The simplest and most accepted definition of a journalist is a person who writes for newspapers or magazines or prepares news to be broadcast on radio or television. However, with the rapid advancements in technology that have seen the emergence of the Internet and ultimately social media, journalism has moved away from being primarily a formal means of disseminating and evaluating information to the public, which once required some form of training in technical and professional practices, as well as ethics.

In most democratic societies in which freedom of expression is constitutionally guaranteed, the established media are allowed to exist with a number of checks and balances by way of licensing specifications and libel laws, but, for the most part, newspapers, radio and television stations in the commercial space practise a great deal of self-censorship while adhering to agreed and acceptable standards.

But the media landscape has been undergoing a great deal of restructuring in order to cope with the many challenges in this new information age, and it is in this context that a peculiar phenomenon called citizen journalism has emerged. According to Wikipedia, “Citizen journalism, democratic journalism, guerilla journalism, or street journalism (this last one applies very much to the Jamaican situation) is based upon public citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing, and disseminating news and information.”

Courtney C Radsch, an American journalist, author, and advocate for freedom of expression, defines citizen journalism “as an alternative and activist form of news gathering and reporting that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to shortcomings in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism”.

In Jamaica, on a daily basis, subscribers to the Internet post videos on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other such platforms, which bombard viewers with lurid depictions of incidents – usually murders, accidents, street protests, and other sensational occurrences. As a result, media houses are hard-pressed to keep up with this seemingly unwarranted competition in cyberspace, and newspapers are perhaps the most adversely affected as they are oftentimes upstaged in terms of providing breaking news to their readers.

Another aspect to citizen journalism is the upsurge of various so-called news outlets that provide not only news as it happens, but also delve into the area of investigative journalism, providing juicy and salacious details of immoral and criminal acts.

The main danger in all of this is that these entities are not subject to any meaningful or sustained regulation or scrutiny so much harm can be done to innocent people or unsuspecting organisations. And it is no secret that political hacks use such medium to slander and disparage opponents, as well as spread malicious and ill-founded propaganda.

In this regard, according to Wikipedia, it has been observed that “citizen journalism is yet to develop a conceptual framework and guiding principles”. As a result, “it can be heavily opinionated and subjective, making it more supplemental than primary in terms of forming public opinion. Critics of the phenomenon, including professional journalists and news organisations, claim that citizen journalism is unregulated, amateur, and haphazard in quality and coverage. Furthermore, citizen journalists, due to their lack of professional affiliation, are thought to lack resources as well as focus on how best to serve the public”.

Against this background, one must ask the question: “Is citizen journalism a blessing or a curse?” It would appear that it is both.

There is no doubt that “new media technology, such as social networking and media-sharing websites, in addition to the increasing prevalence of cellular phones, have made citizen journalism more accessible to people worldwide” thus, against the backdrop of the world now being a global village, information in a real and perhaps cheaper way has become more accessible to the average citizen, which augurs well for the preservation of our democratic way of life as it can be successfully argued that an informed citizen is the best weapon against despotism and authoritarian rule.

Jamaica has been benefiting from citizen journalism as inquisitive, as well as enquiring citizens have been able to unearth information relating to malfeasance, many acts of corruption, not to mention incidents of indiscretion, immorality, and criminality. The downside is that, whether wittingly or unwittingly, unsuspecting individuals can see their reputations destroyed and are brought into public ridicule as happened in the case of that policeman who was involved in that infamous “ice cream sexcapade”.

There are also many other celebrated cases, such as the George Wright matter, which, for the most part, has remained unresolved because of the poor quality of the video. But, notwithstanding, the fact that citizen journalism can put the spotlight on many incidents or issues that would otherwise have gone undetected and never brought into the glare of public scrutiny, it behooves mainstream media to rise to the occasion and assert its very important role in ensuring professionalism, probity, integrity, and just plain decency, not to mention human compassion.

Perhaps the time has come for major stakeholders, such as mainstream media, the Media Association of Jamaica, the Press Association of Jamaica, our universities, non-governmental organisations, as well as civil society pressure groups and our legislators, to engage in in-depth discussions and research to determine the extent to which citizen journalism should be encouraged or discouraged. But, alas, this may well be an exercise in futility as, increasingly, as we have seen on the world stage, it has become difficult to control content in cyberspace, especially in a free society such as ours.

Of course, one of the ways to counter the unbridled use of citizen journalism is to encourage community or civic journalism, which is the practice of professional and non-professional journalists working together.

But, as has been argued by some professionals, the underlying principle of citizen journalism is that ordinary people, not professional journalists, can be the main creators and distributors of news. Or, as Jay Rosen, writer and professor of journalism at New York University, puts it, rather succinctly, citizen journalism is “when the people, formerly known as the audience, employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another”.

Blessing or curse? The jury is out!

Lloyd B Smith has been involved full-time in Jamaican media for the past 45 years. He has also served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.