Can Citizen Journalism be a weapon to fight corruption in Sri Lanka ?

 

Sri Lanka, as a country, is at a very critical juncture today.

Eight years have passed since the end of a 30-year ruthless war which overshadowed many of social   issues such as poverty, corruption, education, health etc.

Now that the war is over, people are paying more and more attention to those issues. Of them, corruption is taking the center stage.

Politicians on both sides, top public officials and business tycoons have been accused of corruption.

People are unable to ascertain what’s true and what’s wrong since the mainstream media give different facts and opinions.

Nowadays, people with smart phones and digital cameras are the first to witness the occurring of any terrible things (whether it is a corruption, bribe taking, crime or accident). The perpetrators can no longer escape from the eyes of the public, because their action is clearly recorded _ mostly in a small phone and are widely discussed on the digital media.

 

Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and Website have become valued assets of present life as they have enabled people to interact freely unlike at any other time in history. The Internet speed has changed the way people receive information.

After, the successful launching of Web in 1990s, the rapid growth of blogs, ease up the passive audience to switch their role as active participants.

 

Blogs hold a significant part on the realm of journalism, social networking and especially in citizen journalism. Blogs provided the accessible platform to ordinary public to communicate their voices and beside the mainstream media journalism.

Owing to the evolution of CJ, the big media organizations have lost their monopoly over news. In the past, citizen journalists were discouraged by professional media, but now bloggers, amateur journalists are not only invited to provide feedback on articles, but also to take part in the research that goes into them.

Newspapers and online magazines publish readers’ articles and photographs

 

Mainstream media houses have taken a U-turn and have opened up their doors to the public to share information and views. Some TV channels like Sirasa are providing technical support to citizen  videographers who provide their reports to them.

 

 

But this new phenomenon has raised several questions.

 

For example, what are the underlying risks of citizen journalism?

 

 Is information gathered through “street reporting” reliable?

 

 Is this in fact a new more participatory form of journalism?

 

 And how do people participate who have no access to computers and internet?

 

In contrast, the mainstream media were always managed by highly trained and experienced editors who have acted as gatekeepers, sieving information they receive from journalists and correspondents.

 

 But some accuse that some mainstream journalists accept bribes from influential persons in order not to publish news or release half-baked news. In such a context, many people have developed more trust on influential bloggers.

 

Latest statistics indicate that one in four Lankans regularly uses the Internet. Facebook clearly dominates social media use: there were over 2.5 million accounts in Sri Lanka by end 2014 while mobile phone usage is 123 subscriptions per 100 persons.

 

The 2015 presidential election amply demonstrated that online media and citizen journalism could play a bigger role in shaping the public opinion, more than the mainstream media.

 

Therefore, it is clear that given the availability of new technology and the growing desire of the people to fight corruptions, the citizen journalism could be used effectively to fight against corruption.

 

But it is essential to promote media literacy in society and to provide guidance to citizen journalists.

 

M.A. Bharatha Pathmendra

SC/PG/MAMM/2016/2017/16