The Rise of Citizen Reporting: An Analytical

Exploration of Professional Journalistic Attitudes

towards Participatory Culture

Aimee Carney

Dissertation - LB601

Student number: 13822223

Date submitted: 05/05/2016

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

of BA (Hons) Multimedia Broadcast Journalism.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I’d like to give special thanks to my supervisor, Abigail Wincott, who supported me at all stages

of this dissertation. I couldn’t have done it without your guidance, enthusiasm and motivation.

To my seven journalist interviewees: Flora Thompson, Bex Bastable, Aidan Barlow, Paul

Francis, David Gazet, Sheena Campbell and Bess Browning. Thank you for taking the time

out of your busy work schedules, buying me drinks, and answering my questions to participate

in this research project. You were each the individual, magical Horcrux I needed to conquer

this long journey. Your taking part was very much appreciated.

Lastly I’d like to thank my family, best friends and Jack for being my biggest support network.

You were always there to spur me on and gave me the advice I needed to keep going. Mum,

thank you for making me see the bright side of every situation. Dad, we did two dissertations

in the same year together. Thank you for your support. And finally, Nan, you persuaded me

one day to be the first woman in our family to go to university. This dissertation is dedicated

to you.

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ABSTRACT

This dissertation investigates and scrutinizes a prominent and controversial topic in the

contemporary world of reporting, the citizen vs. professional journalism debate. With an

exclusive emphasis on media industry professional attitudes towards participatory journalism

culture, it examines whether qualified individuals choose to welcome and utilise amateur

presence in today’s digital society, or, if they show similar concerns that this is affecting their

traditional values and challenging job authority and professionalism in the newsroom. The

central investigation not only looks into how a professional journalist reacts to the term “citizen

journalist”, but also focuses on whether the journalists interviewed are incorporating a key

strategy to maintain control over their dignity and identities as a working journalist, known as

‘news repair’ (Bennet et al., 1985).

A qualitative discourse analysis was carried out for this observation through semi-structured

interviews with seven professional reporters from local newspapers. The data collected

conveyed that five key themes were shared amongst the professional journalists when

discussing the impact of citizen journalism. This included maintaining standards of

professionalism, being trained, using citizen j

ournalism to their advantage in the newsroom, how citizen journalism has involved their

communities and concerns for the future of journalism as we know it.

The outcomes of the investigation indicate that professional journalists are neither for nor

against citizen journalism, having neutralised the reported threat of citizen journalism, and are

choosing to adapt to the demands of amateur reporting and social media usage. The

conclusions drawn from the study can also confirm that ‘news repair’ is being employed in the

modern newsroom today.

Keywords: citizen journalism, professional journalist, training, professionalism, gatekeeping,

news repair

Words: 8000

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 5

1.1 Aims 5

1.2 Objectives 6

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 The Participatory Journalist 6

2.2 Journalists as Gatekeepers 7

2.3 News Professionalism 7

2.4 Maintaining Journalistic Control 8

2.5 The News Repair Theory 9

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10

3.1 Research Style 10

3.2 Research Methods 10

3.3 Interview Participants 11

3.4 Interview Questions 12

4. ANALYSIS 14

4.1 Analysis Introduction 14

4.2 Data Collection 14

4.3 Key Themes 14

4.3.1 Maintaining Standards of Professionalism 15

4.3.2 Training and Legal Awareness 16

4.3.3 Citizen Journalists as Sources 16

4.3.4 Community 17

4.3.5 Staffing Concerns 18

5. DISCUSSION 18

5.1 Journalists are working to Higher Standards 18

5.2 Traditional Journalism in Newsrooms 19

5.3 “We are trained professionals, whereas citizen journalists are not” 19

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5.4 Using Citizen Journalism to Their Advantage 20

5.5 Concerns for the Future 20

5.6 The News Repair Strategy 20

6. CONCLUSION 21

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 24

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INTRODUCTION

Journalists have contributed to our way of life for many years, acting as messengers to inform

society of its news in an authoritative way. Many scholars believe the role of the journalist

operates within an ‘interpretive’ community, with a duty to do so inside a public framework,

acting as a factual and definitive distributor of news and information to the people of the world

(Berkowitz, 1999 and Zelizer, 1993). Throughout the news industry, professional journalists

have worked alongside each other with a common discourse, the idea that they allow a story

to be told which is deemed best ‘suitable’ for the people. According to Bird and Dardenne

(1997), reporters have categorised themselves as being disassociated with other societal

groups: “[the] media are very much part of culture, but with a particular kind of privileged status

with it”. Some academics have stated that they believe the future of journalism is dependent

on professional journalists welcoming novices into their exclusive news environment, and

giving up parts of their cultural dominance in the process. Robinson and DeShano suggest,

through their own research, that there are advantages and disadvantages to the growing

phenomenon of citizen reporting: “Such a move could empower people to participate in

democracy when they have a direct stake in news production. And yet to value blogging

content on the same level as vetted news produced by professionals could be dangerous for

that democracy.” (Robinson and DeShano, 2011).

The inspiration behind this research project began through the researcher’s own interests in

participatory culture and how it impacts the field of journalism. Throughout the early stages of

research, there was a realisation that this new form of journalism may have an impact on

professional journalists who are working in the industry after years of training. Therefore, a

decision was made to find out information directly from professionals themselves to provide a

fresh outlook on the subject and to contribute the findings from this study to previous studies

surrounding citizen journalism.

1.1 Aims

This study aims to discover whether citizen journalism is being seen as a threat in the

newsrooms of local newspapers. Its purpose is to investigate the attitudes of professional

working journalists towards amateur journalism, and to understand why reporters may feel

they have a sense of entitlement in the work that they complete, whether they feel citizen

journalism is impacting their role as an important figure of society, or if they have instead

chosen to adapt by accepting this new era of modern reporting. The study will also explore if

the concept of ‘news repair’ (Bennet et al, 1985) is being incorporated in the day-to-day work

of professional journalists as a main strategy to negotiate their potential change in status.

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1.2 Objectives

The aims of this study will be met by the following objectives:

Qualitative interviews with seven local newspaper journalists will be conducted to

determine if there are any similarities or shared discourses in the responses when

discussing citizen journalism

The study will analyse any potential themes or patterns from inside the data collected

to develop ideas about professional journalistic attitudes towards the rise of citizen

reporting

By discussing how professionals deal with citizen journalism in their newsroom, it

hopes to reveal whether the news repair strategy is being used

LITERATURE REVIEW

The following literature review identifies what a citizen journalist is in contrast to the role of the

professional reporter, who have traditionally acted as gatekeepers and protectors of

information in order to remain within their shared discourse. It also looks into certain academic

elements that are the supposed ‘ingredients’ as to what makes a journalist a true journalist in

terms of professionalism, issues surrounding the need for professionals to maintain control

over identity and authority in the news industry today, and will discuss the academic theory of

‘news repair’ (Bennet et al. 1985).

2.1 The Participatory Journalist

In recent years, a different type of journalist has materialised. This movement, regarded as

questionable for the press, – is concluded by Wall (2004) as a sort of “black market” journalism.

Citizen journalism, often described as “alternative” media (Atton and Hamilton, 2008) – is one

that opposes the traditional journalistic model. Mark Glaser is a freelance journalist who often

writes articles on his website about issues surrounding new media. He describes a citizen

journalist as an everyday person, one who is untrained and not employed in a newsroom, who

often imitates the role of professional reporter by collecting, analysing and publishing news to

other citizens (2006). Here, Rosen (2008) describes the act of engaging in participatory culture

as one of independence and separation: “When the people formerly known as the audience

employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another, that’s citizen

journalism”. His theory shows the stray from traditional expectations of news consumption to

a more liberating alternative, a public need for instant news on-demand, without any waiting

for a story to be published by an authoritative body. Glaser also believes that the controversy

over the term ‘citizen journalism’ lies mainly with professional journalists’ attitudes, who believe

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“only a trained journalist can understand the rigors and ethics involved in reporting the news”

(2006).

2.2 Journalists as Gatekeepers

Deciding what makes a person a credible journalist has always been particularly vague, and

the line is often blurred. According to Havemann (1966), a journalist “ceases to be [one] if he

cannot find an editor to print his product, and the editor soon ceases to be an editor unless

the product finds an audience that is willing to pay for it.” In simpler terms, Havemann positions

the role of the journalist amongst a hierarchy of people and practices, also known as

‘gatekeeping’. This theory has been used amongst academics and scholars alike to

understand the news-making process of “selecting, writing, editing, positioning, scheduling,

repeating and otherwise massaging information to become news” (Shoemaker et al., 2008).

To elaborate on this, it is defined as the “overall process through which the social reality

transmitted by the news media is constructed” (Shoemaker et al., 2001). After appropriate

selection for an audience, or after the influence of a powerful publisher helps to shape it

(Breed, 1955), a story is then published, or not as the case may be. Schudson (1989)

compares the gatekeeping model to teenagers trying to enter an X-rated movie or liquor

establishment; if people are attempting to ‘pass’ as adults, “how do you get a piece of

information to ‘pass’ as news?”. This suggested concept pinpoints the role of gatekeeper, and

simultaneously helps us to understand how the journalist feels a sense of pride and duty in

the work they do. They are the rightful people, in their opinion, to choose, select and filter

certain stories to be consumed, or not consumed, by the public sphere.

Despite this knowledge, Hanna Nikkanen, a journalist herself, argues in a published online

article that journalists are no longer authorised to call themselves gatekeepers because “the

public sphere no longer has walls or gates” (2012). Nikkanen also suggests that the

paradigmatic shift of news means there are no longer such constraints as to who gets to decide

what news to supply: “There are two billion internet users in the world. Each one of them can

publish a message without convincing a gatekeeping journalist of its importance” (Nikkanen,

2012). This is significant to the overall study, as an average citizen now has access to a

multitude of reporting tools even though they are not sat behind a desk in a professional

newsroom.

2.3 News Professionalism

The gatekeeping theory can also be applied to newsworthiness. Again, a qualified reporter

who has trained for years will understand the importance of what makes a story newsworthy,

compared to an amateur tweeting stories from a smartphone. In ‘Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations’

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(1992), Bogartto depicts newsworthiness in the famous news industry saying: “When a dog

bites a man that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is

news.”

Herbert (2000) suggests that the idea of professionalism is “central to the role of the journalist

as the watchdog of democracy and freedom”. The concept of professionalism has been

around for many years, however there is often a debate over what the term entails. According

to Kovach and Rosenstiel (2001), a valid journalist is made up of the following principle

elements: an obligation to truth, an independent citizen watchdog - as said previously by

Herbert (2000), a verified debate forum, news that is significant and comprehensive, and is

ethical in obligation.

In spite of the above ethical and industry standards professional journalists associate

themselves with, the London bombings in the summer of 2005 was a pivotal turning point for

journalism and encouraged journalists to step outside the norm of professional news values

and expectations. The actions of average people reporting the tragic event resulted in a new

term known as “accidental’ journalism” (Allan, 2009). Allan (2009) also states in his book

‘Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives’ how after the attacks, the “BBC knew that

newsgathering had changed forever”. Richard Sambrook, the then Director of the BBC’s World

Service and Global News Division, speaks about the impact citizen journalists had over

professional news corporations on 7th July 2005 in his write up article: “Our audiences had

become involved in telling this story as they never had before. By day’s end, the BBC’s news-

gathering had crossed a Rubicon” (2005). It was on this day that citizens and professional

journalists found a way to work together, disregarding any differences between them, and

helped each other to share the information they both had to the world.

2.4 Maintaining Journalistic Control

Anderson (2008) writes that the journalism profession holds an ideology of autonomous

expertise, whilst Singer (2003) also suggests a professional journalists’ purpose lies through

their ability to control information whilst being gatekeepers, watchdogs and guardians for

society. After interpretation of these academic statements, the underlying element concluded

is professional reporters feel a sense of entitlement, authority and credibility whilst doing their

job.

Although many skilled journalists believe the rise of citizen reporting has its downfalls, some

have chosen to utilise them as an additional source of information. Oh Yeon Ho, founder of

Ohmynews, an online citizen journalism news website, believes that “every citizen is a

reporter” (2000). Some may believe there is an element of truth surrounding this statement.

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We are all citizens who have access to digital devices in which we can actively choose to

participate in the conversation of news, however, there is often a common concern amongst

professionals in the industry who wish to maintain their journalistic status, control and

plausibility.

Deggans, a journalist who blogs for The Feed, shows in a table below his own personal take

on traditional news values regarded as the ‘old way’ of doing things, compared to what

journalism is like in modern society today.

OLD NEWS NEW NEWS

News is news News is marketing

Live shots compliment the story Live is the story

Staff experience is valuable One year is experience

Weather gets the attention it deserves Rain is a lead story

Cover breaking news Make up breaking news

Report the facts Report what people say

Follow the news director’s lead Who’s the news director?

(Deggans, 2008)

Here, Deggans demonstrates his sense of entitlement by showcasing the decline of traditional

values within his profession. Although fairly comical, this table of ideas compares and

contrasts how much the industry has rapidly changed over the years by on-demand

technology and average citizens taking journalism into their own hands.

2.5 The News Repair Theory

According to Baker (2015), when media conglomerates have encouraged user generated

content in the past through comment sections and upload areas, the stories citizens upload

have not always been researched or verified properly. Throughout the investigation, the

researcher wishes to discover if this can be embarrassing to paid journalists, who may not

want to feel their professionalism has been questioned because of a citizen journalists’ error

or inaccuracy. Journalists often feel a duty to correct a story, resulting in an interesting term

as stated by Bennett et al., (1985) called ‘news repair’, who suggest that all journalists feel an

obligation to construct and mould stories which conform to industry standard news structures

and values, even after a piece of amateur journalism has been published. According to

Robinson, “when a story skips the dominant frame, the news repair – a critique of the original

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journalism that relayed the story – allows the reporters to reel back the wayward story to

reaffirm their traditional standards of journalism to both the industry and the society at large”

(2006). This raises the interesting notion that journalists are effectively becoming real time

‘editors’, perhaps both in terms of the ‘facts’ presented to them by citizens, and indeed the

opinions arising from the facts. The above theories also refer back to the idea of news

professionalism and maintaining journalistic integrity; Robinson states the term ‘dominant

frame’, which suggests there is a feeling of power and control over the work of the

inexperienced. After having only come across the term ‘news repair’ throughout the early

stages of reading the literature, it will be interesting to see if this concept has been, or is being

applied in professional newsrooms today, when the data collected is looked through.

During the course of this investigation, the aims are to recognise the challenges faced by

people in a professional news environment, and their individual opinions surrounding the

issues of participatory culture, considering the journalistic outlook of “we write, you read” as

said by Deuze (2003).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Style

This chapter shall explore and identify the key research method(s) used for the study, why it

was the most practical approach to gather the necessary data in this investigation, and why it

was carried out in a particular way. The main focus for this dissertation, set out in the aims

and objectives, is to discover whether or not professional working journalists believe that

citizen journalism degrades and unsettles the industry they work for, their reasons behind this

and why they may, or may not, hold these attitudes. It was only logical to get this information

directly from professional journalists themselves by way of a qualitative research method.

3.2 Research Methods

Qualitative research is a method which has been applied many times throughout history for

social analysis and for discourse theoretical studies, such as this. Its primary objective is to

understand the social reality of individuals, groups and cultures, and how they make sense of

the world around them. According to Cruickshank (2012), “It is only with the aid of language

that ideas about reality and reality itself can be brought into existence”. Researchers have

used this technique to interpret and examine the behaviour, attitudes, perspectives and

experiences of people. The qualitative method is also useful when identifying transitions and

disagreements in society; therefore, it seemed quite a crucial and relevant method of approach

to apply to the area of study.

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The intention of the research is to find out how professional journalists feel towards citizen

journalists, those being the people who engage in participatory culture and user generated

content. This was found out through personal interviews with seven local newspaper

journalists. Personal interviews seemed the most favoured way to find out extensive

information about the rationale. This study involves the psychology of the mind of the

professional journalist and how their own personal beliefs could either contribute to the

journalistic stereotype of the “we write, you read” mentality, said previously by Deuze (2003)

in the literature, or whether this journalistic frame of mind is not present after all. After

arrangements were made, seven interviews were conducted over the course of four weeks

with professional working journalists who work at various newspapers in the South East of

England. This included four face to face interviews, and three organised through an email

conversation. Kvale describes the chosen qualitative methodology as “an interview, whose

purpose is to gather descriptions of the life-world of the interviewee with respect to

interpretation of meaning of the described phenomena” (1983). By engaging with the

journalists on a personal level and building a relationship with them, there would be a much

greater opportunity to get the best possible results to expand the understanding of the

research topic. Participating in semi-structured interviews and establishing a professional

relationship also meant any additional questions could be asked by contacting them back and

following up about something in particular.

3.3 Interview Participants

The search for participants began by looking through newspapers and browsing social media.

Journalists often leave their contact details in a byline of a published story or in their online

profiles, therefore this was an ideal way to find potential interviewees to collect the necessary

data. In an effort to increase the amount of responses from local reporters who are often busy

people, invitation emails were sent out to 50 journalists based in the South East, inviting them

to participate. Follow up emails were also made and dates were arranged for the face to face

interviews, as well as the email interviews. Many different people from a range of newspapers

were contacted, with various niches, to ensure that responses were impartial and not

influenced by the standards of one particular news organisation. Each journalist did not have

any issues regarding their identities being exposed in the research, however, the respondents

will be quoted by letter in the following analysis. Full names of the interviewees are listed below

next to their designated respondent letter, along with their position and news publication.

Respondent A: Flora Thompson is a senior reporter at The Argus daily newspaper, based in

Brighton.

Respondent B: Bex Bastable is the content editor at The Brighton and Hove Independent.

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Respondent C: Aidan Barlow is a reporter for two newspapers and one online news website

in Kent; The Kentish Express, The Folkestone and Hythe Express, and KentOnline.

Respondent D: Paul Francis is an award-winning Political Editor who also works for The

Kentish Express, based in Ashford.

Respondent E: David Gazet is a reporter who works for The Kent Messenger, based in

Maidstone.

Respondent F: Sheena Campbell is the content editor for The Hastings and St Leonards

Observer.

Respondent G: Bess Browning is a reporter for Faversham News, and also KentOnline.

3.4 Interview Questions

The following ten questions were analysed thoroughly for potential effectiveness before the

interviews took place and were answered by all seven participants listed above. At first there

were concerns that each interviewee may not be as familiar with the term 'citizen journalist'

compared to another journalist that was being asked the same question. As stated in the

literature review, there is often confusion over what a citizen journalist is, therefore, a decision

was made to acknowledge this by starting each interview in the same way by asking the

journalist an entirely open question: “From a professional journalistic point of view, how would

you define the term ‘citizen journalism’? What does it mean to you?”

In asking this outright, it meant that each participant would be able to bring forward their own

perception(s) and meaning(s) about the key term ‘citizen journalism’. This was a particularly

essential question to set the tone for the rest of the interview.

Each question below was designed to pinpoint whether a newspaper journalists’ beliefs

towards citizen journalism was strictly due to professional reasons, or otherwise, and were

constructed to investigate the potential layers of such a diverse and controversial topic under

exploration.

From a professional journalistic point of view, how would you define the term ‘citizen

journalism’? What does it mean to you?

Has citizen journalism had a positive or negative impact for you as a working

professional?

What advantages and disadvantages does citizen journalism bring to the media

industry and your newspaper in particular?

If anyone can be a citizen journalist, then what’s your role? What are professional

journalists here for?

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Do you follow amateur news? What citizen journalism do you deal with at your

workplace and what do you do with it?

Are traditional journalistic values such as newsworthiness, credibility and objectivity

outdated today amongst the rise of user generated content?

Have you ever felt the need to correct, or have corrected something a citizen journalist

has put online or otherwise due to an error or inaccuracy on their behalf? If so, why?

Is citizen journalism a threat to qualified journalists in the media industry who have

been trained throughout the years to understand the rigors, laws and ethics to report

the news in a professional way?

Is citizen journalism a good thing for professional journalists?

In your opinion, what distinguishes the professional journalist from the citizen

journalist?

The nature of the semi-structured interview meant that some additional questions were asked

by the researcher:

Do you believe citizen journalism is trustworthy information?

Is professional journalistic news trusted over citizen news today?

Is journalism a trade or a profession?

Are all journalists looking at citizen journalism in a neutral way?

The interviews were semi-structured in format which meant there was an opportunity to

intervene if something said was particularly interesting. This approach was applied to all

methods of interview, whether face to face or by email. Prompting was also necessary at times

to try to get the journalist to elaborate on something he or she was saying.

Although there may have been advantages to using a quantitative research method, in terms

of a survey or otherwise, using this instead of the chosen qualitative method would have

limited the study with regard to finding data that was far more insightful. By undertaking

interviews face to face, there were definitely slight advantages over the email interview. When

you are talking in real-time, you are able to use social cues. Even though the three email

interviewees didn’t restrict the research, as there was the option to follow up about something

with another email, it did limit the researcher in the way that the face to face interviews had

not. For example, when you liaise with someone over the Internet, you cannot see a change

in the interviewee’s body language, voice or intonation. Furthermore, as the questions were

asked online, the respondent would probably have had more time to think about what they

wanted to say. A qualitative interview without physically being there in person was restrictive

in terms of not being able to analyse an instant reaction to the said question, however the

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three email respondents were very helpful and descriptive with their answers; therefore it was

restrictive only to a certain extent. It was interesting to conduct the interviews in many different

ways, however, face to face interviews were more effective because it enabled the researcher

to expand on something and receive an answer in more depth.

The four face to face interviews were audio recorded from a Dictaphone. Audio recordings

were typed into individual transcripts and printed, along with the email interviews, to check for

any patterns, similarities or differences in any of the responses.

ANALYSIS

4.1 Analysis Introduction

As set out in the aims and objectives, this study seeks to analyse the attitudes of professional

working journalists towards those who engage in citizen journalism and participatory culture.

Depending on whether positive attitudes and assumptions towards citizen journalists outweigh

the negatives, or vice versa, this study aims to investigate if newspaper journalists are

choosing to maintain their traditional role as gatekeepers; those that are well-known in society

as the main controllers and disseminators of news and information, whether they utilise and

accept the evolution of citizen journalism, or if they believe it is threatening their status. The

concept surrounding professionalism will be analysed, and will also investigate if ‘news repair’

(Bennet et al., 1985) is being incorporated into the work of the everyday professional as a

strategy to correlate with their traditional gatekeeping function.

4.2 Data Collection

The findings within the data were analysed accordingly by each transcript, and each interview

question answered by the individual journalist was searched for an underlying theme or overall

idea. The transcripts were then read in depth and key words were chosen from each interview

to see if there were any similarities or any shared discourses in their responses. Paragraphs

of text were cut out and placed into a relevant pile, relating to a particular theme or idea which

was present, meaning certain patterns in the data were then established. Once the process

had been worked on for several hours to identify anything repetitive that was happening, five

key themes were found inside the journalists responses when discussing the topic of citizen

journalism and user generated content. In order of most to least discussed: maintaining

standards of reporting and professionalism, being trained and understanding media law, using

citizen journalism as sources for stories, how citizen journalism has involved the community,

and concerns about staffing.

4.3 Key Themes

4.3.1 Maintaining Standards of Professionalism

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The idea that citizen journalism has made the interviewees realise they must set the bar higher

for themselves in terms of their own journalistic work and standards was made by Respondent

A, C, D, E and F. When asked if citizen journalism is a good thing for professional journalists,

Respondent C said “I’d say it’s positive in the sense that it keeps us on our toes. It means that

we have to think about our jobs more in terms of what we’re reporting, and where we’re looking

for news”. Respondent F also shared a similar view: “Overall, I think it is a good thing as

monopolies are unhealthy for any industry and it has forced many of us to think differently

about the way we report stories, both online and in print”. Respondent C argued that there

was a particular risk to his newspaper if a citizen journalist were to break a story before they

do as it “undermines us as a credible news organisation, if we’re not being the ones to break

the exclusives”.

Accuracy, credibility and objectivity

Traditional journalistic values in the field, including newsworthiness, credibility and objectivity,

were talked about quite frequently from Respondent A, C, D, E, F and G. After being asked

whether they believed these values were outdated today in the rise of user generated content,

Respondent D, E, F and G all agreed that news values were still absolutely necessary in the

profession they work in. Respondent D and E both mentioned how citizen journalism had

made them realise that the phenomenon had “underlined the importance of that for established

media” and how traditional journalistic values were “more important than ever before to cut

through the rumour and set the record straight”.

Journalists as gatekeepers

Amongst the interviews, there was evidence that Respondents A and C identified quite closely

with the traditional role of the gatekeeper, although the term itself was never mentioned in both

the semi-structured interviews, or in any of the journalists responses. Although Respondent A

said she doesn’t follow “amateur news” but would “consider it as any other source of news”,

the term ‘scrutinize’ was mentioned several times when talking about how she deals with

citizen journalism at her workplace: “We treat it with the same kind of consideration and

scrutiny that we would with any kind of phone call from the public we have, and the first thing

to think is ‘is this a news story? Is this reputable information?’”. Respondent C believed that

citizen journalism could be trustworthy information, however there is “always a risk that it isn’t”.

‘Risk’ was said numerous times throughout his interview and the following quote refers back

to the traditional gatekeeping function of journalists: “There’s always a risk that you yourself

will have to go and check it as well, just to make sure it stacks up. So effectively, you’re just

doing what they should already have done but may not have the ability or training to do”.

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4.3.2 Training and Legal Awareness

Respondents A, C, E and F all made similar points about journalists being professionally

trained as one of the main distinguishing factors between them and citizen journalists.

Respondent A believes that citizen journalism is no threat to the industry she works in: “I don’t

think it will ever replace the kind of work that fully trained reporters do because there’s no way

that people will be able to uncover scandal or hold people to account”. She also argued how

journalism is a profession, as opposed to a trade, because of the amount of training that you

have to do over the years in order to do your job to a high standard: “There could be a lot of

people out there that like to think they’re a journalist, but turning round a press release is not

journalism and I think that will be the difficulty if there’s a citizen journalist website. It could

take them a lot of time to build up that reputation and reporters now, don’t get hired unless

you have all the training you need”. Respondent C emphasised the importance that journalists

have to be excellent writers, and in most cases, citizen journalists may not be able to write

exceptionally well: “When you read certain user generated content, a lot of the time when you

read it, you realise that people can’t write. They lack the certain abilities”. Although

Respondent D defines the citizen journalist as someone who has “not necessarily been trained

as a journalist” and has no “qualifications in related subjects, who have not worked in

established media”, he argues in his interview that readers do not necessarily put both the

professional and citizen into certain groups depending on whether they’ve been trained or not,

and also believes that mainstream journalists may begin to branch out and become citizen

journalists themselves “because they’ve got the training and they’ve got the understanding”.

Legal awareness

Respondents A, B, C, E, F and G spoke at different points throughout their interviews about

citizen journalists having no legal knowledge. Speaking again of citizen journalists being

‘risks’, Respondent C was asked what professional journalists are here for and referred back

to being trained: “We have to do a lot of media law training and reporting to make sure you’re

not libelling someone or defaming someone”. Respondent A believes that a “major fall-back”

in terms of citizen journalism, is the “lack of legal awareness, sometimes by people who

haven’t actually worked in the trade with the kind of things they can or can’t publish”.

Respondent E also said that citizen journalism is not a threat to journalists, “but to the criminal

justice system” and that “citizen journalists have a duty to behave ethically and to make sure

they understand the law”.

4.3.3 Citizen Journalists as Sources

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It became evident that each professional journalist interviewed, Respondents A, B, C, D, E, F

and G, all thought positively about the evolution of citizen journalism and follow ‘amateur news’

because they can incorporate their ideas into their own work, as they are an excellent source

for stories. When discussing whether citizen journalism had a more positive or negative impact

for Respondent G as a working professional, she stated that she generally sees citizen

journalism as a good thing for the industry, and that it is “used more as a tool by professional

journalists, than a threat or opposition”. She also said: “The positives far outweigh the

negatives. It has opened a new door for professional journalists and I think we know far more

about what is going on in our local areas because of citizen journalism. Before social media,

journalism was a completely different ballgame, but citizen journalism has given us a new and

vast news source which we are utilising on a daily basis”.

Both Respondents E and G openly talked about a specific Twitter account their news

organisation’s follow called Kent 999s. Respondent E said how his news team regularly gets

“stories, images and tip offs by monitoring his account”, however talks about the

disadvantages of the site: “This journalist poses a real competition to us and is very popular

with the social media community”. Opposing that, Respondent G did not speak of Kent 999s

as competition, but said it is a “great example of how citizen journalism can flourish” and is

“well worth checking out as an excellent example of citizen journalism”.

Respondent D said how both professional journalists and citizen journalists can work together

to support one another: “People coming from a citizen journalist background retweet our

stories or people from campaign groups will retweet us”. After analysing his transcript, he

spoke numerous times throughout his interview about how the online nature of the relationship

between professional and citizen journalists is “symbiotic”.

Although Respondent C mentioned how professional journalists may be wary of how citizen

journalists have come by certain information, he still does not dismiss it in any way: “We can’t

be everywhere at once and actually if you’re in a work place, it’s handy to have people around

who have done a bit of work and research themselves, and you can ask them about it or

maybe use it. We’re an information business, so we’re constantly relying on people giving us

information. You can’t sort of bite off the hand that feeds you”.

4.3.4 Community

All respondents, A, B, C, D, E, F and G, all placed citizen journalists within a shared discourse

of people who are reporting things to serve their communities and local areas. Respondent E

said: “Having more people engaging in and reporting in what’s going on in their community

can only be a good thing, and personally I would welcome it if more people took it on

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themselves to gather news for their communities”. Respondent D said it is “providing a

platform for people who make up particular positions on the political spectrum, but haven’t had

a platform before which enables them to get traction, or gets their point of view across”. He

also said how citizen journalism is encouraging “democratic debate”, a concept that

Respondent C pointed out as well: “If you look at the whole industry, I’d suggest that maybe

it’s more democratic. Then you’ve got people themselves providing the information. It’s not

just the same old vested interests of the media”.

4.3.5 Staffing concerns

Concerns surrounding staffing was raised by Respondents A, C, D and F. Respondent C said:

“If you think about television, people want to pay for subscriptions for services like Netflix.

There’s no reason why that couldn’t happen, like a Netflix or an Amazon Prime, in news”.

Respondent A discussed the negative impact of citizen journalism over professional staff:

“Sometimes there’s a tendency in the media by organisations to use that rather than investing

in staff”. Respondent C also emphasised the issues surrounding revenue: “It makes us all

worry in the sense that are journalists going to be getting paid in the future to do our job”.

Respondent A said although citizen journalism could be a threat on staffing levels, “it doesn’t

get the results from a company’s point of view, in terms of sales or readership”.

DISCUSSION

5.1 Journalists are working to Higher Standards

The above results show evidence that citizen journalism has reinforced all of the seven

respondent journalists to work to much greater standards in their profession, and this identical

frame of mind has contributed a significant amount of information to other citizen journalism

studies. After responses were analysed, it was clear that they did not all believe citizen

journalism was necessarily having a negative impact on their professional status in society as

set out in the aims and objectives, but was instead being seen as a “different sort of journalism”

(Respondent D), which was allowing them to motivate themselves to be better journalistically

in the workplace. The concept of working to higher standards was also stated previously in

the results, when most of the respondents agreed that traditional journalistic values were still

as important as before. The researcher’s interpretation of the data collected shows how citizen

journalism has made professional journalists realise their worth in the surrounding

communities they work for as ‘professionals’ and has strengthened their work ethic, whether

they believe citizen journalists pose a challenge to their news outlet or not. This was certainly

an unexpected discourse they all shared and reveals how hard-working professional

journalists are, and how seriously they take their line of work.

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5.2 Traditional Journalism in Newsrooms

It was surprising to find that only two out of the seven newspaper journalists interviewed

showed notable signs of identifying as traditional gatekeepers, as set out in the literature

review (Havemann, 1966, Shoemaker et al, 2001 and 2008, Breed, 1955, Schudson, 1989).

By discussing how they “scrutinize” information from citizen journalists and check to see that

what they are saying “stacks up”, it showed that some journalists in various organisations will

always be uncertain about information coming from “amateurs” and will always associate

themselves as the traditional controllers and disseminators of news. This does not mean to

say that all professional journalists think alike and believe this is what journalists should do

when dealing with citizen journalism, as the findings above have shown that most, if not all, of

the journalists are accepting amateur reporting and agree that “the public sphere no longer

has walls or gates” argued previously by Nikkanen (2012) in the literature. The evidence has

shown that despite two journalists feeling a need to still maintain some form of control over

certain types of information in a traditional sense, a vast majority of the journalists feel very

passionately about how they can listen to what citizen journalists are saying by using their

ideas as sources for their own stories.

5.3 “We are trained professionals, whereas citizen journalists are not”

Four of the journalists emphasised that being trained professionally was one of the main

distinguishing factors when comparing themselves to citizen journalists. Six out of the seven

respondents also raised issues regarding citizen journalists having no legal knowledge or

awareness. The data gathered about this was not at all surprising, given that newspaper

reporters are more often than not, hired because they have the relevant experience needed

for the work involved and believe having training is of the utmost importance to be a journalist

professionally. The research showed that the attitudes and passion of Respondents A and C

surrounding the importance of having years of training and writing experience supports

Glaser’s statement, that “only a trained journalist can understand the rigors and ethics involved

in reporting the news” (2006). However, most of the respondents did not believe that a lack of

training or legal awareness would hinder the rise of the citizen journalist, no matter how

important training is to themselves on a professional level and that some of them believe

professional journalists may even leave the confines of the newsroom to become recognized

as similar to that of a citizen journalist, because they have the expertise to do so. The findings

suggest that there is no lack of respect towards amateur journalism, but the journalists have,

again, highlighted the importance of why professionals are paid to do what they do as

professional newspaper journalists are expected in society to be reliable and credible people.

5.4 Using Citizen Journalism to Their Advantage

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The findings have demonstrated how each journalist participant is actively utilising the work of

citizen journalists to their advantage, and are challenging the “we write, you read” theory

according to Deuze (2003), with the majority supporting the idea that “every citizen is a

reporter” (Oh Yeon Ho, 2000). Instead of ignoring their ideas and placing them off to one side,

the journalists have responded positively to the ideas of citizen journalists because they have

given them more access to things that are happening in the community, mostly through social

media, and see citizens as a great resource for story material. The data also conveys how

journalists are encouraging amateur reporting in a way that has never been seen before;

professionals are supporting community-minded people to escape the confines of being

passive consumers. Respondent D does not place himself as a hierarchy of people

(Havemann, 1966) and believes that both groups of journalists, whether professional or

amateur, have a “symbiotic” relationship and can therefore work together. This was particularly

meaningful and the idea parallels the previous theory of people becoming empowered when

they participate in democracy (Robinson and Deshano, 2011). Despite some of the journalists

implying that citizen journalism has not liberated their day to day work if they are too involved

in their own investigations, the researcher found that most had agreed with Respondent G,

and that the “positives outweigh the negatives” when discussing the evolution of citizen

journalism. The research conducted in this study is showing us that citizen journalism is not

being ignored completely by professionals, and is being employed positively in each of their

newsrooms in one way or another for their convenience.

5.5 Concerns for the Future

Although some journalists made it clear that citizen journalism was not a threat to journalists

in general, it was suggested that there was an underlying concern that it could affect some of

them on a personal level if citizen journalism were to put them out of work, or business. This

study uncovered that only a few are concerned about the future for paid journalists, however

most of the respondents did not believe that citizen journalism could ever entirely replace the

work that professionals do because they are, again, reputable, credible and according to

Respondent A, there will always be a place for the traditional journalist as “newspapers have

been around for 100 years”.

5.6 The News Repair Strategy

A highlight of this investigation demonstrates that the news repair theory, as set out in the

aims and objectives, and found in the early stages of research in the literature (Bennet et al.,

1985) is indeed being used as a strategy in newsrooms today to control the flow of citizen

journalism, despite some journalists not being aware that they are doing so.

21

The term ‘news repair’ was not pointed out to any of the participants, to see if this particular

strategy was being used by the journalists in their newsrooms. Respondents A, C and G all

showed signs of incorporating news repair into their day to day journalistic work, after asking

them: “Have you ever felt the need to correct, or have corrected something a citizen journalist

has put online or otherwise due to an error or inaccuracy on their behalf?”. Respondent A said

when people send stuff into her workplace, “you’ll have to sub it in some way before putting it

in the paper, or you’ll have to completely re-write it”. She also said that the work of

inexperienced writers often needs “to be changed in some form or another” as “you could have

someone who’s really willing, has a good news sense and wants to write a story and send it

to you, but then you’d have to sometimes potentially re-write the whole thing because maybe

it hasn’t ticked all the boxes”. Respondent C said that he is correcting amateur journalism

“quite frequently”. He stated that this is “normally because of factual errors or sometimes

outright theft of our work” as citizen journalists often have “no awareness of copyright or the

work that we put in”. Respondent G said she recently corrected a citizen journalist online:

“They had tweeted a number of people to say that a woman had been hit and killed by a train.

We had the facts from the police and paramedics, and knew the woman was still alive and

had been taken to hospital. The tweeter could create a level of fear to other users, maybe

even thinking they may know the woman killed, so I felt the need to put a stop to that and

assure everyone”. Despite this, she rarely corrects a citizen journalist unless they make a

serious allegation: “Otherwise, you could be there all day correcting people. I think

inaccuracies can be harmless for citizen journalists, even if they can be very dangerous for

professional journalists”. Three of the interviewees, including Respondents A and C whose

responses earlier indicated they related to the role of traditional gatekeeper, mentioned ways

in which they had tried to oversee information from outside the newsroom and had felt “an

obligation to construct and mould stories which conform to industry standards” (Bennet et al.,

1985). Although most of the journalists interviewed have talked openly about citizen journalism

being a mostly trustworthy tool to utilise, some, but not all, professionals in newsrooms are

still choosing to act as watchdogs and guardians for society (Singer, 2003).

CONCLUSION

The concluding chapter will analyse the key findings established for the dissertation and the

researcher will discuss how the results have contributed to the research surrounding citizen

journalism.

This study aimed to understand the attitudes of professional newspaper journalists, to see

whether they believed citizen journalism was degrading them as important figures in society,

or whether they were choosing to utilise the work of amateurs. It also aimed to disclose if

22

‘news repair’ was being used as a main strategy in professional newsrooms to control and

manage citizen journalism.

After the findings were collected and interpreted by the researcher, it was established that

professional journalists do not feel threatened by the rise of citizen journalism, despite showing

concerns for their job security in the future, and have claimed to be great supporters of local,

inexperienced journalists who are providing a platform for themselves to have a voice, who

are evidently feeling empowered as a result. The researcher has considered the limitations of

this research project and believes that the general praise towards citizen journalists could be

as a result of professionals not wishing to disclose an old-fashioned mind-set when discussing

the state of their current industry. The researcher believes they may understand that

contemporary journalism is relying heavily on outsiders providing information through social

media as an extra tool, but secretly wishes to reject it. However, in reflection, the research has

indicated strongly that the seven journalists interviewed have neutralised a threat to their

profession and have found a way to be a modern, traditional journalist in an age where citizen

journalism is flourishing.

Although this study shows that professional journalists see some challenges in citizen

journalism, such as having to maintain their traditional roles as watchdogs in the community

regarding legal and written errors, the evidence suggests that the professional journalists

interviewed did not show many examples of feeling entitled over people who write amateur

news, and have acknowledged the current growing relationship between two, different genres

of journalism. Even though user generated content and citizen journalism is growing in

popularity, professionals do not believe there will be a decline in traditionally trained

journalists, because there is a constant demand for news that is factually accurate and reliable.

The data conveys that although some professional journalists act more traditionally than

others in terms of gatekeeping and repairing news on the occasion, they are not choosing to

define themselves as authoritative beings of society.

The findings in this investigation have established for the researcher that overall, professional

journalists are not threatened, nor empowered, by citizen journalists, but instead have chosen

to take a neutral role in the professional vs. citizen journalism debate. It has confirmed that

journalists are using ‘news repair’ and acting as real-time ‘editors’, to overlook information

coming from amateur sources. Professional journalists understand their role in society is

important, however, this dissertation has found that they believe citizen journalists can work

alongside them and have their own role within the media industry. Citizen journalists would

not exist without the internet, smartphone, or social media. Further research may be necessary

23

if the future of the news industry and professionals’ willingness to engage with the current

challenge is shaped by the next wave of technological advances.

This dissertation indicates that professionals do not believe citizen journalism is impacting or

overshadowing their status in society, but instead, is shaping traditional news in a way which

challenges their own journalistic work, and is therefore having a practical effect on them both

personally, and professionally in the newsroom.

24

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