Citizen Journalism in the Pandemic
Your mask and your phone have become essential tools for the protection of the health of yourself and your community. Most people now wear masks to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus to avoid endangering the health of those around them, but not everyone understands the risk of spreading the virus.
Unfortunately, many American citizens have resisted and protested the regulations and guidelines put in place by our political and medical leaders. These irresponsible actions have led to a rise in citizen journalism. A citizen journalist, compared to a professional journalist, doesn’t need to work for a newspaper or have any training. They simply record what they see and spread their information to others. The importance of this type of reporting tends to rise during moments of crisis or great injustice, such as police brutality in the United States.
Many videos, photos, and firsthand accounts of people ignoring the COVID-19 regulations have emerged in recent weeks on the internet. The recent citizen journalism surrounding the pandemic has spread awareness of the extent of restriction violations and inspired people to support our frontline workers.
On May 9, an Austin, Texas park ranger was pushed into a lake while telling a group of people to follow social distancing rules and move farther apart.
A Texas park ranger was pushed into a lake after asking a group to adhere to social distancing rules pic.twitter.com/sOcTMuy8RP— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 9, 2020
Earlier that week, a Michigan man had rubbed his nose on the sleeve of a store employee telling him to wear a face mask. A few days later, a Target security guard’s arm was broken by customers in an altercation after the customers were told to wear weak face masks. Security camera footage from both incidents emerged and quickly spread across the internet.
As someone living in a small town where there has been no reported opposition to the COVID-19 regulations, these videos are disturbing. It’s hard to believe that people will become so upset over burdens as small as having to wear a mask. The videos that emerge from these incidents may not come from professional reporters, but their bystander photographers effectively reveal an alarming reality.
Fortunately, not all amateur journalism has produced such disheartening news. In Colorado in April, medical workers stood among the groups protesting the state’s state-at-home order and other COVID-19 restrictions.
While it is another unfortunate situation, it’s inspiring to see medical workers taking a stand. These amateur videos enlighten people who can’t witness these demonstrations and should motivate them to do all they can to support front line workers and the COVID-19 response. It’s clear that this sort of citizen reporting will be essential to gauge how the pandemic and the efforts to combat it develop over the following months, whether the results are successful or not.Two nurses, who have witnessed first hand the toll Covid is taking in Colorado, stood up and peacefully counter protested. Here is how they were treated. I had join them. pic.twitter.com/iJnNcqZxSv— Marc Zenn (@MarcZenn) April 19, 2020
Interesting topic! I would agree that citizen journalism is important now to document how people are or aren't adhering to social distancing. I think it's difficult to gauge how much of this citizen journalism and self-reporting is being taken seriously, in comparison to articles and reports coming from large national news media outlets. Do you think that this could potentially result in such news media outlets being taken less seriously?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, each type of source has its own unique role. I don't think one necessarily invalidates the other. I would say that larger news media outlets, like major newspapers and national broadcasts, are extremely important for political news at the federal level, which is often less accessible to the general public. Professional journalists fulfill a specific niche here, as they are able to access press events and important political information. Citizen journalism, however, is different in that its citizens reporting on their everyday lives. Through citizen journalism, we can identify how the policies we learn about from national news play out in our everyday lives. Both are equally important, and when taken together paint a full picture of a situation.
DeleteI absolutely agree with Charlie here. It's especially difficult to discredit citizen journalism's importance when it comes in the form of posted videos or photos. I feel that items of citizen journalism that are this substantive already have and will continue to play an essential role in our society. The trend on my mind as I wrote this article was how often we see videos emerge of African- Americans being mistreated and killed senselessly. Even during the pandemic this has continued with the killing of George Floyd. Before him, Ahmaud Arbery was all over the news, and the citizen recorded videos have spread rapidly.
DeleteI really enjoyed your topic about citizen journalism throughout the pandemic. First off, I really love the layout of your article, with the big important quotes getting my full attention! I think citizen journalism is making a large impact on this issue (because of social distancing), but other issues I feel as though people don't pay much attention to citizen journalism. Some seem to take it very seriously (mostly the people who post), but we can't determine how others view these remarks by citizens. They have the big news outlets which people pay more attention to in a pandemic with information constantly going out about it.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up something really important - the trustworthiness of citizen journalism. I think it really depends on every individual on which they decide to trust more. For example, some studies show that teens and younger people are more trustful of citizen journalism than bigger news outlets that might have corporate interests. In my opinion, both are important. I think citizen journalism can capture the smaller, everyday injustices that national news often misses.
DeleteI agree that citizen journalism is being treated differently right now by being given more attention and trust. I think this has to do with how some of the notable events and rule violations that have occurred could only be recorded by people in the right place at the right time. Another factor to the current prevalence of citizen reporting bing used in news articles is that reporters are mostly confined to their houses. Everyone has to limit their movements, so reporters seem to have become somewhat reliant on the word of "citizen journalists" who witness and document things that reporters can't go and see. I'm curious about whether citizen journalism will retain its increased value and respectability after the pandemic.
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