If you do a browser search, you’ll find a rag-bag of limited, outdated descriptions of citizen journalism. Many use that term for people recording events on their phones or other devices, seeing the Zapruder film of JFK’s murder as an early example. But for the most part, those are important acts of witnessing. Such recordings can be influential – as in the cases of murders of Black people by police officers – but that doesn’t make them journalism.
Elon Musk further muddied the waters after taking over the global social media platform he calls X and most people still call Twitter. Tweeting a photo of himself holding up his phone, he said, “Please encourage more citizen journalism! You can do live video easily from your phone. More on-the-ground reporting from regular citizens will change the world.”
Not citizen journalism
In our view, only two of those sentences are correct. We see the powerful citizen journalism we platform as standing on two strong legs: storytelling and standards.
Storytelling isn’t just for fiction. We call ‘news stories’ stories for a reason. Everyone has a narrative, perhaps a great many, and everyone just wants to be heard. There are different purposes for the telling of stories. Some want a campaign close to their heart to succeed, or to be bravely honest about something they’ve experienced so others will feel comforted and inspired.
Some have opinions on how the world could and should be better, or want to raise awareness of ways in which it isn’t and why. To speak truth to power. Or, indeed, want to witness and testify. There are perhaps as many reasons as there are stories.
In traditional journalism, narratives about individuals, communities, organisations, and governments are selected and told on people’s behalf, sometimes by reporters and editors far removed from the places and issues they’re publishing on. This can be broadly problematic.
For example, Wales is full of local ‘news deserts’, which are largely filled by billionaire-backed journalism out of London. It generally does a poor job of keeping Welsh people up to date about issues affecting their daily lives, or seeing things through their lenses and culture. Mostly, it just ignores them.
Redefining citizen journalism
Our form of powerful citizen journalism allows people to tell their own stories about their own lives and communities to those communities and the wider world – to set their own news agenda. But that’s still not quite journalism, within our model.
We also provide them with varying levels of editorial support to ensure their stories are as readable as possible, and meet journalistic standards in areas like accuracy, attribution, and transparency. Standards many London papers no longer bother with. Now that’s citizen journalism.
So what’s next for the Bylines Network and other indie news providers and platforms? We all struggle financially, and can’t compete with the reach of the established, billionaire-funded press within their traditional model.
We face a daunting landscape of news deserts and drylands, and a citizenry – especially at the younger end – that’s become rightly disengaged from ‘news’. (The usual term is ‘news-avoidant’, but that seems like victim-blaming).
The Bylines Network future
Challenge accepted! At the Bylines Network, we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, but ever better, ever deeper. There’s a knot at the heart of citizen journalism that we’re working to unpick. Those who most need to be heard may have the least capacity, due to poverty, marginalisation, literacy, rurality, neurodivergence, and more.
We must find more ways to ensure their voices, too, are lifted. We must keep exploring methods of ensuring that what we do is sustainable, when so much of it relies on already-overstretched volunteers. And we will – with your invaluable support and input.
We have much to learn from other citizen journalism and indie news projects around the UK and the globe, and from our readers, and our writers. But we’re also aware that this network we’ve built, while fragile in some ways, is immensely powerful, necessary, and unique on earth.
So watch this space – this progressive and empowering citizen’s community. Or better yet, join it.
