MIDTERM EXAMINATION || Agustin, Louisse Althea V.

COMMUNITY JOURNALISM VS CITIZEN JOURNALISM

While community and citizen journalism might seem no different from one another, it is with certainty that both terms or fields are far way similar. Citizen journalism on its own usually requires the presence of ordinary citizens that are not related in the field of journalism in the news making process. Though there is a need for professional journalists to act in the later part of the process, citizens are given more importance in this field. Here, they are the acting journalists, and the actual professional journalists are merely the verifiers of the information presented by the citizens. In contrary, in community journalism, the journalists are the journalists. Citizens are solely present as members of a certain community which professional journalists will engage into for a quite amount of time—unlike the former that can be made after a short while—and will get to live the experiences of these people in hopes to get a news story that might serve as a weapon for change. This focuses on telling the usually untold and overlooked story of the citizens of a particular community, different from citizen journalism where citizens are the ones telling their story.

SOCIAL ISSUES IN THE PH THAT CAN BE SOLVED BY COMMUNITY JOURNALISM

It cannot be denied that each community faces a variety of social issues. Most of it are neglected or ignored, some of it are recognized but untold for some reasons. These reasons might be as much as them being afraid to even talk about it thinking of the consequences that might be imposed upon them. This is most especially applicable in speaking up with the matters of failed governance or political issues, such as corruption, abuse of power, and other offenses a “powerful” official is doing that has an adverse impact to the entirety of the community. In such cases where people refuse to use their voice afraid that it might be too timid, community journalism could be the best aid. Through community journalism, with the perseverance and dedication of a journalist, such acts and happenings inside a community can be exposed. Here is the part where journalism can be used as the voice of the voiceless in combating the wrongs for the betterment of the whole.