1
Citizen Journalism Essay
Liliana Voakes Ottawa University Arizona Visual Communication Professor Henning October 4, 2026
2 Paul Lewis’s TED Talk shows us how mobile phones and social media have recently changed the way people receive and report on news. Before mobile phones, most people depended on professional journalists and news organizations to watch and figure out what was going on and what to report on. Now, most people can grab their phone, record anything they want, and post it. These posts can reach millions of people in such short amounts of time. This part of technology is extremely useful and can benefit society in a lot of ways, like spreading important news, protection, or even proof of a crime. But it also creates a heaviness over the people watching these videos. Each and every viewer has to research and confirm if what they are watching is true, because sometimes, it may not be. Just because someone has recorded and posted it doesn't necessarily mean it is true, especially now in the days of AI.
One of the points Lewis talked about was the 2009 G20 protests in London. These were gatherings to protest economic and tax injustices, climate inaction, and war/imperialsim (Khan, 2010). His main discussion was about a man who died during those protests, Ian Tomlinson. The initial explanation of his death didnt tell us the whole story; the media stated he had died of a heart attack. An individual who was recording the encounter showed a police officer arguing with Ian, and then repeatedly beating him with a baton before he collapsed. This new video provided the public with information they hadn't seen yet, changing the story. The person who recorded it wasn't a journalist, just a bystander (Lewis, 2011). This shows us just how useful our everyday objects can be. The case involving Jimmy Mubenga showed something similar. Lewis and another journalist used their social media accounts to allocate people who have been through deportation. Instead of taking the official explanation as fact, they were able to compare the actual victims'
3 accounts (Lewis, 2011). This shows a big strength of citizen journalism. Regular people can provide evidence that authorities are consistently lying about, or don't have access to. A few seconds of a recording could be the difference between murder and accident. Then again, this makes the audience and consumers responsible, as well as the person creating the content. If someone sees a shocking video online, they should not automatically assume that it is true just because it looks convincing. They should consider who posted it, when it was posted or re-posted, where it came from, and whether other sources are posting the same thing. This does not mean people should discredit citizen journalism altogether. Actually, Lewis’s examples show us exactly why it is valuable. But it means people should treat citizen journalism for what it is: someone's point of view. Until it is investigated, that is. I believe social media has also made this responsibility more difficult because of how fast information seems to get around. Most people scrolling would, naturally, react to something emotionally before they have time to think about whether it is true or not. Someone might post a video because they are angry at someone, scared, or just don't understand what they're posting. By the time they realize, thousands or millions of people might have seen it already. This is extremely important when talking about events where businesses, specific groups of people, or any individual could be hurt by misinformation. Lewis’s talk definitely made me see citizen journalism, a term I hadn't really used before, as something that could be incredibly powerful and could be used as a tool. Phones have given regular people the ability to connect with each other at rapid rates, and document and spread events that might've been pushed aside otherwise. The examples of Ian Tomlinson and Jimmy Muebenga show us how important evidence can be, especially when talking about people's lives (Lewis, 2011). However, the responsibility does not end with the person sharing. It also falls on
4 the person on the other side of the screen, consuming. Citizen journalism works when people are willing to accept the evidence, but also question what they see before sharing. Today, almost everyone has a camera in their bag or pocket; being careful with what you consume is just as important as being careful with what you create.
5
References Khan, K. (2010, August 5). London G20 protests. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2009/04/01/London-G20-Protests.html Lewis, P. (2011, November 5). How mobile phones helped solve two murders [Video]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_lewis_how_mobile_phones_helped_solve_two_murders