Reporter.co.za defunct: A critical examination of institutionalised citizen journalism through the case study of South Africa's reporter.co.za.
Date
2014-08-26
Authors
Motylska, Iga
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Abstract
Information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the Internet have
allowed for the evolution of information collection, newsgathering and
dissemination. These technological advancements provide an innovative
platform and an ideal medium for a new form of journalism, namely citizen
journalism. This research report focuses on reporter.co.za: an institutionalised
form of citizen journalism that existed from early 2006 until late 2008. The
research was conducted by means of qualitative research and explores the
ideological conceptualisations of citizen journalism, namely its independent
nature, as well as the contradictions around institutionalised forms of citizen
journalism. The findings illustrate that reporter.co.za cannot truly be classified
as citizen journalism as the concept was originally conceptualised, and that its
institutionalised nature may have been one of the possible reasons for its
closure.