Citizens Journalism vs. Media Conglomerates
Nikki Vergakes
October 30th, 2013

Journalism is what keeps the records of the daily events to the hour, minute, and second in our society. Not only does it keep us up to date on current events, but it is the pulse on society’s beating heart. In the beginnings of mass communications, people were accustomed to hearing the latest news break from their favorite news anchors on one of their favorite television or radio stations. However, with the dawning of the internet and the information age, consumers and viewers began to give their feedback on news stories. With the dawning of blogs, YouTube, comments on internet articles, and community radio and television “citizen’s journalism” became a threat to major broadcast companies. This paper will compare and contrast the uses and societal views of citizen journalism vs. media conglomerates. Citizen’s journalism is what it sounds like. It is defined as citizens on the street collecting, reporting, and analyzing information. Some of this can be as casual as a blog post or a tweet, some can be as hard-hitting as a large campaign fighting for a cause. People who create this content neither are not hired by a company nor have any major training, like news castors at big-time news stations. There are many outlets for citizen journalism, such as personal blogs, personal videos, and community radio. Certain websites such as NowPublic, where anyone can post an article that has an account on the website. That is different then a person’s own blog, because it is a website owned by a group of people, however the content published on it is by many citizens. Self-sufficiency is the biggest keyword in citizen journalism because it is up to the citizen to do the research, writing and editing, not a specific department in a corporation to do every portion. like at stations like NBC, ABC, FOX, and more. There is also other mediums than the internet that are utilized in citizen’s journalism, such as locally owned TV and radio stations. An example of this would be Salem State’s radio station, WMWM Salem. Some people prefer getting their news from friends or fellow citizens rather than from big media conglomerates. Some believe that news companies can try to sway the viewers to have a certain opinion or are always laced with underlying marketing campaigns, however opinions coming from a fellow citizen will be more honest and will not have a hidden agenda. Media conglomerates use underlying advertising techniques such as flashy text announcing an upcoming show on the bottom of the screen during a TV show, or large, unwanted ads on a website. On the contrary, citizens journalism includes no advertising, because they are making no money off of it. People can relate to personal blogs and websites as opposed to news station because it is written by people like themselves. People writing on their own blog set up by themselves are not paid, they are writing for the fun of it. A “Media Conglomerate” is a large news company that owns multiple channels of media: a TV Station, a website, a magazine, and a radio station. Examples of media conglomerates are NBC, CBS, and TV Guide. Some companies own or have rights to many different channels and companies, and those are known as monopolies, where one company owns the majority of one industry. This is the more business side of the media. Some Americans, being afraid of big business, are less likely to support it. However, some feel a security in getting news from the professionals. They feel like it is more valid because it has been reviewed and edited to a T. News is broadcasted in big-time studios all day long, whether it’s on TV or the radio. There are