Citizen and Community Journalism Midterm Examination | John Lemuel C. Gatchalian

In 6 to 10 sentences, differentiate citizen journalism and community journalism in your own words.

Citizen journalists disseminate information according to what they see on a surface level; they also need proper training and education to become appropriate journalists. Citizen journalists disseminate their information on online platforms as it is easier to do so. In addition, community journalists reports their information without any kind of censorship. They aren’t also bound to any journalistic ethics or standards as they are not proper journalists. However, Community journalists immerse themselves in the community they are reporting or telling a story to help the community in their way. In addition, a Community journalist undergoes proper training and education to become a journalist. 

In 6 to 10 sentences, choose a unique local issue that you think can be resolved through community journalism and explain why in your own words.

As a citizen living in a place with narrow roads, I often see illegal parking of vehicles on the side of the road outside their gates. This type of local issue harms pedestrians and affects traffic flow in the area affected by illegal parking. Living in that place where you need to put yourself in the middle of the road just to pass a wide vehicle parked illegally is a nuisance. Community journalism can resolve this kind of local issue by telling a story about how this local issue affects the people living in the community. They can hold the government accountable for this issue for not giving proper sanctions, especially where there are few to no authorities to handle people who park illegally. Therefore, a community journalist can closely monitor national and local governments in implementing proper sanctions for people breaking the law.