March 19, 2024

About

About NewsParticipation:

NewsParticipation is an online community where citizen journalism is recognized and fostered.

The site showcases the work of amateur and professional journalists seeking an open forum for posting news dispatches and commentary. The site is also a vehicle for discussion about critical news topics.

It is increasingly common for individual, first-hand accounts of breaking news to be shared online. However, these critical posts and conversations remain scattered across the web. NewsParticipation offers a single site where such works can be published, and where people can access information to educate themselves and each other on a broad range of contemporary issues.

The need for citizen journalism has become increasingly urgent. Mainstream media is often too closely tied to special interests to give fair and complete coverage to the important events of our time. Without unbiased information, the body politic remains under-educated, and unable to participate in a productive public discourse. This dearth of participation is contributing to a persistent ignorance about current events, and resulting in the deterioration of our representation in government. It is our hope that this forum will foster citizen engagement, and build a collective knowledge – free of mainstream news biases – that will ultimately enable people to directly influence government action.

We believe that when citizen journalists can come together, a common voice will emerge – one that will be difficult to ignore. NewsParticipation aims to be the united voice with which individuals can speak and, together, be heard loud and clear.

 

 

What is Citizen journalism?

Citizen journalism results from individuals “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism)

“The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it …”

Mark Glaser

Freelance Journalist

 

Why is Citizen Journalism Important?

“Journalism is evolving from a lecture into a conversation.”

Dan Gillmor
Founder of the Center for Citizen Media,
Author of We the Media

“The free flow of information is essential to a democratic society. Already, more Americans get their information from the Internet than from newspapers. That trend will only intensify, making it imperative for our democracy that we find ways to effectively deliver the news and information people require on the new digital platforms.”

Alberto Ibargüen.
President Knight Foundation

 

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