Online Citizen Journalism in India: A Study of MyNews.in

Television and New Communication Technologies: The Changing Paradigm of Education
Online Citizen Journalism in India

RABIA NOOR
Online Citizen Journalism in India:

A Study of MyNews.in
RABIA NOOR
PhD SCHOLAR
MEDIA EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTRE
UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR
SRINAGAR- 190006
Email: rabia.kajal@gmail.com
The research paper has been presented by the scholar at two-day National Seminar on
Television and New Communication Technologies: The Changing Paradigm of Education,
organised by Educational Multimedia Research Centre, at University of Kashmir on May 1516, 2012. The paper has also been published in a book based on the seminar proceedings
under the same title.
Recommended Citation
Noor, R. (2012). Online Citizen Journalism in India: A Study of MyNews.in. In S Jan, A Haque & I
Rehman (Eds.), Television and New Communication Technology: The Changing Paradigm of
Education (pp. 265-284). New Delhi: Black Prints.
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ABSTRACT
The advent of digital technology and interactive nature of Internet have given rise to citizen
journalism. Nowadays ordinary citizens often break news much faster than mainstream
journalists.
The study aims to draw inferences about trends of CJ news portals in India and MyNews.in
has been selected as sample. The language of CJ news stories was assessed in the light of
fundamental qualities of news.
It was found that CJ stories usually lack quality, content and normative qualities of news.
Citizens stories are mostly lop-sided and also lack on brevity, clarity of expression and
objectivity. Besides, sources of information in most of the stories are not properly identified.
KEY WORDS
Citizen Journalism, User Generated Content, New Media, News Portals, MyNews.in

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INTRODUCTION
Citizen Journalism
Citizen journalism is one of the latest concepts in journalism, whereby common masses can raise
their voice on the issues confronting them. The ordinary citizens or amateur reporters are basically
the audience, viewers or readers, who too want to share their stories and concerns in the society
they live in.
The latest technologies have lent a new life to the movement of citizen journalists globally. With the
advent of cellular phones, digital cameras, Internet and blogging, many people nowadays are
contributing their bit to journalism by capturing news and circulating it globally and are thus termed
as citizen journalists.
Citizen journalism is also known as public or participatory journalism and democratic journalism
(Baase 2008). It is the act of non-professionals, playing an active role in the process of collecting,
reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. The intent of this participation is to
provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy
requires (Bowman and Willis 2003).
The World English Dictionary defines citizen journalism as the involvement of non-professionals in
reporting news, especially in blogs and other websites. Webopedia Online Computer Dictionary
defines citizen journalism as a term used to describe the movement of people and amateur
journalistsbasically any non-professional journalistswho provide photos, videos and written
news pieces on evolving stories, often in collaboration with professional journalists.
Citizen journalism has been summed up well by former Chicago Tribune publisher as the new
interactive medium both threatens the status quo and promises an exciting new way of learning
about the world (Fuller 1996: 231). This deftly describes both camps of opinion concerning
participation by the audience in journalism:
I understand the fears of those, who worry it may do damage to the way we think and govern
ourselves, but this is no time to retreat to the monastery and pine away for the past. It is better
to look for a renaissance. The newspaper business is more thrilling today than it has ever been,
because the challenge is so great and so much is at stake. If we are clever enough and quick
enough, we will find a way to use the new medium to attract an audience by giving it
information that matters. If we keep our news values straight, we can continue to make a profit
helping society remain open and strong.
At present a number of news portals and blog sites are operating across the globe that offer
common masses a platform to be citizen journalists and share their stories with rest of the world.
Over past some years, various exclusive citizen journalism news portals have emerged in India as
well that are trying their best in inviting and highlighting the unheard voices of citizens. Infact, the
number of citizen journalism sites is constantly increasing as more and more new media writers are
taking up the pen and the number of people accessing the Internet continues to rise.

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Indian Perspective
Citizen journalism is yet to achieve the status in India as it has in the United States, the United
Kingdom or even South Korea. In a media-rich poor country, where the basic infrastructure required
to practice citizen journalismelectricity, computers, mobile phones, internet servicesis still
limited to a small segment of the population, the effects may not be immediately apparent.
However, there are several indications that citizen journalism is beginning to take root in the country
and realise its potential. Across the country, alternative spaces are opening up for otherwise
marginalised voices to be heard.
The rise of citizen journalism in India is linked to the notion of active citizenship and the need to
strengthen democratic governance. An active citizen is an alert member of the society, who
represents different concerns and happenings around him or her. Mahatma Gandhi wrote in Young
India (1-12-1927), Democracy is an impossible thing until the power is shared by all.Even a pariah,
labourer, who makes it possible for you to earn your living, will have his share in self-governance
(Kumar 2002: 99).
Empowerment is a crucial tenet of citizen journalism in India, a democracy with over one billion
people. Sonwalkar (2009) argues that this new form of reporting is having an increasingly influential
political function in highlighting social problems, such as the impact of severe poverty on those at
the margins of public life. In a society where women, for example, are seen as inferior and, in many
cases, subjected to domestic violence, blogging has enabled pressure groups to spark public
discussion and debate in a way that the mainstream news media have never done. Citizen
journalism is being increasingly recognised as a powerful force in India in this regard.
These are the early days for citizen journalism in India, where the chiaroscuro of cultures,
politics and geography is slowly and steadily breaking through the limitations of mainstream
media and providing new forms of expression and empowerment. The country is frequently
heralded in Western press accounts as the next economic success story due to factors, such
as its commitment to democracy, the prevalence of the English language, the growing
prosperity underpinning a burgeoning middle class, the prestige of its information
technology sector, and the relative proportion of young people making up its population.
India is seen as a challenge and a land of opportunity; an investor in Western nations and a
taker of Western jobs. The evolution of citizen journalism in India needs to be situated
within these and related contexts.
The concept of television citizen journalism was started in India by Cable News Network -Indian
Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN), an English-language Indian television news channel. In 2005, the
news channel provided the citizens of India a platform to articulate the issues concerning them, like
corruption, politics, education, health, society, so on and so forth. The trend was later followed by
several other media organizations.
In 2007, CNN-IBN took user generated content to a new level by airing the series, The Citizen
Journalist Show: Be the Change that has been inviting the citizens to use the show and the power of
media to raise their issues. Since then, scores of people have sent in video reports, photographs and
posted blogs to report on a variety of issues and from across the country. The reports are mostly
based on local issues, or are local repercussions of national issues. The show bagged the

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Indiantelevision.coms News Television Award 2012 in social awareness category. The award is being
endorsed by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.
CNN-IBN in partnership with Idea, an Indian mobile services operator, introduced the Citizen
Journalist Awards in 2007. The award is an initiative of IBN Network to recognise the efforts of
individuals, who dared to fight corruption and uncover the truth.
Some other news channels as well have experimented with their own citizen journalism initiatives.
The Hindi language news channel IBN-7, the sister concern of CNN-IBN, too has been aggressively
marketing its show Citizen Journalist. The programme is a stage for citizen-journalists around the
country to conceive, document and present a story of social and political relevance on national
television. As per the editor-in-chief of IBN-7 and CNN-IBN, the idea to initiate citizen journalism on
both channels was to build a citizenry that is engaged with public life (Rajagopalan 2006).
Similarly, MTV India came up with My India Report to endorse citizen journalism. On English
language news channel NDTV 24x7, text messages from the viewing public have forced courts to reopen long-standing unresolved criminal cases and expedite the delivery of justice. After the 2004
tsunami hit Eastern and Southern Coastal India and in the wake of the 2008 terror attacks in
Mumbai, eye-witness accounts sent in by SMS supplied early facts about the incidents. They have
often exposed inadequacies in disaster management and emergency facilities on the spot.
In January 2011, another Indian English language news channel NewsX launched community
journalism show, Speak Out India. The programme telecasts content sent in by community
journalists from all across the country, including under-covered areas, such as slums and villages.
NewsX co-promoter Jehangir S. Pocha says the idea behind Speak Out India is to allow people to
speak for themselves about their circumstances and problems rather than be spoken for. As per
Ranjana Jetley, NewsXs Editorial Director, Programming, even though many television channels
have broadcast citizen journalism programmes, Speak Out India is the first instance, where the
entire content is produced by communities. Hence the communities are not just being heard here,
but are producers and therefore, active role-players in the media.
Citizen journalism is yet to take off fully in Indian newspapers. The reason for this can be that writing
to newspapers has its limitations, such as circumscribed space and a newspapers inability to
reproduce more than a small fraction of the mail it receives. Sunil Abraham, director, Centre for
Internet and Society (CIS India), believes traditional newspapers too should empower citizen
journalism and expose their primary research databases, such as photos, video and audio recordings,
and documents to the public using web technologies (Prasad 2009).

The Internet has nowadays become a very powerful medium for citizen journalism in India. The first
websites devoted to news in IndiaSamachar.com and Rediff.comwere set up in the mid-1990s
by entrepreneurs Rajesh Jain and Ajit Balakrishnan. Traditional English and Indian language
newspapers soon went online, and several other news websites unrelated to media groups were set
up. Hundreds of thousands of Indians have since then created their own personal blogs to debate a
range of topics. Blogging has yet to reach Western levels, but there are indications that it is rapidly
gaining popularity. Citizen journalism has influenced the reporting of crises, intervened in social and
human rights issues, exposed political corruption (e.g Tehelka.com), highlighted malpractices in
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mainstream media (e.g the Pen Pricks blog), and voiced issues of concern to women in a maledominated society. The internet has enabled civic society groups to enhance awareness of events
and issues, evoke reactions and coordinate protests in different parts of India. The reporting of the
Mumbai rains in July 2005 was high-water mark, as commentators remarked that it signaled the
beginning of internet-based citizen journalism in the country. Several websites published the
eyewitness accounts of the incessant rains, updating them regularly with information and advice for
help. The news portal Rediff.com, which registers a large number of hits from within India as well as
outside, also became a crucial link for rescue acts. The key source of breaking the news on the rains
was no longer the radio, television, or the press, but a news portal (Sonwalkar 2009: 78).
Many observers have argued that citizen journalism on social media came into its own in 2008,
following 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Two trends in citizen journalism became evident in 2008,
which are as follows:
1. Mobile technology plays an increasingly important role in citizen journalism. During 2008 Mumbai
terror attack, Twitter (an online social networking and microblogging service), which can be updated
via SMS, became one of the most important sources of news on the crisis.
2. Citizen journalists are not bound by the conventional term of a journalist. Citizen journalists take
up an initiative to express ideas irrespective of their educational or professional background. In a
way, this emerging form of journalism is promising a scenario of breaking free from media bias as
well as taking local news on a global platform.
The roots of citizen journalism lie in the self-printed pamphlets that were distributed on the streetside. However, by enabling everyone to report news without the permission of gatekeepers like
news organizations or editors, social media has democratized journalism and enriched it by bringing
in a diversity of views and voices to it. Crisis reporting involves live blogging about a crisis as it
unfolds. Often, these are game-changing events that bring citizen journalism into the mainstream,
because citizen journalism is often the fastest and the most inclusive and interactive source of news
on these events. Again the examples include the tsunami in 2004 and the Mumbai terror attacks in
2008. While blogs like TsunamiHelp and MumbaiHelp have played an important role in coordinating
such efforts, they are essentially distributed efforts.
For citizen journalists, blogs have become important tools to write on the issues they want to write
on. The term blog is shortened form of web log. Blogs can be part of websites or are a type of
websites. Mostly blogs are maintained by individuals. In Indi a, there are a number of citizen
journalism blog sites at present that include Newmeback.com, Citizenjournalistofindia.blogspot.com,
Instablogs.com, Citizensreport.in and so on.
News portals have further widened the parameters of public participation. At present various citizen
journalism websites are operating in India. Prominent among them are MeriNews, MyNews, Cplash,
WorldSnap News, The Viewspaper, Purdafash and Inewss.
MeriNews is the first Indian news portal wholly devoted to citizen journalism. The term MeriNews
means my news in Hindi. It was set up by its founder and editor Upadhyay in 2006 with the motto:
Power to People. He called his website a product with a mission; a peoples news platform of the
people, by the people, for the people, providing power to the people and empowering democracy.1
1
Sonwalkar, Prasun. Citizen Journalism in India: Th e Politics of Recognition. In: Allan, Stuart and Thorsen,
Einar (eds). 2009, Citizen Journalism: Global Persp ectives (Peter Lang Publishing, Inc; New York)

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MeriNews is based on the concept of participatory media and citizen journalism, which transcend
beyond the limitations of conventional media. The news portal won Indias Best E-Content Award in
the same year it was launched. It is also the winner of Official Honoree at Webby Awards 2007 and
ranks fifth in the participatory news category in the world. It has enabled citizens of the country to
report, read, write, comment and debate news, views and happenings they find significant.
MyNews.in
MyNews (http://www.mynews.in) has been selected as sample for the study. The news portal has
been showcasing online citizen journalism since 2006 with its slogan, Every Citizen is a Journalist.
Till now, more than 20,000 citizen journalists from across the world are registered with MyNews and
the number is constantly growing with everyday. Any registered citizen journalist can upload/submit
news stories, articles, blogs, images, slideshows, videos, comments, etc, on the website. The web
portal has an editorial team of more than 20 editors. The sources of their news stories and articles
are the registered citizen journalists, staff reporters and editors and news agencies - PTI and IANS.
MyNews caters in following categories and sub-categories:
1. News - India, World, Politics, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Development, Life Style, Science
Technology, Youth and Campus, Hot on Web, Interviews, Press Releases, Daily Poll
2. Cricket - T20, National, International, IPL
3. Football - National, International
4. Videos - News Videos, Galler Videos
5. Images - News Images, Gallery Images
6. Slideshows - News and Events based
7. Blogs - Citizens' Blogs, Professional Blogs
8. Goodies - Greeting Cards, Wallpapers, Messages
9. MyNews Stream - News Aggregator & Forums.
MyNews publishes citizen journalism content separately in its Citizen Journalism section unlike
MeriNews that has devoted all its segments to citizen journalists. For rest of the segments, the web
portal receives the news matter either from staff reporters or news agencies to which it has
subscribed. The matter is being edited by the editors hired by the news portal. The current study
analysed the content of the citizen journalism section on the website.
Kashmir Perspective
In Kashmir, citizen journalism is relatively a new trend. However, with increasing popularity of
Internet, the number of non-journalists in the valley sharing news and opinions through blogs and
social networking sites is constantly increasing.
One of the finest examples of citizen journalism at regional level could be taken from the massive
agitation of 2008 that took place in the Valley in the backdrop of Shri Amarnath land transfer row. It
was perhaps for the first time during past two decades of Kashmir conflict, when a large number of
civilians, who took to the streets to stage protests against land transfer to Shri Amarnath Shrine
Board, recorded whatever they thought was a violation of human rights on their mobile phone
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cameras. The civilians recorded the pro-freedom protests, stone pelting, firing, tear gas shelling and
even killings of several people, especially protestors, on their mobile phone cameras and uploaded
the same on the Internet to make it available for rest of the world. The trend continued in
succeeding years as well, especially in 2009 following dual murder and rape at Shopian and in 2010
during Quit-Kashmir movement. At a time, when local media in Kashmir was gagged and thousands
of newspaper copies were bundled in police stations, people used blogs, websites and social
networking sites to disseminate the news.
One of leading daily English newspapers of the valley, Greater Kashmir, has taken a step forward to
encourage citizen journalism in Kashmir by giving space to write-ups and photographs sent by citizen
journalists that are mostly published on city page of the newspaper. The publication has been
inviting its readers to write on various issues concerning them. Strengthening and pioneering the
concept of participatory reporting by print media in Kashmir, the newspaper has been encouraging
its readers to play active role in the process of collecting, reporting and disseminating news and
information. Other local dailies and weeklies are, however, yet to follow the trend.
OBJECTIVES
1. To study nature of updates on the citizen journalism site under study and identify dominant
themes.
2. To find out what type of write ups are mostly carried by the news portal.
3. To analyse the language used by citizen journalists in news stories in the light of fundamental
qualities of news.
4. To find out if citizen journalists follow inverted pyramid structure in news stories.
5. To assess sources of news stories uploaded by citizen journalists.
METHODOLOGY
Case Study
Case Study is the most appropriate method for the current study, since it involves an in -depth and
longitudinal examination of a case. Case study is defined as the method of exploring and analyzing
the life of a social unit/entity, be it a role-incumbent (person), a family, an institution, or a
community. The case study serves the purpose similar to the clue-providing function of expert
opinion. It is most appropriate when one is trying to find clues and ideas for further research. Such
methodology seems to be the most suitable in the context of present study (Wilkinson and
Bhandarkar 2004: 257).
MyNews, a citizen journalism news portal, is the mainstay of the research. The reason for selecting
MyNews as sample for the study is that it is one of the most visited and popular citizen journalism
news portals in India.

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Content Analysis
The objectives set for the current study were conveniently achieved by Content Analysis method.
Generally, Content Analysis involves analysis of documents and written records with the objective of
describing and classifying them. It is a research technique for making replicable valid inferences from
data to their context. This method is relevant for the current study in view of the limited time and
resources. It is also suitable for addressing the issues and questions that underpin the research
The current study involved Content Analysis of the news stories and articles uploaded on the citizen
journalism section of the news portal MyNews.in. The analysis was made about the nature of
updates to draw inferences about trends of the citizen journalism sites and priorities of citizen
journalists in terms of issues raised. Type of write-up (whether hard or soft news, analysis, opinion
piece, interview, etc) was other major variable.
In order to assess citizen journalists hold on journalistic writing, the language used in hard and soft
news stories was analysed in the light of fundamental qualities of news, like accuracy, balanced
reporting, objectivity, clarity of expression and brevity. The facts presented in the news stories were
analysed in the backdrop of inverted pyramid news writing style.
REFERENCE PERIOD
The study covered a period of two years from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011.
FINDINGS
Quantitative Analysis
Dominant Themes
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
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Type of Write-ups
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
DISCUSSION
Dominant Themes
During the reference period, overall 128 write-ups were uploaded by citizen journalists on MyNews.
Business related stories dominated the updates by citizen journalists on the news portal, as
maximum number of write-ups that is 43 were related to business beat. Infact, out of 15 soft stories
carried by the news portal, 11 were related to business only. These stories mostly provided
information about latest or future happenings of business giants like Reliance Industries Limited that
are often in news in traditional media as well. The write-ups also included profiles and PR pieces
about the companies or their top executives. Some write-ups provided information about how to
excel in a particular venture and make profits.
Entertainment formed the second highest category in write-ups (28) by citizen journalists, though
published on just two particular days.
Social issues formed the next most important category, with 10 write-ups devoted to the theme.
Some of the issues raised, mostly in opinion pieces, were corruption, moral degradation, pseudo
saints in society, problems faced by senior citizens, gender issues and so on.
Same number of stories and articles (10) were related to the field of media and journalism. Among
other themes, 7 write-ups were related to essence of faith and religion, 7 to law, 6 to politics, 3 to
crime and 2 to security and human Rights each. Some other themes touched were science,
environment, civic amenities, morality, development, transport, education, horticulture, and art
with one write-up devoted to each theme.
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Type of Write-ups
Out of 128 citizen journalism updates on MyNews, most of the posts (37) were news stories covered
by citizen journalists from different walks of life. Of all news stories, 20 were event-cantered hard
news stories, 15 were soft news stories, 1 was news-cum-reaction story, whereas was 1 story was
hard news-cum-opinion piece. Some hard news stories were based on serious themes like politics,
crime, terrorism, infiltration, media, education, human rights, business and law. Soft news stories
mostly dealt with business, journalism and horticulture.
The second highest category (28) was that of Television promos inviting readers to watch particular
Television shows. These promos were uploaded on two particular days in the same month by two
individuals. Eleven of the promos were uploaded on July 8, 2011 by Romel Apatan, whereas 17
promos were uploaded on July 26, 2011 by Dodoy.
The news portal carried 20 opinion pieces by citizen journalists during the reference period. The
opinions were mostly regarding social issues and current affairs.
There were some informative pieces (14) as well to educate the readers about a particular subject,
especially a technical one. 8 informative pieces were about Search Engine Optimization (the process
of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines' search results) and online
marketing. 5 of the write-ups informed the readers about how to tackle immigration issues, whereas
one write-up carried the information related to the process of lunar eclipse.
Another prominent category was that of PR pieces (13) either written in favour of a company, like
Volkswagen, Reliance Industries Limited, Bentley Motors, Ford India Private Limited, Audi India, etc
or any individual like Nita Ambani and Mukesh Ambani. Some of the PR pieces were uploaded by
public relation officers of the respective companies. The PR pieces regarding Reliance Industries
Limited and its executives were uploaded by the same individual, Keshav Patel.
The write-ups included 5 personality profiles, all of which were devoted to top executives of Reliance
Industries Limited. 2 of them were written in favour of Mukesh Ambani, 2 for Nita Ambani and 1 in
the memory of Dhiru Bhai Ambani.
There were 3 interesting feature stories as well on revival of Bengali little magazine (e-zines),
introduction of eco-friendly rickshaws and condition of senior citizens in modern India. 2 of the
write-ups were press releases, one of them being product press release.
Rest of the write-ups (5) included a book review, public notice for a media award, letter to readers
to observe black-out on a particular time against corruption, memorandum to Chief Minister of
Odisha and a published story of Hindustan Times that formed the others category. One of the
updates carried nothing other than a sentence, Kalmadi sacked, V K Malhotra takes over.
Qualitative Analysis
1. Accuracy and Attribution
Accuracy is basic to any news story. It needs to be ensured that the details presented in any story
are factually correct. One of the important elements to ensure accuracy is attribution. The inputs
given in a news story ought to be attributed to the sources, which have to be properly identified and
named in the story.
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During the current study, sources were found to be apparent in most of the event-based stories,
however in rest of the stories, the sources were not properly identified. Even though there seemed
to be some genuine sources in some stories, their proper identification was lacking. For instance, on
December 7, 2010, CJ Keshav Naik uploaded a soft news story (Monkeys damage coconut and other
horticulture crops: farmers demands compensation) on MyNews. The sources of information here
were farmers, however none of the farmers was identified by the CJ. Such attribution may make
even a genuine story look like a table story.
In some other stories, sources were not identified, though details were attributed to sources. On
April 18, 2010, CJ Ankit Sharma uploaded a hard news story (Mayawati launches Mission CleanseBSP) on the news portal. The CJ had mentioned only sources in the story though without naming
any of them. The lead of the story was like: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has asked its
functionaries at all levels to prepare a list of party workers and leaders found to be involved in
criminal activities and ensure action against them by the end of this month. Sources said the party
coordinators at the zonal and district levels would identify such members and expel them
immediately. Rest of the details provided in the story were not attributed to anyone.
Some stories were found to be based on some official reports. However, the source o f access to
these reports was not mentioned in the stories. An ordinary citizen normally does not have access to
contents of such vital official documents unless they are made public through media. So it makes the
researcher wonder if the CJ had really collected the details by himself. For example, on March 29,
2010, CJ Ch. Narendra contributed a hard news story (India Expresses concern over continuing
infiltration in Jammu & Kashmir). The story was about the Annual Report of The Ministry of Defence
for the year 2009-10, which had raised some sensitive issues like continuing infiltration in Jammu
and Kashmir.
Similarly, on May 24, 2010, CJ Ganesh Makwana J uploaded a hard news story (CID Issues clean chit
to Saint Asaram) on MyNews. The CJ had referred to a report by CID in his story, but again, he had
nowhere mentioned the source through whom he got the access to the report. The story had the
following lead and the subsequent paragraph:
The Central Investigation Department (CID) of Gujarat has issued a clean chit to the Ashram. The CID
was probing into the allegation of black magic being performed in the Ashram.
The report was prepared by the investigating officer P M Parmar (Deputy Superintendent of Police),
after a meticulous and thorough investigation. The report said that places (in the ashram) were
thoroughly searched and photographed as well as videography was done during the visit, but no
material suggesting practice of black magic has been found.
Some stories were found to have quoted some newspaper reports. Its example is a hard news storycum-opinion piece (The 'Left' that takes Pride in Bullying) uploaded by K.M. Venugopalan on January
10, 2010 on MyNews.
In some stories, CJs had attributed their details in a manner different from that of a standard news
story. Some CJs had uploaded a hyperlink as source of information, while some had given a list of
sources separately below the story. Some CJs had prepared their news story or article out of the
inputs from other websites.
Besides these things, quotes were not properly used in most of the stories as demanded by a news
story. For instance, on August 16, 2010, CJ Sahyog Asim Sarode covered a hard news story, Support
The Freedom Of Press And Media: Adv Asim Sarode. The story had the following lead: As a head of
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the human rights organisation, Human Rights and Law Defenders (HRLD), we consider its our duty
to support the Abhivyakti-Samarathans initiative with the participation of the Patrakar Halla
Virodhi Kruti Sammitti campaign to stop attacks on media persons said Advocate Asim Sarode, who
is Human Rights Analyst. He further said that we are working on inculcating the values of the
Constitution of India into young generation for which learning the behaviour norms of following
duties and rights is of equal importance.
2. Balanced Reporting
Balanced reporting means that if there are more than one sides of a news story, all points of view
ought to be fairly presented. It was however, found, that most of the citizens stories that demanded
more than one version to be taken into consideration were found to be lop-sided. In most of hard
news stories against the authorities, the official version was found to be missing.
For instance, a hard news story (Uttar Pradesh state administration committing indiscriminate
repression and fabricating criminal charges against persons belonging to Muslim minority) was
published on MyNews on May 17, 2011. The story was lop sided, with all praises for PVCHR, a
human rights organization operating from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, while police version was
completely missing from the story even though the story carried some allegations against them.
Similarly, on December 7, 2010, CJ Keshav Naik uploaded a soft news story (Monkeys damage
coconut and other horticulture crops: farmers demands compensation) on the news portal, which
carried only farmers version, who were quoted as speaking against the government, whereas the
government version was missing from the story.
Another hard news story (Statement regarding firing attempt on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar convoy) was
published on the website on May 31, 2010. The story was based on a murder attempt on a Saint,
however police version was missing in the story, which is a must in such stories.
3. Clarity of Expression
It is generally believed that smooth writing ensures smooth reading. The story and the idea it carries
should be clear to readers, which however was not found in case of citizens stories.
The opening paragraphs of most of the news stories were found to be ov er-crowded and were
lacking clarity, which could confuse and even irritate the reader.
For instance, on August 3, 2011, a soft story (Police atrocity on communal lines in Sahaspur
(Muradabad): Is rule of law in jeopardy?) was carried on MyNews that throughout lacked clarity and
carried a confusing lead. The lead contained numerous details in a single sentence, which ought to
have been explained separately in subsequent paragraphs. Following is the lead of the story:
For the police atrocity in Muradabads Sahaspur village (population 8000 Hindus, 7000 Muslims),
roughly 27 kilometers away on from Muradabad on the Muradabad-Agra-Delhi road under Billari
police area on February 16, 2011 during the Barawafat procession the following lines correctly
explain the communal mindset of local administration, threat perception among minorities, loss of
life and valuables and question of livelihood.
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Another hard news story (Uttar Pradesh state administration committing indiscriminate repression
and fabricating criminal charges against persons belonging to Muslim minority), which was
published on May 17, 2011, had a lead as following:
The rights activists, associated with different human rights organizations namely; People Vigilance
Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), Bunkar Dastkar Adhikar Manch, visited Sahaspur village,
Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh in India to study thoroughly about the circumstances, which led to the
communal conflict at the occasion of Barawafat, a Muslim festival as well as to collect facts
regarding indiscriminate police repression of the persons and families belonging to Muslim minority.
Similarly, on February 28, 2011, a hard news-cum-reaction story (Union Budget 2011-12: Vidarbha
farmers and farm widows say its Peanut) was published on the news portal. The lead of the story,
uploaded by CJ Kishor Tiwari, was not only confusing, but did not suggest any pause or end of
sentences. The whole story, infact, comprised of a single paragraph. Following is believed to be its
lead:
Even the big discussion of having a bonanza to the farming community, the government today
announced loans at interest rate of four per cent - three per cent less than market rate - for farmers
who pay their dues in time and raised the credit target for farm sector by Rs 1 lakh crore the credit
target for the agriculture sector has been increased by Rs one lakh crore to Rs 4,75,000 crore has not
impressed 3 million dying vidarbha cotton farmer and 10,00 farm widows as there is no provision or
relief package for them as finance failed to give any specific relief to vidarbha cotton farmers as
there is no change on cotton export policy and any provision for the food security ,health security and
family pension of to farm widows who wanted to draw the attention towards anti- cotton farmers
policies of Govt. by hanging the effigies of union minister of finance and agriculture minister but
nothing has been reflected in the budget.
4. Objectivity
Objectivity is a significant principle of journalistic professionalism. Journalistic objecti vity can refer to
fairness, disinterestedness, factuality and non-partisanship, and most often encompasses all of these
qualities. In the context of journalism, objectivity may be understood as synonymous with neutrality.
However, most of the news stories uploaded by citizen journalists on MyNews reflected their
personal interest in the story. For instance, a series of hard and soft news stories on company
happenings of Reliance Industries Limited published in February 2011 were full of praises and
colourful adjectives that are advised to be avoided in news stories. The use of words like,
revolutionizing, inspiring, valuable, etc, reveals the CJs personal interest in the story.
Some citizen journalists were found to have uploaded stories about their own achievements. For
instance, CJ Sagar Mohanty uploaded three hard news stories on his awards on the news portal on
February 9, 2011 under following headlines:
NTSPL has been conferred as Best Website Design Award 2010 by IAC
Mr.Sagar Mohanty, Managing Director, Nexus Technoware Solution Pvt. Ltd (NTSPL), was awarded
recently with the Bharat Gaurav Award 2011 and Certificate of Excellence Award
Mr.Sagar Mohanty, MD, NTSPL, Wins Rashtriya Udyog Ratna Award - 2010?
Some news stories were written in first person, whereas news stories ought to be written in third
person. At some places, news was found to be mixed with opinion.
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5. Brevity
Brevity is believed to facilitate comprehension. That is why short sentences and short paragraphs are
frequently preferred in news stories. However, brevity was lacking in most of the citizen journalism
write-ups, be it then a news story or an opinion piece. The sentences and paragraphs were found to
be too long than the required length. A good lead is believed not to exceed 35 words. Contrarily,
introductory paragraphs in most of the citizen journalism stories were found to exceed 60 words and
some even went beyond 80 words. Similarly, the paragraphs after lead are preferred to be of less
than 60 words, which too was found rarely.
6. Inverted Pyramid News Writing Style
As such there is no hard and fast rule or any structure available for writing opinion pieces. However,
news stories have to follow certain structures. The most acceptable structure for writing hard news
is inverted pyramid news writing style. It is a method of writing a news story by placing its facts in
descending order of importance.
According to the inverted pyramid structure, lead of a news story ought to contain the most
newsworthy facts. However, in many hard news stories carried by MyNews, stories were found to
begin with less newsworthy details.
For instance, on February 9, 2011, a hard news story (Mr.Sagar Mohanty, MD, NTSPL, Wins
Rashtriya Udyog Ratna Award 2010) was published on MyNews that began with the following
lead:
The award was presented jointly by Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs &
Water Resources Government of India with Former Union Minister & Governor Tamilnadu,
Dr.Bhishma Narain Singh, on the occasion of National Seminar on Global Participation in Indias
Economic Development held on 6th January 2011 at Hotel Meridien, New Delhi to mark the Parvasi
Bharatiya Divas for the year 2011. The story should have started with the most newsworthy fact
that is who bagged the award rather than who presented the award.
On the same day, the same CJ uploaded another hard news story on the news portal that again
carried a lead with less newsworthy details:
Indian Achievers Forum, New Delhi organised the 26th Indian Achievers Summit on November 22,
2010 at Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The topic of the summit was The Challenges of Economic
Growth & Social Development This seminar highlighted the contribution and effort of many
individuals and organisations across fields of industry, commerce, banking, education, technology,
engineering, information technology, tourism, social work etc. The Chairmen, Chief Executives,
Directors and promoters of various organisations participated in this seminar from all over the
country and abroad. Many leading technocrats, doctors, educationists and other professionals were
also present during this event. In such stories, the outcome of the event is more newsworthy than
its organisers.
Similarly, on January 10, 2010, a news story (The 'Left' that takes Pride in Bullying) was carried by the
news portal that contained the following lead with less newsworthy details:
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A small town in the northern Kannur district of Kerala is in focus again, for its characteristic ways of
bullying in the name of defending 'Left'. On 10-01-2010 evening, a literary seminar and book release
were organised by Decemder Books .The event had participation of many important literary figures
of Kerala and was attended by an enlightened audience together with activists of the Purogamana
Kala Sahitya Sangham(Forum for Progessive Art and Lierature). Pu.Ka.Sa is an all Kerala
Organization considered to be under the control of the state unit of the CPI(M).
Some hard news stories were found to have soft leads. For instance, on July 1, 2011, a hard news
story, No to Petrol on 1st July 2011, uploaded on MyNews carried the following lead:
Automobiles are close to any automobile enthusiasts heart. But then the rising price of fuel is
compelling many to actually sell their vehicles or keep them at home and use public transport. Looks
like the Government of India doesnt pay any heed to all this and infact, just two week back, the price
of petrol was increased, once again in the same year. In protest of this, a No Petrol day is being
observed pan India on 1st July 2011.
Besides, no conclusion is given in a news story as per inverted pyramid structure, but some citizen
stories on MyNews did carry the conclusion as well.
CONCLUSION
The citizen journalists in India over the recent years have been exhibiting the courage to cover hard
news and write about the issues deemed serious in the society. With digital platform available,
nowadays anyone irrespective of their experience or education can write news for the general
masses to read.
The citizen journalists try and highlight their issues without hiding behind anonymity. Apart from
articulating their opinion on grave social issues like corruption, moral degradation and gender
discrimination, they deal with sensitive subjects like terrorism and human rights violations as well.
However, most of the citizens use this platform for business and commercial purposes, which is
otherwise meant for raising the genuine issues that traditional media usuall y misses to cover. Some
also conduct public relations exercises through this medium.
On most occasions, the citizen journalism stories lack quality and content. The language of the
stories is usually poor and they lack even the basic grammar. This indicates that the content goes
unedited before the public, even though news portals like MyNews claim to have hired a team of
editors.
Besides, the citizen journalism stories are usually devoid of normative qualities of news that are a
must for and basic to journalistic writings. Most of the citizens stories that demand more than one
version to be taken into consideration are usually lop-sided. This is something that goes against the
journalistic ethics prescribed by the Press Council of India.
The stories also lack on clarity of expression and brevity that are necessary to put the ideas across.
Most of the news stories comprise of long and over-crowded paragraphs that only confuse and
irritate the readers. Usually numerous details are provided in a single sentence, which ought to be
explained in separate paragraphs.
Objectivity is usually missing in citizens stories. The stories, infact, reflect the citizen journalists
personal interest in the story. Besides, the source of information in most of the users stories is not
properly identified, which raises a question on the authenticity of the stories and thus credibility of
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the citizen journalists. Moreover, citizen journalists do not follow inverted pyramid news writing
style while writing their stories.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The citizen journalism sites need to implement gate-keeping for the citizen journalism content. This
will help ensure the news updates by citizen journalists are in conformity with journalistic ethics.
The citizen journalists, in their personal interest, should acquaint themselves with the art of
journalistic writings. No matter how great ideas an individual may possess, it may serve no purpose
unless communicated properly. Therefore, citizen journalists should strive to improve their news
writing skills. Infact, nowadays online courses and tutorials are available for citizen journalists, which
they should make use of for their own benefit.
Citizen journalism is a platform for ordinary citizens to come forward and raise the genuine issues
confronting them. The citizens should not misuse it for advertising purpose and public relations
exercises so as to separate journalism from commercial activities. Let only journalism reflect from
updates of citizen journalists.
REFERENCES
Baase, S: 2008: A Gift of Fire, 3rd Ed. Prentice Hall
Bowman, Shayne and Willis, Chris: 2003: We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News
and Information, A Seminal Report, The Media Center at the American Press Institute
Cjkhabar.ibnlive.com
Fuller, Jack: 1996: News Values: Ideas for an Information Age. University of Chicago Press
Gauravonomics.com
Indiainfoline.com
Kumar, Ravindar: 2002: Theory and Practice of Gandhian Non-Violence. Mittal Publications
Merinews.com
Mynews.in
Prasad:
December 21, 2009: Newspapers Should Empower Citizen

http://cisindia.org/news/newspapers-should-empower-citizen-journalism
Journalism.
Rajagopalan, Sudha: August 2006: Citizen Journalism Hot on Television Channels in India.
http://www.powerofculture.nl/en/current/2006/august/citizenjournalism.html
Reference.com
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Sonwalkar, Prasun: Citizen Journalism in India: The Politics of Recognition. In: Allan, Stuart and
Thorsen, Einar (eds): 2009: Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives. New York: Peter Lang
Publishing, Inc
Sourcewatch.org
Webopedia.com
Wilkinson, T.S. and Bhandarkar, P.L: 2004: Methodology and Techniques of Social Research. Mumbai:
Himalaya Publishing House
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