Citizen Online: A Critical Review of Citizen Journalism in Turkey

In traditional media, news sources are institutions and official individuals therefore, all information provided by mainstream media is considered to be accurate. News value is determined by ratings, advertisement revenues or sales of newspapers. However, citizen journalism is produced not by professionals but by those outside mainstream media organizations. Amateur media producers usually having no professional qualifications as journalists; write and report from their position as citizens. It is often confused with civic journalism which is practiced by professional media producers. Citizen journalism had also a big impact on some dramatic worldwide events such as Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street Protests or Syrian War as digital technologies facilitated the communication and interaction between people who participated in protests. They disseminated information and made citizens aware of ongoing events. Whether citizen journalism needs an editorial control mechanism or not is still controversial. The reason lying behind this controversy stems from the use of this control as a censor mechanism. However some citizen journalists asserted that in order to create news language and avoid producing true news with wrong expression, editorial control is necessary. It does not have to be considered negative. On the other hand, this control should not make journalists feel under an authority. This paper aims to analyze the birth and development of citizen journalism in Turkey and important issues it rises and argues that new media revolution makes a fundamental rethinking of journalism necessary