ERIC Number: EJ815986
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Nov
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1476-7724
EISSN: N/A
Bearing Witness: Citizen Journalism and Human Rights Issues
Allan, Stuart; Sonwalkar, Prasun; Carter, Cynthia
Globalisation, Societies and Education, v5 n3 p373-389 Nov 2007
This article assesses the potential of online news reporting to create discursive spaces for emphatic engagement--of bearing witness--at a distance, especially where human rights violations are concerned. Taking as its focus the emergent forms and practices of citizen journalism, it examines the spontaneous actions of ordinary people compelled to adopt the role of news reporter in order to bear witness to human suffering. Specifically, findings derived from three case studies of citizen journalism are presented: 1) the 2004 South Asian Tsunami; 2) human rights abuses in India's north-east region; and 3) the Palestinian Crisis in the Occupied Territories. In each instance, it is argued, citizen journalism engendered new approaches to eyewitness reporting, a process shown to have important implications for challenging familiar "us and them" dichotomies in news reports. (Contains 8 notes.)
Descriptors: Civil Rights, News Reporting, Internet, Citizen Role, Journalism, Case Studies, Natural Disasters, Conflict, Literacy, Electronic Publishing, Web Sites, Foreign Countries
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Asia; Gaza Strip; India; Israel; Palestine; West Bank
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A