Citizen Journalism and Community Journalism: Not Synonymous

In your own words differentiate citizen journalism to community journalism.

Citizen journalism and community journalism are usually thought to be synonymous in terms of their practices, but these two forms of journalism have a lot of differences. Citizen journalism involves reportage that is made by ordinary citizens, and social media is usually used to share the information. This form of journalism usually aids professional journalists in getting information, photos, and videos regarding a certain event. For example, the GMA's YouScoop, ABS-CBN's Bayan mo  Ipatrol mo, and OhmyNews in South Korea. Meanwhile, community journalism is a practice that is done by professional journalists, wherein they immerse themselves in a community to unveil or investigate a certain issue that plagues that community. This type of reporting usually is not just a one-day commitment; community journalists stay for quite some time in that specific community to see the real situation and to put themselves in the shoes of the people in the community. In the course of this reportage, the community journalist gets to interview people who have been experiencing those community issues, and they usually get to experience them themselves.

Choose a unique local issue which you think can be addressed through community journalism and why?

Paombong is known as the vinegar capital of the Philippines. The municipality is famous for its sukang sasa, but the process of making it is considered a dying craft in the locality. Most of the Nipa palm fields have already been converted into fishponds, and most of the new generation doesn't know how to make the sukang sasa. Furthermore, this product has been the trademark of the locality, so if it dies, the place won't have an identity. Community journalism can help in addressing this issue by means of getting people's perceptions on how they think they can sustain the craft, and maybe they'll realize that this product has been their identity and they themselves will find a way to keep it alive. Another way is to create a feature article based on people's experiences that were interviewed by community journalists. This interview can revolve around the process of making the sukang sasa, the way in which it served as a livelihood source for the locals, and its uses in cooking and other fields. In addition to that, community journalists can also cover the yearly celebration of the founding anniversary of the municipality, which they usually combine with the celebration of the craft of making sukang sasa. In this way, the issue will be given more platforms, and more people will be encouraged to take action to preserve this unique process of making sukang sasa.