Citizen Witnessing: Revisioning Journalism in Times of Crisis / Edition 1

by Stuart Allan

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745651958
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	03/04/2013
Series:	Key Concepts in Journalism
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Stuart Allan is professor of journalism at Bournemouth University. His previous books include: Matheson, D. & Allan, S., Digital War Reporting and Allan, S. & Thorsen E. (eds.), Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements page vi

1 'Accidental Journalism' 1

2 The Journalist as Professional Observer 26

3 Bearing Witness, Making News 56

4 Witnessing Crises in a Digital Era 92

5 News, Civic Protest and Social Networking 120

6 WikiLeaks: Citizen as Journalist, Journalist as Citizen 152

7 'The Global Village of Images' 174

Notes 207

References 220

Index 246

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

'Drawing on a wide range of relevant work, Allan shrewdly rethinks the idea of the “citizen journalist” by examining the “journalist as citizen” as well as the “citizen as accidental journalist”. Allan’s intelligent analysis of both classic and bang-up-to-date examples makes this a key contribution to understanding how journalism should best develop.'
John Ellis, Royal Holloway, University of London

'Stuart Allan reminds us "'war zones’ are also people’s homes." He critically documents how mobile and digital tools in the hands of billions around the world have opened up a radicalizing public service of “citizen witnessing” – a phenomenon that is invigorating journalism and forcing democratic (and not so democratic) institutions to greater accountability and responsibility.'
Susan Moeller, University of Maryland

'Allan's Citizen Witnessing invites readers to think more deeply about the everyday materialities that define acts of citizen journalism in times of crisis, the very real risks and losses it can entail, and the reasons why we will continue to rely on the courage of its documentarians, and the contingencies of happenstance they face, in the years to come. Citizen Witnessing will be essential reading in journalism studies and beyond.'
Carrie Rentschler, McGill University