Debate: Is Assuming the role of citizen journalist worth the risk - Essay Example

The information provided by citizen journalists also helps in the investigation of the disasters. Some administrators, however, challenge the behavior claiming that it may lead to reporting of false information, and it risks the life of the person recording the incidence. The article written by Mark Memmoth about whether taking disaster photos is a worthy or irresponsible behavior argues that citizen journalism provides evidence of the occurrence of an event. This is because Ho, the student who took videos of a plane crash accident in Toronto supplied information of the incidence, and media houses based their reports on the information.

According to the article, Ben, the creator of Good Morning America, argued that his team welcomes information from anyone (Rottenberg and Wincell 264). The producer, however, discouraged citizens from risking their lives in order to record information to provide to the media. Yulianti also argues that citizen journals provide information, which would otherwise not be available. Lily argues that Albarghouti provided information about the killings at Virginia to CNN, and the institution based their report of the killings in the video footage from Albarghouti.

The arguments of the two authors indicate that citizen journalism is essential because it provides information that is relied on by the media. The authors agree that professional journalists may delay recording the videos of such incidences thus; the media may rely on footages from citizens. Citizen journalism also provides information that may be relied on by investigators. The video that Ho recorded could be used by investigators such as the Foreign Bureau of Investigation to find out the cause of the plane crash.

This is because the journalist provided photos at different points, for example, inside the plane, outside, and others showing how the rescue mission took place. These pictures show the condition surrounding the plane, and the investigators may analyze these circumstances to find the cause of the crash. The process of investigation may fail without such information; this is because the investigation lacks essential information to complete the process. Citizen journalism is also essential because it helps the reporters to grow their talent and provide competition to the professional media.

Albarghouti gained confidence when he recorded the killings at Virginia, and when he narrated the incidence to Larry King (Rottenberg and Wincell 262). The confidence that citizens gain from recording helps them to narrate incidences fluently and accurately. This ensures that such populace provide reliable information. The reporting also leads to competition between professional and citizen journalism. The competition helps the media to become more efficient in reporting, arriving at disaster scenes, and recording clear videos and photographs.

The timely response to disasters ensures that the media provide information once it has arisen; so that disaster management teams may respond to the incident rapidly (Horrocks 11). Some policymakers argue that citizen journalism is a risky process because it involves endangering one’s life. Ho and Albarghouti was risking their lives when they took the time to record the occurrences at the scene of disaster. This is because the scenes were unsafe, and they involved death. Muir argues that persons involved in a plane crash