Week 6 — Potential for citizen Journalism.

In today’s multi-platform communication opportunities, the potential for citizen journalism is very high. In the early 2000s with the advancement of mobile devices the ability for the public to record either sporting events, local or national stories, or entertainment stories that unfold right in front of their eyes. Social media allows for citizens to post anything they please on their respective outlets, whether it be on facebook, twitter, instagram, as well as the introduction to “Facebook live” allowing facebook users to live broadcast themselves to the facebook world, however there is limitations on these, due to the fact that these can only be broadcasted to their select friends.

Also, contributing to this is how easy and direct it can be to be a citizen journalist, having a smart phone (77% of Australians reportedly owned smart phones in 2015) is high in society at the moment, so having a pocket sized object with the ability to take photos, record and post things that can be taken easily also contributes to how the possibility for citizen journalism is high. One recent example is the Boston marathon bombings http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/04/social-media-and-the-boston-bombings-when-citizens-and-journalists-cover-the-same-story/ in which citizens took photos and uploaded them to social media.

The advancement of technology has allowed for the possibility of regular people to contribute to todays reporting, and will continue to be a valuable source for journalists.