Portal:Citizen Journalism

Citizen Journalism, also public or participatory journalism, is news, media, and information, presented and/or created by citizens, not necessarily for professional or profit-oriented purposes. Citizen journalism is often created to provide information that the mainstream media is failing to provide, or to present a social or political cause through journalistic means.

A more thorough description and history of citizen journalism as a whole can be found on the Wikipedia page on citizen journalism

This is the portal page for the topic Citizen journalism. From here, you can find a number of links to information regarding citizen journalism in general, citizen journalism around the world, as well as to examples of IDEA citizen journalism.

A complete list of Debatepedia articles related to this topic can be found at Category:Citizen journalism.

Citizen Journalism Projects at IDEA

IDEA's international, citizen journalism programs train students from around the world to create their own journalism using limited resources. Once the students have made their own public media, IDEA publishes it on its website. At the links below, you can check out media created by IDEA and IDEA students, and learn how to get yourself involved in creating media with IDEA.

Consume

The site of IDEA's 2008 International Debate and Citizen Journalism Institute

• Check out past IDEA citizen journalism projects
• Listen to IDEA Radio, featuring user-created content
• Find IDEA media at the iDebate Encyclomedia
• Read the IDEA Blog

Create

• Learn about IDEA's 2008 International Debate Citizen Journalism Institute

• Featured print story

Passion for Pottery - by Sheila and Karina

• Featured photo-journalism slide show

Horizon - by Marius, Teodora and Viorel

• Featured radio story

Coming soon!

• Featured video PSA

Hunger in Haiti - by Vivian and Victor

• Featured blog

So far there are no IDEA Citizen Journalism blogs. For now you can view the IDEA Blog.

• Citizen Journalism in Greece
• Citizen Journalism in Spain
• Citizen Journalism in the UK
• Citizen Journalism in the US
• Citizen Journalism in India

• Online Journalism Review - Grassroots Journalism
• The London Times - Citizen journalists who snapped the news - 20/11/06
• Snarkmarket - "Real Citizen Journalism" - Jan 9, 2007

Below you will find a collection of tools that can be used to create and to teach the creation of public media. You can also find a good list of citizen journalism tools at SourceWatch - Tools for citizen journalism.

Audacity, an example of Open-Source Software

Free and affordable software is essential for citizen journalism, so that any citizen can create media without requiring a professional budget. This kind of software does exist as an alternative to the very expensive professional tools. For example, Adobe's Photoshop can be replaced by Gimp, a free, downloadable, open-source image manipulation program. Another alternative would be to use a program built into your computer's operating system. For example, instead of using Final Cut Pro or Avid for video editing, you can use iMovie if your computer has a Mac OS, or Windows Movie Maker if you have a Windows OS. Open-Source Software

For a complete list of Open-Source Software pages, view Category:Open-Source Software

• Open Office is a productivity suite that can be used for a variety of purposes, including word processing, databases, and presentations.
• Picasa can be used for digital photography importing and editing.
• GraphicConverter can be used for organizing, batch editing, and converting digital images.
• Gimp can be used for image manipulation.
• SonicStage can be used for audio importing.
• Audacity can be used for audio editing.
• Jahshaka can be used for video editing.

Windows Movie Maker logo

Software Built into Operating Systems

For a complete list of this type of software, view Category:Software Built Into an OS

For Windows OS

• Windows Movie Maker can be used for video editing.

For Mac OS

• iMovie can be used for video editing.
• iPhoto can be used for basic photo importing and editing.

Youth Media Reporter - The Professional Journal of the Youth Media Field

• Youth Media Reporter - The Professional Journal of the Youth Media Field
• Center for Citizen Media
• Knight Citizen News Network
• Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive by Mark Briggs
• Pew Center for Civic Journalism

Lesson Plans Here you will find a number of lesson plans for teaching participatory journalism. These lesson plans have been developed by the trainers of IDEA's International Debate and Citizen Journalism Institute.

You can create and share your own lesson plan, using a blank Youth Media Template!

• Video PSA Lesson Plan. This is a 14-day lesson plan for teaching the use of video cameras and Microsoft Windows' built-in, video-editing software to create a public service announcement.
• Teaching Audacity. Here you can find a four-part lesson plan for teaching Audacity, an open-source, audio-editing program.
• Photo-Journalism Lesson Plan, for teaching photography composition, digital editing, and photo-journalism ethics to students with anything from a cell phone camera to a high-end digital SLR.
• Recording Audio Lesson Plan, for use with a Sony Hi-MD audio recorder.
• Sonic Stage Lesson Plan, for importing audio with Sonic Stage, an open-source, audio-importing program.

Additional Materials

• Duino 2007 CJ Summary, a brief description of the citizen journalism curriculum at IDEA's 2007 International Debate and Citizen Journalism Institue, in Duino Italy.
• The Citizen Media Law Project
• "Microphones", by Peter Elsea, for an overview of the more technical aspects of using microphones.
• A very useful guide to audio recording