The Rise And Development Of "Citizen Journalism" In China And How To Cope With It

This essay studies on'citizen journalism'. On the basis of introducing the foreign and local researches on this subject, the essay elaborates on the concept, the characteristic and the reason of the rising of'citizen journalism', and also the difference between 'citizen journalism'and "public journalism", and plus the general situation of'citizen journalism'in USA and Korea. Then some important issues of the'citizen journalism' in China were analyzed in details.The essay thinks that besides the development of Internet technology, the 'citizen journalism' rises in China because citizens are more eager to express themselves, and Chinese political environment has loosened gradually. 'citizen journalism' in China is now on its primary stage:BBS and Blogs are playing a more and more important part in providing news clues and causing discuss; while'citizen journalism' websites and Chinese Wikinews are not yet in shape. There are some developing predicaments:the quality of'citizen reporters', the consistency of citizens participating in the dissemination of news, and the external growing environment of 'citizen journalism'.Facing the rising of'citizen journalism', the mainstream media has taken some actions:tracing Internet news clues, writing journalist and media blogs, setting up 'citizen journalism' columns, etc. However, these actions are mainly passive responses. The mainstream media should take a more positive attitude:get to know more about'citizen journalism', use blogs at closer range, strengthen their relations with citizens. And the government should have an open mind facing the increase of the power of citizen discourse, respect citizen's right of expression and continue the system reforms to encourage citizens to participate more actively in information dissemination activities.