Editorial Team

Emmanuel Udom-Managing Editor, Stephen Dijo Philemon-Deputy Editor, Janet Udom-Senior Correspondent, Precious Udom-Senior Correspondent, Williams Ita-Bureau Chief(Akwa Ibom/Cross River), Fabian Idoko-Senior Correspondent
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    Manufacturer's Representative Import Export General Merchandise Contract Adress: Araromi Quarters, Owode Area, Ifo, Ogun state, Nigeria P.O.Box 2632, Oshiodi, Lagos Telephone: 2348166719412

    Tuesday 28 February 2017

    The pains and gains of citizen journalism


    Citizen journalism is basically about members of the public getting involved in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.

    This is not my definition, but that of wikipedia. To read more on this, please visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

    In a nutshell, this 21st century new brand of journalism means anybody regardless of his or her profession or vocation is a journalist, a reporter.
    So, if you are a wielder, teacher, bricklayer, business person, full time housewife, journalist, accountant, farmer, blogger and hustler, etc. you have every right under the sun to report or write on any issue.

    Tag words Wikipedia used are: public, participatory, democratic, guerilla, street journalism.

    The social media, smart phones, emails, forums, directories and other online platforms have made the serious business of collecting and analyzing news and information open to every tom, dick and harry  across the globe.

    Therefore, if there is  a disaster, violence, bloodbath, rape, murder, assassination, kidnapping, organized robbery, air mishap or auto-crash in one part of the globe, it is seen, read and felt across the entire world in a matter of minutes.

    This is technology in action for the good of humanity.

    People could just pick these calamities and post them on any of the social media platforms and pronto, the whole world is disturbed.

    This is the pain of citizen journalism as raw, unprocessed news or information has the capacity to do more damages than good.

    It is okay for every man or woman, boy or girl or youth to become a citizen journalist, just because the person is armed with tools for communications.
    But, I honestly think people whose passion it is to collect and report news and information on the social media without going through the pains of processing these news and information in accordance with internationally acceptable journalism standards should think twice.

    Citizen journalists, regardless of who they are could make a living, a career, collecting news, photos, videos and information and passing them on to established media organization for processing before being presented to the public. This is the gain of citizen journalism.

    In this century, where information is spread at the speed of light, it could gladden the mind of an illiterate peasant farmer somewhere in Abak Oko village, whose son suddenly presented him with N5000.

    The son may explain to the farmer that the money was paid into his bank account by a newspaper, magazine or website within or outside Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom state, south-west Nigeria,  where this remote village is located for collecting and passing on a news, information, photo or video to the media platform. The truth is that I am from this village.

    In journalism, bad news is good news. But, from my humble experience as a practicing journalist of more than two decades, if journalists write, air or post just 10% of what they collect, raw and unprocessed, this beautiful world will collapse or cease to exist.

    I do not care about your profession or vocation. I do not care if you are educated or illiterate. I do not care if you are poor or wealthy.
    What I know and care is that in your little corner, you can contribute your small quota to making this world a better place.

    How? Tell us what is happening in your home, compound, street, community, local government, state, country and we will look at it analyze it and pass it on for the world to read, see and feel.

    If you are interested in partnering with us on this serious and humanitarian mission of serving God and humanity as a citizen journalist, let us know.

    Please contact us through: www.vicnuel.blogspot.com.ng or eeudom@yahoo.com







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