Amateur Hour

Citizen journalism is news, community news, information and content generated by users and readers of various media platforms; the digital age has made citizen journalism even more accessible for those with a computer and internet access- now you can discuss your thoughts and opinions on current affairs, international happenings, or local issues. Blogs, like this one, are just one of the ways you can facilitate discussion online.
However, for third world countries, citizen journalism online is not as easy as our fellow users in Europe of the USA. Most schools and homes in South Africa do not have access to a computer, let alone an internet connection. The Citizen Journalism in Africa programme ‘aims at building the capacity of civil society organisations to use online and offline citizen journalism as a means of publication, lobby, networking and knowledge sharing with their constituencies.’ This website provides some valuable resources for the citizen journalist, including e-modules, reporter’s guide, and media theory documents. Their South African news section allows SA users to practice their citizen journalism skills and keep up-to-date with news from around our country.

However, one glaring problem with the site is that it doesn't offer a reference guide to the laws affecting citizen journalists in their respective African countries. Issues of legal reprisal contribute to the hesitation of those who wish to use new media tools to address issues related to the distribution and use of social power by the state and other actors, but are wary of the repurcussions.


The Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society was opened as a research centre to explore cyber space, and as part of their mission to do this, citizen and online journalists can access the Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP) for assistance, training, research and a host of other resources. While citizen journalism can empower the masses to speak up about issues affecting them, it’s has become somewhat of a double-edged sword. With the endless freedom to air your opinions, this also means that some people take advantage and disregard the ethics and laws of journalism, i.e. reliable sources, honesty, fairness etc. So it’s always a good idea to get to know just how to go about becoming a credible and renowned citizen journalist; check out the CMLP resources for a Citizen Media Legal Guide and their Legal Threats Database.But once again, these resources are not aimed at African journalists, so they are only useful to a point.

Need more info to get you or your news organisation started up? Check out Steve Outing’s awesome article, “The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism”, at Poynter Online, or the CMLP podcast series for free at iTunes. Want to be a real superstar? Pioneer a site or database aimed at African journalists, and fill a serious gap in citizen journalism in Africa.