Citizen Photojournalism and the Internet Essay

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Citizen Photojournalists and the Mass Media

In today's modern era of Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr, it might be assumed that ordinary citizen photojournalists lack the need for conventional media platforms to showcase their work. However, ultimately the relationship between the mass media and citizen photojournalists is a symbiotic one. Citizen photojournalists still need the platform that validated media channels can provide. But it cannot be denied that citizen photojournalists have had a democratizing influence upon the content of conventional journalism, even journalism driven by the need to make profits versus citizens who simply want to make their voices (and political agendas) heard.

Although the mass media still has a gatekeeping function, given the 24-7 news cycle, media outlets have been rendered dependent upon the need for other sources of information beyond those or professional photographers. Although professional photojournalists may be held to a higher standard of objectivity and integrity on a professional basis they often simply do not have a presence in certain closed and controlled societies. Citizen photojournalists may be potentially biased and their credibility may not be on par with that of professional photojournalists but they have unprecedented access to tumultuous and significant events from a ground's eye level. A good example of this is the coverage of the 2009 revolution in Iran, including the widespread footage devoted to the killing Neda Agha Soltan, a 26-year-old graduate from the Islamic Azad University in Tehran. The extensive coverage of her death was facilitated by videos taken by citizens who were unexpected witnesses (Mortenson).

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On one hand, it is likely that the disseminators of citizen photographs clearly had an agenda, given that they were intimately involved in the protests. But to deny viewers the right to see such images would seem to limit their ability to understand the visceral emotions of ordinary Iranians about the tragedy. From the perspective of the citizen photographers themselves, although a mass media platform may have potential biases from their point-of-view and be using tragedy to produce profits, not simply educate, there is the unprecedented ability to reach people instantly in a manner that is more predictable than simply hoping something will 'go viral.' This is something new and particular to modern journalism. "Eyewitnesses no longer just settle for making an appearance in the media as sources of information and experience, they are themselves producing and distributing media contents."(Mortenson).

Citizen photojournalists may even disagree with the dominant ideology of the platform but still need it to showcase their work to an audience, to communicate. They may also be uncomfortable with the fact that commercial media is ultimately profit-driven and effectively they are permitting such media to profit from the tragedies they witness. In the case of the Iranian student revolution and the death of Neda Agha Soltan there was a clear narrative that was being structured which may or may not have been the intention of the original photographers: "The interpretation….....

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"Citizen Photojournalism And The Internet" (2016, May 13) Retrieved May 18, 2024, from
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