CITIZEN JOURNALISM-OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

This article deals with the phenomenon of citizen journalism from a critical perspective. Citizen journalism is also known as grassroots or participatory journalism. It has become more widespread, especially with digital development. The internet and social media allow every user as a member of civil society to participate in the social discourse. The citizen journalism also reaches its audience on podcasts, on homepages or by participating in video platforms such as YouTube. This development goes hand in hand with the credibility crisis of the established media. Traditional print media, in particular, are struggling to survive and the monopoly position of professional journalism has finally been lost. In this paper, the influence of citizen journalism on democratic processes will be examined and it will be asked whether a general evaluation of participatory communication models is possible at all. Therefore, different forms of medial participation are examined and some examples of its abuse are discussed. This study is particularly interested in the grey areas that exist between professional media work and participatory citizen journalism. Based on Jürgen Habermas' deliberative model of democracy, the question is asked whether this developement democratizes the public discourse and whether a clear distinction can be made between established and participatory news or between professional and lay journalism. Finally, this research also evaluates how the governments and the law react to these new developments and what potential consequences citizen journalism could bring