Posted: November 19th, 2022

College Communications 2 (COMM171)

The Afflictions of the Digital Era (Change the title based on your topic)
Student Name:
Course: College Communications 2 (COMM171)
Have you included all the components of a critique essay?

Introduction
o Attention-getter
o Background information
o Source information
o Thesis statement — Critique

Summary

o Topic sentence
o Main ideas of the source article
o Reference to the author

Response paragraph 1
o Topic sentence — critique the main source
o Development of critique — primary source and secondary source
o Commentary on the sources – analysis and evaluation
o Closing sentence

Response paragraph 2
o Topic sentence – critique the main source
o Development of critique – Primary source and secondary source
o Commentary on the sources – analysis and evaluation
o Closing sentence

Conclusion
o Restatement of the thesis
o Suggestion/Recommendation
o Other questions
o Memorable statement

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The Power of Citizen Journalism

Course: College Communications 2 (COMM171)
Do you believe you have the potential to play an important role in citizen journalism? If they have the right tools, many people can participate in citizen journalism. Micha Barban Dangerfield (n.d.) describes the concept of citizen journalism in the article “Power to the People: The Rise and Rise of Citizen Journalism” by discussing its benefits and drawbacks. Dangerfield (n.d.) uses images and various examples of citizen journalism in her article to emotionally influence the reader; however, her approach is one-sided, and she does not provide enough evidence to support her examples.
Micha Barban Dangerfield (n.d.) discusses what citizen journalism is, where it came from, and why it is an indispensable part of our lives in “Power to the People: The Rise and Rise of Citizen Journalism.” Dangerfield (n.d.) discusses several cases in which citizen journalism was crucial. Many people began working in journalism without any formal education, and some people unintentionally shoot or witness historically significant events. She also discusses how citizen journalism has influenced people’s lives, history, politics, and a variety of other fields. She continues her article by discussing the lack of transparency in journalism in some countries as a result of restrictions on internet access and certain web-cites. In some cases, new laws have been enacted that can result in incarceration for posting something critical of the government on the Internet. Dangerfield (n.d.) also discusses how citizen journalists are questioning centralized sources of information, which is leading to a media restructuring. She also discusses other new issues that have arisen as a result of citizen journalism.
Micha Barban Dangerfield (n.d.) effectively uses imagery and various examples of citizen journalism to paint mental pictures for the reader. She mentions Abraham Zahari and his amateur camera skills, which led to him photographing John F. Kennedy’s death (para. 2). Dangerfield (n.d.) demonstrates to the reader that citizen journalism existed long before smartphones. Tony Rogers (2019), a journalist with over 25 years of experience in journalism, tells us about the basics of citizen journalism and how it can be used in “Understanding Citizen Journalism.” He writes, “Citizen journalism can also include text, pictures, audio, and video” (para. 2), demonstrating that citizen journalism can include video, audio, and written information by non-professionals in addition to photos. This makes it easier to comprehend and believe the information provided to us. Furthermore, Dangerfield (n.d.) uses photos of the cases she discusses in the article to help the reader understand the situation, such as Ian Tomlinson’s death during G20 protests in London in 2009 and John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Paul Lewis (2011), a highly decorated British journalist who works for The Guardian daily newspaper, discusses the basics of citizen journalism and how it works in “Citizen Journalism.” He includes a video file from the investigation into Ian Tomlinson’s death. This video file served as the primary evidence in the investigation, demonstrating the importance of citizen journalism. All of the preceding points demonstrate the importance of citizen journalism in our lives.
Despite the fact that Micha Barban Dangerfield (n.d.) explains and shows photos to the readers, her main points are a lack of evidence and trustworthy sources. According to Dangerfield (n.d.), the “Chinese government intimidated bloggers by threatening them with a three-year sentence,” and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan has increased Internet restrictions and even blocked some social platforms such as YouTube and Twitter (para. 7). She intends to demonstrate that it is also a new place where the government dictates its laws once more. Despite the fact that she uses such authoritative language, she does not provide a single authoritative resource on which we can rely. Paul Lewis (2011), on the other hand, provides numerous pieces of evidence in his work via video and audio materials. Furthermore, he is a British journalist who works for The Guardian, one of the most respected daily newspapers in the world. Dangerfield’s (n.d.) claims are untrustworthy and, frankly, absurd due to a lack of evidence and reliable sources. Dangerfield (n.d.) provides very few examples and arguments against citizen journalism in the article. She claims that following the Boston Marathon bombing, a small group of citizen journalists falsely accused missing student Sunil Triparthi (para. 11). Dangerfield wishes to point out that citizen journalism is not always a trustworthy source. In a couple of sentences, she supports her claim with only one disadvantage of citizen journalism. This demonstrates her obvious bias toward the topic, as the majority of the article is based on her beliefs about the benefits of citizen journalism. Natalie Regoli (2016), whose work has appeared in several national journals, discusses the benefits and drawbacks of citizen journalism in “Advantages and Disadvantages of Citizen Journalism.” She discusses both the positive and negative aspects of citizen journalism. Furthermore, Regoli (2016) states that “it is important to assess the benefits and drawbacks of citizen journalism in order to predict how it will develop in the future” (para. 1). She openly states that in order to improve one’s journalism, one must be familiar with all aspects of it. Furthermore, Tony Rogers (2019) writes about revolutionary news in which professional and nonprofessional journalists collaborate and that “more than half of professional journalists used social media to find and build stories” (para. 10). Dangerfield’s article is one-sided because there are no compelling arguments against citizen journalism.
Overall, Micha Barban Dangerfield (n.d.) was able to provide many examples of why she believes citizen journalism is important, but she fails to do the same for the disadvantages of citizen journalism. Furthermore, she is unable to provide credible sources to back up her claims. This begs the question: Will citizen journalism be able to completely replace professional journalists, or will they have to collaborate? Even though it has some drawbacks, most people believe citizen journalism is the future of journalism. Dangerfield’s (n.d.) article demonstrates how citizen journalism has become an essential part of modern life.

References
M. B. Dangerfield (n.d.). People’s power: The rise and rise of citizen journalism. Tate.
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/photojournalism/power-people
N. Regoli (2017, January 14). 4 benefits and drawbacks of citizen journalism https://connectusfund.org/4-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-citizen-journalism
T. Rogers (2021, February 16). Recognizing Citizen Journalism ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-citizen-journalism-2073663
Talks at TEDx (2011, May 15). [Video] Citizen journalism YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9APO9 yNbcg&feature=youtu.be
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