Citizen Witnessing

Beschreibung

What role can the ordinary citizen perform in news reporting?This question goes to the heart of current debates about citizenjournalism, one of the most challenging issues confronting the newsmedia today. In this timely and provocative book, Stuart Allan introduces thekey concept of 'citizen witnessing' in order to rethinkfamiliar assumptions underlying traditional distinctions betweenthe 'amateur' and the 'professional'journalist. Particular attention is focused on the spontaneousactions of ordinary people - caught-up in crisis eventstranspiring around them - who feel compelled to participatein the making of news. In bearing witness to what they see, theyengage in unique forms of journalistic activity, generatingfirsthand reportage - eyewitness accounts, video footage,digital photographs, Tweets, blog posts - frequently making avital contribution to news coverage. Drawing on a wide range of examples to illustrate his argument,Allan considers citizen witnessing as a public service, showing howit can help to reinvigorate journalism's responsibilitieswithin democratic cultures. This book is required reading for allstudents of journalism, digital media and society.

Autor*in

Stuart Allan

Themen in »Citizen Witnessing«

Communication & Media Studies Communication Studies Journalism Journalismus Kommunikation u. Medienforschung Kommunikationswissenschaft Media Studies Medienforschung

Stimmen zu »Citizen Witnessing«

"This combination of historic contextualization, theoreticalanalysis, empirical research, and news case studies (citizen andjournalist) makes what could have been an impenetrable academictext, a lively, inspiring, and thoughtful read accessible toscholars and students alike." Harvard's International Journal of Press /Politics "It's difficult to find fault with (this) book. I hope thatit will change the way academics and the wider populous use thevarious terms associated with what has generally been labelled ormislabelled as citizen journalism and that the term citizenwitnessing, as Allan conceptualises it, takes hold." Digital Journalism "Drawing on a wide range of relevant work, Allan shrewdly rethinksthe idea of the "citizen journalist" by examining the"journalist as citizen" as well as the "citizenas accidental journalist". Allan's intelligent analysisof both classic and bang-up-to-date examples makes this a keycontribution to understanding how journalism should bestdevelop." John Ellis, Royal Holloway, University of London "An important book that moves the current debate about the futureof journalism into a new domain. A must-read for journalismscholars, students and practitioners alike." Pacific Journalism Review 'Stuart Allan reminds us "'war zones' are also people'shomes." He critically documents how mobile and digital tools in thehands of billions around the world have opened up a radicalizingpublic service of "citizen witnessing" - aphenomenon that is invigorating journalism and forcing democratic(and not so democratic) institutions to greater accountability andresponsibility.' Susan Moeller, University of Maryland 'Allan's Citizen Witnessing invites readers to think moredeeply about the everyday materialities that define acts of citizenjournalism in times of crisis, the very real risks and losses itcan entail, and the reasons why we will continue to rely on thecourage of its documentarians, and the contingencies ofhappenstance they face, in the years to come. CitizenWitnessing will be essential reading in journalism studies andbeyond.' Carrie Rentschler, McGill University
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