More about Citizen Journalism
What is citizen journalism?
Although outlets for the public to create community media, from public access television to community radio, date back to the 1970s, citizen journalism is a term that came out of the mid-2000s to describe everyday people creating worthwhile, community-relevant media shared online.
The earliest and most recognized form were blogs. Soon after, YouTube came on the scene followed by Twitter and many other social media applications that revolutionized how we get our news.
The Rapidian comes out of the citizen journalism movement. Instead of bloggers, Tweeters and other media makers producing in relative isolation, The Rapidian is an intentional network of citizen journalists who have Grand Rapids in common. By distributing on TheRapidian.org, Rapidians come across louder and clearer about who we are and what matters to us.
Why is it important?
Journalism
Several years ago, outlets everywhere predicted the downfall of big media as Internet participation rose. In these last several years, we've begun to see this come true. The first signs are with print: San Francisco Chronicle, Rocky Mountain News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, even The Boston Globe have come under threat. As news outlets try to make more with less staff, the ability to cover every corner of Grand Rapids is at risk.
Conceived of jointly by the Grand Rapids Community Foundation and theCommunity Media Center ,The Rapidian is a bold citizen journalism project aimed not only to empower GR locals to cobble together their front page, but also as one of nearly 800 citizen journalism experiments nationwide. As a departure from professional journalism, citizen reporters comes from within the community and their work is peer reviewed. In these vulnerable yet adventurous times, the future of reliable information depends on all of us.
Democracy
Due to the limited resources in terms of time or pages to print or broadcast the news, every newsroom has their own criteria for what is produced. With the seemingly limitless capacity of the Internet, information no longer needs to be restricted by which juicy pieces are fit to print. The Internet has revolutionized the amount of information the public can consume and provided room for dialogue. Citizen journalism gives individuals the power to engage others about community and cultural topics, to introduce their neighbors to worlds they didn't know existed in Grand Rapids and freely discuss what it all means.
How does it work?
How do you like expressing yourself? Video? Audio? Writing? Take your pick. Everyone is welcome to use their own tools. For those who need it, The Rapidian will soon have equipment—from open source and Adobe design software to basic cameras and digital recorders. We have a hub location at the CMC Education Annex with four neighborhood bureaus planned in phase two.
If you're a first-time reporter and want help with equipment, media tips or brainstorming stories, stop by the The Rapidian hub and meet our citizen journalism coordinator.