Matthias Ritters

The impact of citizen journalism on the public sphere Matthias Ritters

Publisher Marketing: Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Communications - Journalism, Journalism Professions, grade: 1,0, Griffith College Dublin, course: MA Journalism & Media Communication, language: English, abstract: New media arises and with it the readership of the traditional media coupled declines. Public participation in the news process gives rise to independent online journalism. Media expansion and the availability of media outputs have grown simultaneously as both the markets and technology have developed. Portability transformed the media landscape forever. Blogging given birth to a new generation of citizen journalists. In 2012 there were about 59.4 million WordPress sites across the world and they received 3.5 billion views in all. Other content creation forms are gaining more and more popularity as well: Wikipedia has more than 4.5 million English-language entries - all user-generated and user-edited. All these platforms enable to share own content. Anyone can become an author in these times, publish articles and share own content. Though news organizations get millions of eyes and ears on the ground, citizen journalists present a host of challenges for media outlets. Citizen contributions pose a difficult, time-consuming and potentially risky process for publications.