Media Freedom in the Age of Citizen Journalism

Media Freedom in the Age of Citizen Journalism
Author: Coe, Peter
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2021-12-10
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1800371268

This timely book explores how the internet and social media have permanently altered the media landscape, enabling new actors to enter the marketplace, and changing the way that news is generated, published and consumed. It examines the importance of citizen journalists, whose newsgathering and publication activities have made them crucial to public discourse and central actors in the communication revolution. Investigating how the internet and social media have enabled citizen journalism to flourish, and what this means for the traditional institutional press, the public sphere, and media freedom, the book demonstrates how communication and legal theory are applied in practice.

The New Censorship

The New Censorship
Author: Joel Simon
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2014-11-11
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0231538332

An examination of how the media is under fire and how to safeguard journalists and the information they seek to share with the public. Journalists are being imprisoned and killed in record numbers. Online surveillance is annihilating privacy, and the Internet can be brought under government control at any time. Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, warns that we can no longer assume that our global information ecosystem is stable, protected, and robust. Journalists are increasingly vulnerable to attack by authoritarian governments, militants, criminals, and terrorists, who all seek to use technology, political pressure, and violence to set the global information agenda. Reporting from Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, and Mexico, among other hotspots, Simon finds journalists under threat from all sides. The result is a growing crisis in information—a shortage of the news we need to make sense of our globalized world and fight human rights abuses, manage conflict, and promote accountability. Drawing on his experience defending journalists on the front lines, he calls on “global citizens,” U.S. policy makers, international law advocates, and human rights groups to create a global freedom-of-expression agenda tied to trade, climate, and other major negotiations. He proposes ten key priorities, including combating the murder of journalists, ending censorship, and developing a global free-expression charter to challenge the criminal and corrupt forces that seek to manipulate the world's news. “Wise and insightful. [Simon] offers hope to all who care about maintaining the free flow of information in a world full of would-be censors.”—Ann Cooper, Columbia Journalism School

Citizen Journalism

Citizen Journalism
Author: Stuart Allan
Publisher: Peter Lang
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2009
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781433102950

Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives' examines the spontaneous actions of ordinary people, caught up in extraordinary events, and compelled to adopt the role of a news reporter. This collection of twenty-one chapters investigates citizen journalism in the West, including the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia, as well as its development in other national contexts around the globe, including Brazil, China, India, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Palestine, South Korea, Vietnam, and even Antarctica. Its aim is to assess the contribution of citizen journalism to crisis reporting, and to encourage new forms of dialogue and debate about how it may be improved in the future. The book contains contributions by Mark Deuze about 'The Future of Citizen Journalism' and Paul Bradshaw about 'Wiki Journalism.

We the Media

We the Media
Author: Dan Gillmor
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2006-01-24
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0596102275

Looks at the emerging phenomenon of online journalism, including Weblogs, Internet chat groups, and email, and how anyone can produce news.

Media Freedom in the Age of Citizen Journalism

Media Freedom in the Age of Citizen Journalism
Author: Peter Coe
Publisher:
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2021-12-10
Genre: Citizen journalism
ISBN: 9781800371255

This timely book explores how the internet and social media have permanently altered the media landscape, enabling new actors to enter the marketplace and changing the way that news is generated, published and consumed. It examines the importance of citizen journalists, whose newsgathering and publication activities have made them crucial to public discourse and central actors in the communication revolution. Investigating how the internet and social media have enabled citizen journalism to flourish, and what this means for the traditional institutional press, the public sphere, and media freedom, the book demonstrates how communication and legal theory are applied in practice. Peter Coe advances a concept of 'media as a constitutional component', which distinguishes media from non-media actors based on the functions they perform, rather than institutional status, and uses this to provide a conceptual framework that recognises modern newsgathering and publication methods. This interdisciplinary book analyses the legal challenges created across a range of topical issues, including online anonymity and pseudonymity, defamation, privacy and public interest, contempt of court and press regulation. Media Freedom in the Age of Citizen Journalism will be a key resource for students, scholars, practitioners and policy-makers of information and media law, constitutional administrative law, communication and media studies, journalism and philosophy.

Citizen Witnessing

Citizen Witnessing
Author: Stuart Allan
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2013-04-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0745664431

What role can the ordinary citizen perform in news reporting? This question goes to the heart of current debates about citizen journalism, one of the most challenging issues confronting the news media today. In this timely and provocative book, Stuart Allan introduces the key concept of ‘citizen witnessing’ in order to rethink familiar assumptions underlying traditional distinctions between the ‘amateur’ and the ‘professional’ journalist. Particular attention is focused on the spontaneous actions of ordinary people – caught-up in crisis events transpiring around them – who feel compelled to participate in the making of news. In bearing witness to what they see, they engage in unique forms of journalistic activity, generating firsthand reportage – eyewitness accounts, video footage, digital photographs, Tweets, blog posts – frequently making a vital contribution to news coverage. Drawing on a wide range of examples to illustrate his argument, Allan considers citizen witnessing as a public service, showing how it can help to reinvigorate journalism’s responsibilities within democratic cultures. This book is required reading for all students of journalism, digital media and society.

Journalists under pressure

Journalists under pressure
Author: Marilyn Clark
Publisher: Council of Europe
Total Pages: 90
Release: 2017-03-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9287184402

Freedom of expression is one of the basic conditions for the progress of society. Without safeguards for the safety of journalists there can be no free media. Journalists are under threat in Europe. Different forms of violence against journalists have increased significantly over the last decade: from physical attacks, to intimidation and harassment, targeted surveillance and cyberbullying, we now see a range of tactics deployed to silence critical voices and free speech. Together with impunity for the perpetrators of unwarranted interference on journalists, these are among the most serious challenges facing media freedom today. Self-censorship is hardly surprising in such circumstances. This study, conducted among almost 1 000 journalists and other news providers in the 47 Council of Europe member states and Belarus, sheds new light on how these issues impact on journalists’ behaviour. The results of the study provide quantitative evidence on such unwarranted interference, fear and how this relates to consequent self-censorship. These striking results confirm the urgent need for member states to fully implement Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4 on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors, and represent an essential and reliable tool for strategic planning in this field to guarantee freedom of expression.

Human Rights and a Changing Media Landscape

Human Rights and a Changing Media Landscape
Author: Council of Europe
Publisher: Council of Europe
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9789287171986

The media play a crucial role in the protection of human rights. They expose human rights violations and offer an arena for different voices to be heard in public discourse. Free, independent and pluralistic media are a core element of any democracy. However, the power of the media can also be misused to the extent that the very functioning of democracy is threatened. Some media outlets have been turned into propaganda megaphones for those in power. Others have been used to incite xenophobic hatred and violence against minorities and other vulnerable groups. Now the phenomenon of social media presents us with a range of fresh challenges. Blogs, video and social networking sites have become a key forum for political debate and organisation - so much so that they have provoked counter-responses from some repressive states. While there is a need to ensure better protection of personal integrity in social media, the right to freedom of expression must not be undermined. The purpose of this publication is to contribute to a more thorough discussion on media developments and their impact on human rights in a constantly changing media landscape. Eight experts were invited to contribute their personal assessments of trends and problems. They have not shied away from addressing controversial issues or providing far-reaching suggestions. Together their texts indicate that there is a need for stronger protection of media freedom and freedom of expression in Europe today. These are clearly topics of paramount importance which demand serious public debate.

World trends in freedom of expression and media development

World trends in freedom of expression and media development
Author: UNESCO
Publisher: UNESCO Publishing
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2018-02-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9231002422

In the face of such challenges, this new volume in the World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development series offers a critical analysis of new trends in media freedom, pluralism, independence and the safety of journalists.