Citizen Journalists Bear More Witness

In Arianna Huffington's article, "Bearing Witness 2.0: You Can't Spin 10,000 Tweets and Camera Phone Uploads," she writes about a criticism from New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, saying you can only get a real feel for a story when you are there and reporting it, not from any new technology.

This is incredibly backwards. During the Iranian protests of 2009, Twitter and YouTube were two of the biggest catalysts in spreading information during the uprising. The Washington Post had a story about how Twitter allowed people on the ground to get information out quickly that many other people would not have access to. When you have people directly involved with the conflict giving their own experiences and opinions, it can be a much deeper look than through the eyes of a journalist.

If the journalist covering a conflict is parachuted it without a deep knowledge of the people, the culture and maybe even the conflict, there is a much greater disconnect with the story. People fighting in their own country will have much more raw emotion and feeling behind what they are saying and sharing.

With the help of YouTube in Iran, citizens could post their own videos of what they were involved in and witnessing throughout the conflict. This video, probably shot with a cell phone, brings viewers straight into the heart of a conflict. Reporters may not be out in the middle of protests or riots out of fear, and then would not get the same raw footage.

There is a major difference between having a camera down in the crowd and having one off in safety with a bird's eye view. Cell phone videos can transport viewers into the eyes of someone down in the opposition. You get that real taste of fear and excitement from being in the middle of the movement. A professional journalist can write about that but they can't actually know the real feeling of being a part of that unless they are taking part.

In the recent uprising in Ukraine, some of the biggest news pieces came from amateur video of the protests and pictures posted by protesters on Twitter and Instagram. There are several professional journalists that are down in the streets with the opposition but what gives them any better capabilities to capture the environment around them than the citizen journalists in the same place?