Citizen journalism: A South Asian perspective

Abstract

With the rise of internet literacy in the world, ordinary people are increasingly participating in the news media more than ever before. A common conception of the influence of citizen journalism imbues the news practice with an almost messianic ability to save both journalism and democracy. Analyzing the characteristics of news by ordinary people, this paper discusses the phenomenon of citizen journalism from the perspective of South Asia. The paper reveals that, whist their coverage of news includes a wide range of news issues, citizen journalists from South Asia focus more on political issues, and are determined to uncover misconduct by public officials. There are also visible trends toward collective news practices in the activities of marginalised groups. The main focus of citizen journalism is on issues of public concerns, promoting a diversity of political views.