Citizen Free Press: Freedom is a very vital component of our human existence, and in every advanced society the freedom of its citizens as made provision for by the law is not an aspect that is toyed with at any level.
One such freedom that cannot be overlooked is the freedom of speech and the press. This consequently implies that citizens have the right to speak out on certain issues that do not sit well with them or which are operating contrary to the existing laws of the state at the expense of their well-being.Â
Freedom is a universal human right and is not reserved only for those wielding political power, occupying offices of influence, and the financially advantaged.
A free press is one of the fundamental proof that society is democratic. The free press seeks out and circulates news, information, comments, opinion, and ideas and holds those in authority accountable for their decisions and actions.
The citizen free press is a platform for multiple voices to be heard at national, local, and regional levels on varying issues considered important and It serves as a watchdog system. This medium is also used to educate the citizenry on contemporary issues and matters arising within their locality at all levels.
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The idea that every citizen that can engage in acts of journalism and press has a long history in the United States with which I will spare you the details but point out intricate parts for your consumption.
Journalists began to question the sureness of their coverage of events one of which was the 1988 U.S. presidential election, these journalists became part of the public or civic journalism movement which sought to counter and overthrow the erosion of trust in the news media and the widespread disillusionment with politics and civic affairs.
The movement focused on promoting journalism which had the interest of the people upheld as a priority by changing the way professionals did their work. But with the advancement of technology, many have found it easy to capture and circulate information quite easily with minimal effort.
There are many who have to be proponents and facilitators of citizen free press, people such as Dan Gillmor, Professor Charles Nesson, James Wesley Rawles, Maurice Ali, etc.
Challenges To Citizen Free Press
Given that the citizen free press is yet to develop a conceptual framework that will stand as a guiding principle to its operations, it can be highly opinionated and subjective which makes it more supplemental than primary in terms of forming public opinion.
Professionals in the field of journalism and publishing have a problem already with the way citizens’ free press is unregulated, haphazard, and unorganized in quality and coverage.
Due to this lack of professional affiliation and guidance, principal citizen free press tends to blow certain information passed across to the public and also lack the proper discipline to address issues as they should be as their information tends to be wrapped with emotions than logical reasoning and thought.
On this note, many have passed down improper and untrue information to the public which ended up stirring undue conflict.
A Form Of Alternative Media
According to Mark Glaser in 2006, people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and global distribution of the internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others.
Even now many citizens lack trust in the news delivery from media houses and stations, they cannot trust what has been cooked by these professional gurus.
Also, the citizen free press has been advantageous to the public because of its raw nature of reporting events and situations. Many times the absence of the press at scenes of occurrences due to lack of information could cost the public that information but citizen free press has come to the rescue of many at such times ensuring that information circulates to the public through the use of technology and advantage of being present.
Now many tend to rely more on the free press than professional journalists as they consider the free press more reliable and available for consumption.
Courtney C. Radsch wrote that throughout the Arab world, the citizen press has emerged as the vanguard of new social movements dedicated to promoting human rights and democratic values.
Classifications Of Citizen Free Press
J.D. Lasica classified citizen free press into 6 types and they are as follows:
- Audience participation such as personal blogs, videos, or photographs captured from personal mobile cameras, etc.
- Independent news and information websites
- Full-fledged participatory news sites
- Collaborative and contributory media sites
- Other kinds of thin media
- Personal broadcasting sites.
There are many out there who strongly consider their act of citizen press the reason why they are citizens, hence you can say they consider journalism and speaking out for the right reasons when necessary as citizenship.
These citizens are considered to as ‘dutiful’ citizens because they are most likely to engage and participate in discussions and they are more likely to use social media and every available medium within their reach and disposal to disseminate information to the public on matters bothering the interest of the citizens.
Going forward into the future citizen free press has come to stay, given the widespread availability of technological gadgets and resources, it will seemingly be impossible to take away the invincible seat of the people at the helm of affairs, seeing that people will always speak up when their rights are being tampered with or when the driver steering the wheels of the economic or social vehicle goes off course.
As a natural defense mechanism, people are bound to speak up and speak loud especially in democratic states all around the world.
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