Citizen journalism

Naming is important. Would you satisfy with this one?

Citizen journalism, also known as “participatory journalism” is the act of citizens “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information,” according to the seminal report, We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis. They say, “The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires.”

“Public journalism” can refer to this journalism work by ordinary people, or it can mean certain work or aspects or work by professional journalists. The latter meaning is also often called “civic journalism”.