOURNALISM
Rabia, (2017).Citizen journalism is a concept in
media that refers to journalistic activities of
ordinary people. It means citizens themselves
report the issues confronting them. Citizen
journalism has enabled people to raise their
voice on w hat they feel need attention. These
people are, thus, termed as citizen journalists.
Duffy, Thorson and Jahng (2010) have defined
"citizen journalist" as an individual, w ho is not a
trained professional, but w ho nonetheless may
report on his or her neighborhood or
community. Citizen journalists or amateur
reporters are none but the general audience,
that is, view ers, readers and listeners of
mainstream media. Referring to citizen
journalists as "people formerly know n as the
audience," Press Think blogger Jay Rosen (2006)
mentions that earlier they w ould be "on the
receiving end of a media system that ran one
w ay, in a broadcasting pattern, w ith high entry
fees and a few firms competing to speak very
loudly, w hile the rest of the population listened
in isolation from one another." He, how ever,
argues that presently they are no more in a
situation like that.
Citizen journalists tend to bring themselves into
the story; many see themselves as citizen
activists. Some happen to be at the ‘w rong
place at the right time’, such as the people
caught up in Hurricane Katrina in August 2005,
w ho emailed their personal accounts, pictures
and videos taken w ith their mobile phones to
mainstream media like CNN and the New York
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 International Journal of Recent Advances in Psychology & Psychotherapy
17 Vol. 3, Issue 1 - 2019

Times, as w ell as dedicated citizen new s sites w ide-ranging and relevant information that a
such as Now Public.com. Others are very pro- democracy requires."
active new s gatherers, w ho attend and report
Likew ise, citizen journalists are considered to
on specifi c events, ranging from local t ow n hall
be citizens w ithout professional jour-nalism
meetings for a hyperlocal site, to protests at a
training w ho produce such content and/ or
G8 conference for Indymedia.org. Journalism is
generate such discussions related to civic,
usually not their main occupation, and only few
health and other issues relevant to improving
get paid for their eff orts. In contrast to
communities. Research has found citizen
traditional journalism, w hich brought new s as a
journalism to be a tool for various purposes,
completed product to its audience in a vertical
including information sharing during risk/ crisis
w ay, citizen journalism is a more horizontal and
events and increasing involvement in political
conversational sharing of new s, w hich is
campaigns. M oreover, the citizen journalism act
“ alw ays unfinished, Nadine (2011).
of blogging has been found to be an effective
Citizen journalism is also know n as participatory educational tool in classrooms. For example,
and democratic journalism (Baase, 2008). There one study found that at both the under-
are various other synonyms used for citizen graduate and graduate levels, blogs facilitate
journalism -"public journalism," "civic student engagement w ith materials and w ith
journalism," "stand-alone journalism," their classmates, Seungahn Kang Rachael and
"netw orked journalism," "open source Stephanie (2017).
journalism," "crow d-sourced journalism,"
Nnanyelugo, Diri, and Odii ( 2013). The concept
"collaborative journalism," "grassroots
of citizen journalism has been variously called
journalism," "community journalism," "bridge
"public", "participatory" , "democratic",
media" and so on. These forms of journalism
"guerrilla’ or "street" journalism.” (Bow man
are related to " citizen journalism", but each is a
and Willis 2003) define this brand of journalism
unique species that has evolved out of a larger
as “ the act of a citizen, or group of citizens,
family of social media. All these terms refer to
playing an active role in the process of
different acts (Cohn, 2007).
collecting, reporting, analyzing and
Citizen journalism is defined as the process of disseminating new s and information” , noting
engaging individuals [not considered that “ the intent of t his participation is to
professional journalists] w ho produce, provide independent, reliable, accurate, w ide-
disseminate and exchange a w ide variety of ranging and relevant information that a
new s and information, ranging from current democracy requires.” (Radsch 2013) vividly
topics and common interests to individual captures the spirit and essence of citizen
issues. One of the most accepted and inclusive journalism in his definition of the concept as
definitions of citizen journalism has been put “ an alternative and activist form of
forw ard by Bow man and Willis (2003) defined new sgathering and reporting that functions
citizen journalism as the act of non- outside mainstream media institutions, often as
professionals, playing an active role in the a repose to short coming in the professional
process of collecting, reporting, analysing and journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic
disseminating new s and information. This practices but is driven by different objectives
definition covers all the possible activities of and ideals and relies on alternative sources of
citizen journalists in existence. The authors legitimacy than traditional or mainstream
further w rite, "The intent of this participation is journalism."
to provide independent, reliable, accurate,

© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 2581-4052

Citizen Journalism and it's Impacts on Professional Journalism in Progressives Soceity: A Study of 2019
Governorship Election in Cross River State - David NE 18

Citizen journalism is the reverse of the straight - themselves on being the ‘w atch-dog’ of the
jacket, near unilateral top-dow n traditional w atch-dog media. Nadine (2011)
communication system of the mainstream opined that citizen journalism is varied as the
media. (Bow man and Willis 2003) state that, names it is know n by: guerilla, netw orked,
“ Participatory journalism is a bottom-up, participatory, street, or open source journalism,
emergent phenomenon in w hich there is little to give a few examples. Shayne Bow man and
or no editorial oversight or formal journalistic Chris Willis describe it as “ [t]he act of a citizen,
w orkflow dictating the decisions of a staff. or group of citizens, playing an active role in the
Instead, it is the result of many simultaneous, process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and
distributed conversations that either blossom disseminating new s and information.
or quickly atrophy in the Web’s social netw ork.” In practice, this can range from commenting on
They observe that “ the fluidity of t his approach an existing new s piece to publishing an article,
puts more emphasis on the publishing of podcast, photo or video on a personal blog or
information rather than the filtering. on Tw itter, a dedicated citizen journalism
Conversations happen in the community for all w ebsite like The Huffi ngton Post or on
to see. In contrast, traditional new s YouTube, or on interactive w ebsites that w ork
organizations are set up to filter information as extensions to mainstream media, such as
before they publish it.” In its true nature, Cable New s Netw ork’s (CNN) iReport . On sites
citizen journalism allow s no room for gate like CNN iReport, editorial gatekeeping is left to
keeping. In this brand of journalism, the audience: uploaded content w ill be
information gets to the members of public w ho published unedited as long as it is considered
are directly involved in content creation, raw , new s (as distinct from advertising, for example)
‘naked’ and undiluted. and respects principles of taste and decency.
Other sites, such as the South Korean
Burkholder (2005) asserted that citizen
OhM yNew s.com, only fact-check hard new s
journalism M any bloggers consider themselves
contributions before publishing them; and then
‘citizen journalists’ and believe they are better
there are w ebsites that operate like a
suited to provide the diversity that today’s
traditional new sroom, also called pro-am
democracy needs than traditional journalists.
ventures, such as Th e Huffi ngton Post, w here
By moving aw ay from the established new s
professionals edit all user-generated content
sources, they w eaken the control of major
(UGC) before publication.
mainstream gatekeepers. They pride
DIFFERENTIATING CITIZEN JOURNALISM FROM PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Citizen journalism Professional journalism

Does not operate on the basis of a formal new sroom Operates in a formalised editorial
structure. They practice journalism from anyw here structure.
possible and convenient.
Speed is of essence - breaking new s. Speed is curtailed by verification process.
Use of amateur multimedia devices & basic editing. Use of professional devices & thorough
editing.
Information often unverified. Steps taken to verify information.
No obligation of accountability. Accountability is a core value.
Use of pseudonym accounts. Ethical practices are in Ethics are standard.
some cases not adhered to.

© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 2581-4052

 International Journal of Recent Advances in Psychology & Psychotherapy
19 Vol. 3, Issue 1 - 2019

No regulation, filtering, gatekeeping. Regulation bodies exist and there is gate-

keeping.
Citizen journalists do not necessarily get paid for their Professional journalists are employed and
w ork. are paid for practicing journalism.
Source: Admire, Henrik, Simbiso, M . & Rashweat , (2018).

TYPES OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM that are fully independent of traditional,

professional new s outlets. These can be
Citizen journalism can take many forms. These blogs in w hich individuals can report on
include: events in their communities or offer
commentary on the issues of the day,
1. INSTITUTIONALISED (SEM I-INDEPENDENT)
Admire, Henrik, Simbiso, M . & Rashw eat,
AND NON-INSTITUTIONALISED (FULLY
(2018).
INDEPENDENT): Institutional citizen
journalism on the other hand, refers to that BENEFITS OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM TO
type of citizen journalism w hich has a form
SOCIETY AND PROFESSIONAL
of organizational structure or constraining
JOURNALISM
ability complete w ith external constraints
how ever minimal.
First and formost, there is no doubt as regards
2. NON-INSTITUTIONAL FORM S OF CITIZEN
to t he efficacy of citizen journalism to the
JOURNALISM : These are extra-institutional,
society and professional journalism. The
placing the individual at the core of the
introduction of communication technologies
practice. This appears to be the notion of
has paved w ay for citizen journalism in the
citizen journalism that readily lends itself to
w orld and Nigeria at large. The just concluded
different forms of social netw orking, w here
2019 general elections enjoyed large coverage
private citizens use a combination of
of citizen journalist, some of w hich captured
platforms to generate content and
events as they broke out w ithin the lengths and
disseminate it as w idely as possible. Non-
breadths of the country. Social media w as filled
institutional citizen journalism revolves
w ere reports, pictures and and videos of vot e
around the individual.
buying and other forms of irregularities
3. SEM I INDEPENDENT CITIZEN JOURNALISM :
characterized during presidential, senatorial,
It involves citizens contributing in one form
house of representative as w ell as governorship
or anot her t o existing professional new s
and house of assembly elections. These reports
sites. For example: Readers are posting
goes a long w ay to entrenched the role of
their comments alongside stories w ritten
conventional or mainstream media w hich aim is
by professional reporters, essentially a
to inform, educate and entertain the public.
21st-century version of the letter to the
editor. A grow ing number of media Demir (2013) stated t hat the development of
organizations in Zimbabw e allow readers to information and communication technologies,
post comments. In an effort to prevent especially the Internet has led to the
obscene or objectionable messages, some emergence of citizen journalism, w hich means
new s w ebsites (like the Herald, Daily New s the active role of citizens in the process of
and New sDay) require that readers register collecting, reporting, analyzing and
in order to post. disseminating new s and information. All
4. INDEPENDENT CITIZEN JOURNALISM : It citizens create and distribute them with the
involves citizen journalists w orking in w ays help of mobile phones, the Internet, ipad,

© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 2581-4052

Citizen Journalism and it's Impacts on Professional Journalism in Progressives Soceity: A Study of 2019
Governorship Election in Cross River State - David NE
computer, etc. Thanks to the digital technology,
citizen journalism is universally accessible and
globally relevant, it becomes an important part
of the content w ithin the traditional media-
both public and commercial. It has become an
important corrections of official sources of
information, it helped to create a real and
objective view of the w orld.
YouTube has launched a special channel called
YouTube Reporter’s center, w here citizens are
able to look at a number of video tutorials in
w hich, by some of the leading experts in the
field of journalism explaining how to do
amateur journalism, ie. civic journalism. It is
covered a number of topics, from finding ideas
for stories, technical implementation,
presenting stories and etc. Then is open
YouTube Direct , a channel w here media can
dow nload or order a few of the amateur
journalism w orks, in w hich are involved some
major media companies such as The San
Francisco Chronicle, NPR, The Huffington Post
and Politico.
Ayres (2016) informed that it addresses the
gaps in mainstream media. The idea behind this
form of journalism is that people w ithout
professional training are able to use modern
technology tools and t he internet to fact -check
augment or create media. This entails that
anyone w ho has access to t he w eb can start a
blog or can report some events across the
digital w orld. This is significant in a w ay that it
addresses the gaps w ithin mainstream media. It
empow ers local communities. Citizen
journalism enables individuals w ho are
previously excluded from essential information
to increasingly participate in disseminating
information to advance their w ell-being. This
journalistic innovation is said to help improve
local economies, sharing substantial
information to remote corners of the globe.
With it, many ordinary people are now able to
play a part in telling stories including their ow n
© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved.
20
that are usually understated by mainstream
media.
EFFECTS OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM TO
SOCIETY AND PROFESSIONAL
JOURNALISM
According to Ayres (2016) it poses difficulties to
the audience about w hat t o believe. One big
problem w ith this type of journalism is that it
w ill be difficult for people to decide w hat to
believe unlike traditional journalism w here it is
safe to assume the information disseminated is
factual. This means that citizen media should be
checked and re-checked for accuracy to
produce new s that is suitable to print. As you
can see, anyone these days can record and
w rite anything and then present it as fact, so it
is important to remember that w e are dealing
w ith humans here and it is our nature to edit
information to our ow n likeness w hich can
make unofficial new s unreliable.
It has limited audience in some cases. By
publishing their w ork on social media, citizen
journalists w ill have limited audience such as
only to their friends. And w hile blogging will
make their audience a bit greater, it w ould
never be as w idespread as international
broadcast on radio or television. Basically,
citizen journalism just do not have an audience
that is large enough to make a real change
across the w orld.
The hazards of citizen journalism are quite
enormous to the society and professional
journalism. This is because, citizen journalists
are not trained. Therefore, they lack the ability
to report professionally. Also, fake new s is one
of the major implication of citizen journalism.
Fake new s as w e all know is misinformation and
it it capable of causing w ar, disunity, chaos and
genocide. Jeremy (2009) opined that the only
real problem with citizen journalism is that it
gets more difficult for all of us to decide w hat
to believe. With traditional journalism, it w as
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 International Journal of Recent Advances in Psychology & Psychotherapy
21
safe to assume for a long time that the
information w e w ere getting w as factual.
Checked and re-checked for accuracy. Stories
w ere edited in an inverted pyramid, giving us all
the new s that fit t o print up front in the first
three paragraphs
CHALLENGES OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM
Citizen Journalism is passing through
evolutionary stage in different parts of the
w orld and is facing a lot of problems, pressures
and criticism. In CJ w e listen more and more
voices but more voices in the public arena do
not necessarily add to a more lively democracy.
The decisive question is: how do people or
companies best serve the and not only in the
w orld w ide w eb. Illiteracy, poverty and non-
availability of the internet and other new
technology is yet a big hurdle in
development of Citizen Journalism. CJ does not
represent all of the citizens rather it represents
only a limited class of citizens.
A market economy depends on professional
business journalists. Individual statements by
shareholders and various stakeholders are no
substitute for company profiles delivered by
independent professional journalists.
Healthcare reform is another example. It is such
a complex issue. Citizens w ho make the effort
to express themselves might be angry about
the costs they must bear, be it in form of
insurance premiums, taxes or other healthcare
costs. Only professional journalists can perform
their duties w ith a sense of responsibility and
credibility.
The credibility of the CJ reporters has alw ays
been a big challenge w orldwide. M any people
believe that this kind of ‘street reporting’ is not
reliable. They argue that CJ reports are most of
the time exaggerated and biased and the facts
presented are not trustable. Sometimes, t hese
reports are based on opinions. Lasica (2003)
narrates that many new spapers and TV stations
© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved.
Vol. 3, Issue 1 - 2019
had passed many years to establish the trust of
their audiences. How ever, participatory new s
sites, w ith their obvious and more cherished
nature, are at tracting citizen journalists that
contribute and collaborate w ith one another
and most of the times, their content is not
reliable. Therefore, citizen journalism needs
potential to develop a more reliable
relationship w ith their audiences.
its
M oreover, citizen journalists usually don’t obey
any code of ethics w hich is a requirement for
the mainstream media. (Itule & Douglas 2000)
described the code of ethics and responsibility
for journalists as the issue w as highly
concerning since 1970s. They noted, “ A code of
ethics hanging on the w all is meaningless; a
code of ethics internalized w ithin the journalist
and guiding his actions is w hat is meaningful.
t he
Good Ethical values area acquired all thorough
life from a number of sources, such as Church,
family and friends. Reporters can’t separate the
ethics of journalism from the values they hold
as individuals” (p.201).Considering the ethical
boundaries in practical journalism citizens’
involvement in new s process sometimes
produce ambiguity w ith their shared contents.
During 2009, a mobile video clip on national TV
channels in Pakistan, portrayed the brutality of
the “ Taliban” (religious extremists) by beating a
w omen captured by the others w as launched
abruptly and then discussed internationally
w ithout checking the authenticity about video.
Later on investigations proved the fakeness of
video but until the negative intuition of the
nation and the religion stretched w orldw ide.
M any other reports of the citizen journalists are
against the media ethics and the basic norms of
the society. Lack of proper training is yet
another problem of the Citizen Journalism and
that’s w hy their reports don’t fulfill the basic
journalistic requirements. There should be
some proper arrangement of the training of the
citizen journalists. If they are trained properly,
they can produce bet ter reports.
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Citizen Journalism and it's Impacts on Professional Journalism in Progressives Soceity: A Study of 2019
Governorship Election in Cross River State - David NE
THEORETICAL FRAM EW ORK
DEM OCRATIC PARTICIPANT M EDIA
THEORY
This study is anchored on t he Democratic
Participant M edia Theory and the Public Sphere
model. The emphasis of this theory is on the
basis of society and on the value of horizontal
rather than vertical (top-dow n) communication
(M cQuail, 1987: 122). The main thrust of the
theory lies in its insistence that the existing
bureaucracy as w ell as commercial and
professional hegemony in media systems be
broken dow n, so as to guarantee easier media
access for all potential users and consumers
(Folarin, 2005: 43).
(M cQuail 1983) proposed this theory t o take
account of many ideas expressed to take care
of the needs of citizens. The theory found
expression in the 1960s and 1970s in pressure
for local and community radio and television. It
challenged the dominance of centralised,
commercialised, state-controlled and even
professionalised media (M cQuail 2000: 160).
M aking a reference to Ezensberger (1970),
M cQuail notes that the key to applying this
theory w as seen to lie in the new technology of
the times. It favoured media that w ould be
small in scale, non-commercial and often
committed to a cause. Participation and
interaction w ere key concepts.
The theory has been against the system of
parliamentary democracy w hich has seemed to
become detached from its grassroots origins, to
impede rather than facilitate movement in
political and social life. It also takes exception
to a ‘mass society’ w hich is over-organised,
over-centralised and fails to offer realistic
opportunities for individual and minority
expression. M cQuail (1987: 122) says “ the
central point of a democratic-participant theory
lies w ith the needs, interests and aspirations of
the active ‘receiver’ in a political society. It has
© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved.
22
to do w ith the right t o relevant information, the
right to answ er back, the right to use the means
of communication for interaction in small-scale
settings of community, interest group, sub-
culture” . Essentially, the theory’s cautions that
communication should not be left in the hands
of professionals alone find practical expression
in the structure and general operations of
citizen journalism orchestrating the tenets of
the democratic participant media theory is the
public sphere model, Nnanyelugo, Diri and Odii
(2013).
CONCLUSION AND RECOM M ENDATIONS
Citizen Journalism has become an integral part
of the modern-day society because it has given
voice to the voiceless in t he society. This
nascent form of journalism is grow ing rapidly
ow ing to the advancement in technology.
People now st ay at the comfort of their homes
and report events as it unfold, for example, the
2019 governorship, presidential and other
elections w ere said to be marred by all forms of
nefarious activities that portends danger to our
democracy. Some of these reports w ere made
know n by citizen journalists w ho took out time
to reports stories of events from their various
localities.
The study revealed that citizen journalists
played a sacrosanct role during the 2019
governorship election in Cross River State. They
reports a lot of stories across nooks and cranny
of the State w hich show s all manners of
irregularities and violent that occurred during
the election. Some of w hich varies from
snatching of ballots boxes, multiple voting, vote
buying, and many more w hich w as posted on
social media platforms.
Citizen journalism is very important in our
present day society because of its advantage of
allowing the public to capture and disseminate
information on events that occur in their areas.
Traditional media should encourage and train
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 International Journal of Recent Advances in Psychology & Psychotherapy
23 Vol. 3, Issue 1 - 2019

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© Eureka Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 2581-4052