Opinion | Bias, Bigotry, And Bots: The Dangers Of Unfettered Citizen Journalism
Citizen journalism, despite all its claims of an ‘ideal speech situation’, degrades into a space of vitriol, racism, bigotry, misinformation, rumours, and hate speech
Since he bought ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) in a messy and hostile takeover, Elon Musk has been shaping the platform in his own image. He considers X to be a “digital town square". Through his fierce advocacy, Musk has pushed for a powerful yet not much-talked-about idea: citizen journalism. The eccentric billionaire sees X as a replacement for traditional media platforms, and citizen journalists as substitutes for professional journalists.
In the book, The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, Marshall McLuhan wrote, “Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate… It is impossible to understand social and cultural changes without a knowledge of the workings of media." This certainly holds true for the post-Musk era of X and his advocacy of citizen journalism.
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It is hard to define who a citizen journalist is, since the term is loaded and has a diverse set of scholarly definitions and overlapping meanings. In simple terms, a citizen journalist is any person who engages in journalistic activity but is not a trained reporter or professional. As Musk puts it, citizen journalism is “…a new model of news, which is to gather information from people who are at the scene, who are experts in the field, summarise the experts in the field and people who are at whatever event is being talked about, and aggregate that into a real-time news feed."
The idea of citizen journalism is not new. One could argue that during the Indian freedom struggle, many freedom fighters, who were not professional journalists, brought out their newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and periodicals to raise awareness of the true nature of the British Raj. They were, in fact, “citizen journalists". In 1963, Abraham Zapruder filmed a 26-second horrifying video that recorded the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. In 2008, when Mumbai was rocked by a cowardly terrorist attack, online platforms were flooded with stories and photos from citizens present near the attack sites. In December 2010, in Tunisia, the video of Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation triggered the Jasmine Revolution and the Arab Spring. All these instances are emblematic of citizen journalism.
The rise of new technologies has given a boost to citizen journalism. It is challenging traditional media, breaking down the silos and walls that once existed between institutional news dissemination and the roles citizens now play in it. Gone are the days when only journalists and media houses were the gatekeepers of information. Now, for those willing, there are plenty of mediums and platforms to broadcast events, views, and information.
Traditional media is competing with two forces. The first is the competition from new technologies and newer mediums. The second is the competition from the “former" audience, who have turned into journalists, thanks to mobile cameras and the internet. As Elon Musk tweeted, “…You are the media now" and “…You can do live video easily from your phone."
The rise of citizen journalism is also attributed to the reputational damage suffered by serious journalism due to the commercial and other vested interests of media conglomerates. Once a venerable profession, journalism has been tarnished by the insidious rise of yellow-page journalism, where news is used to manipulate public opinion, rather than being a noble pursuit of speaking truth to power. The media has largely ceased to be a profitable business, as advertisers shift to online platforms. Yet, the rich and powerful continue to pour money into it to harness, create, and maintain favourable public opinion and political power.
The people who were supposed to be the vanguard of journalism became fixated on maintaining the status quo, reflected in their complacent attitude and institutional biases. Traditional media today lacks passion. “Many big-media journalists are now cautious, well-paid conformists, distant from their audiences and more responsive to urban elites, powerful people, and mega-corporations—especially the ones they work for," says journalist James Poniewozik.
Take, for example, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre, which found that “about three-quarters of US adults (73 per cent) say they have seen inaccurate news coverage about the election at least somewhat often, including 37 per cent who have seen this kind of information extremely or very often." Musk, a product of media glorification, has fiercely criticised mainstream “legacy" media and has argued that in citizen journalism “people are able to disseminate news without an establishment bias." He believes that this type of journalism is “infinitely superior" and “breaks the monopoly held by a handful of editors."
But the remedy provided by citizen journalism might be worse than the malady. Due to traditional media being run through a centralised structure, it is easier for a willing state to set accountability. This becomes a challenge in a highly decentralised setup. As far as the legacy media’s institutional bias is concerned, citizen journalism will also fall victim to individual biases. Online platforms are repositories of confirmation biases, propelled by algorithms, which will also manifest in citizen journalism. Currently, non-traditional platforms are used to call out the recognised biases of legacy media. But when social media itself becomes an echo chamber, recognising bias becomes impossible, and no one is there to call it out.
Citizen journalism, despite all its claims of an ‘ideal speech situation’, degrades into a space of vitriol, racism, bigotry, misinformation, rumours, and hate speech.
Recently, The Guardian quit the X platform, citing “disturbing content", including racism. The World Bank ceased paid advertising on ‘X’ after advertisements were shown under a racist post, according to a CBS News report in September 2024. According to a report by CNN, Musk publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jewish communities push “hatred against Whites." Musk called an antisemitic tweet “the actual truth", which accused Jewish people of undermining Western civilisation by supporting immigration. Research conducted by ISD and CASM Technology for BBC Panorama revealed that when Elon Musk took over ‘X’, it fostered an environment that allowed thousands of new accounts to quickly begin following channels known for misogynistic content on the platform.
What is true for the relationship between legacy media and the rich is also true for citizen journalism and social media. Take the case of X and Elon Musk, for the road to hell is paved with good intentions. He claimed neutrality and a level playing field for all sides. However, as The New York Times reported, “It has become starkly evident that the left, the Democrats, do not have the same social media platforms to push their agenda… It has left Democrats in a huge deficit." Elon Musk, like other billionaires, wanted to have his medium, and he grabbed it at a huge premium.
Walter Isaacson, in the authorised biography of Musk, called it out: “Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place or felt threatened, it took him back to the horrors of being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground."
Journalism is a professional pursuit requiring special skills, training, and expertise. Though citizens can participate and connect constructively with the news process, they cannot replace journalists and institutionalised journalism.
In 2014, speaking to a digital news publication, senior journalist Shekhar Gupta said, “I don’t believe in citizen journalists. I say give me citizen doctors and citizen lawyers, and I’ll give you citizen journalists. We learn the journalistic skill, we come with bullshit detectors, which get better with age and experience." Journalism is an exercise in sophistication, requiring an understanding of the system, devouring documents in search of information, conducting investigations, and having the courage to question the newsmakers.
However, traditional media cannot afford to have a snobbish and disdainful attitude towards the public. It will have to accept that people cannot be excluded, and the process must be made participatory. People need someone who listens to them without arrogance or claiming moral high ground. The onus is on legacy journalists to be passionate and innovative. The letters to editors are one such way of making people feel heard.
Citizen journalism, despite its lofty ideals of equality, is also dominated by a privileged few who possess the technical means, educational know-how, and time to spare. The masses remain voiceless and unheard, a vacuum that has also persisted in legacy media. Journalists, newsmakers, and the audience, with a bottom-up approach, need to fill this gap and build an equitable space for those who require the news the most but are also the most ignored in the process. A mob claiming to represent the masses is as harmful as the select few deciding for the masses.
In the past, institutional journalists and journalism have faced many crises head-on. However, due to the velocity of technological changes, the media space is far more fragmented, with more claimants than ever before. It is more contested, as the former audience—enabled by the pervasiveness of the internet and driven by the faltering credibility of traditional media—is taking matters into their own hands. The onus is on professional journalists to improve their standing and ensure the restoration of trust in once-revered institutional journalism. People need credible news, but not from sources that disguise avarice behind the gauzy language of objectivity and impartiality, nor from people shouting from soapboxes.
The author has a master’s degree in Polymers from Scotland (UK), and in this age of social media likes to consume books and not bits and bobs of reels and headlines. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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