The Advance of Citizen Journalism – Newsquest

The advance of citizen journalism was evident last week as we saw Newsquest asking readers of its South London titles to write their own stories to be published on its 11 websites (read how the Press Gazette covered the story here).

In a world of real time media and in the face of many print newspaper redundancies it perhaps doesn’t seem very surprising, but it is certainly thought-provoking.

While many herald the rise of citizen journalism with optimism, praising the developments for adding a richer dimension to current affairs, there are lots of concerned voices too (including the NUJ) arguing that replacing experienced journalists, who understand media law, with untrained members of the public is not a positive thing and is helping to fuel a ‘post-truth’ era.

In the world of PR and brand communications, we spend a huge amount of time thinking about reaching the end user, via every relevant mechanic. Owned media is now an integral and lead strand on a campaign, and forms part of influencer outreach. But we still work closely with traditional media platforms and the move towards consumers writing editorial content will no doubt have an impact on our campaign strategy and tactics.

We believe that the power of trusted sources will become ever more important, and we will need to keep communicating to credible, authentic storytellers, whether they sit within or outside of the traditional media.