Emilie Rensink | The Anti-Media
Citizen journalism has seen a new surge in the past decade. Technological advances continue to level the playing field, opening doors once shut to those without college degrees or access to corporate media jobs.
Bloggers, vloggers, radio ranters, live streamers, zine artists and documentary filmmakers fill Facebook feeds, occupy email inboxes and challenge friends and families to listen. They provide a voice and media outlet for communities. The anti-journalists are effectively making obsolete the ultra-neutral local news stations and the sponsored views of the national news networks that don’t speak to many people’s experiences.
While this guide isn’t meant to be authoritative or all-encompassing, my hope is it will help you, if you so wish, join the cause of the anti-media revolution.
Pick a Medium
One of the biggest obstacles for citizen journalists is resisting the urge to over-commit. For those itching to expose corruption and spread information, it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to do and cover everything.
While every medium is effective and important, it’s good to be honest with yourself about where your natural talents lie and what kind of time commitment you have to offer.
Were you always good at grammar? Maybe writing articles is your calling. Do you like to talk to strangers? Handing out literature or perhaps on-the-street camera work could be an effective route. Are you especially good-looking? You might find making YouTube videos go viral a little easier.
Find Your Niche
Once you’ve decided on a medium, you need to narrow down your subject matter. What isn’t being covered adequately? Where do you see the most dire need for coverage? What’s your passion?
Cathy Reisenwitz, editor-in-chief of the “sex positive, state negative” blog Sex & the State, relates her experience on finding a unique niche in the libertarian movement:
I began my first blog in 2009 and my niche was Anarcho-capitalism. But demand for news and politics analysis from an AnCap perspective is low. So I found my second niche, which is broadly a kind of thicker libertarian, cultural analysis, sex-positive individualist feminist, socially liberal niche, once I moved to DC.
I began to want to appeal to demographics which have tended to ignore libertarian ideas or view libertarianism with hostility. And so I made that my mission and began researching the concerns of neglected demographics and getting into identity politics. It’s been a great niche for me. People are really interested in these issues and I’m continually fascinated by what I keep learning about the unique struggles and concerns of people whose identities differ from mine.
And I feel a sense of purpose. Because libertarianism won’t and shouldn’t grow until we first weed out the bigotry and then correct the apathy we’ve had on issues of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, orientation, etc. The issue is that when we dismiss identity politics, we alienate people for whom it’s relevant. But even worse, it blinds us to potential voluntary solutions to problems which disproportionately affect identities other than ours. And that’s something we can and must correct, in order to appeal to broader audiences.
Whether you’re a libertarian, anarchist, progressive, socialist or none-of-the-above, find the issues that speak to you and your community, and give them a voice.
Locate Resources
For some, money may not be a consideration, but for most it is a determining factor. Here are some of the free or low-cost resources I’ve come across that have enabled me personally to become a citizen journalist.
For writers:
WordPress.com offers a lot of flexibility and options for blogging. And it’s free. For a relatively inexpensive upgrade, you can purchase your own domain name and self-host. If you unlock the paid version, you can find many quality-looking website templates.
Blogger.com, Google’s blog-hosting platform, is also free. There’s more room for easy customization of templates; however, you can’t expand or upgrade aside from buying a domain name.
Examiner.com is where I first started writing, and they even pay a little, though not enough to live on. Examiner paved the way for me to gain the experience and exposure necessary to land other opportunities. Best of all, you don’t need a degree or prior writing experience.
For videographers:
Windows Movie Maker comes standard on Windows operating systems. Limited, but it can be a good place to start.
iMovie is Mac OS X’s preinstalled video editing software. Similar to Windows Movie Maker in scope.
Avidemux is a basic open-source alternative for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
VodBurner is the best software I’ve found for recording and editing Skype interviews. However, after a free trial period, it costs around a hundred dollars.
Lightworks: despite a high learning curve, some say it’s the most professional-level free video editing option out there. I haven’t personally tried it, but it has pretty impressive reviews.
For photographers and graphic artists:
GIMP, a product of the open-source GNU Project, is many activists’ go-to program for making article images, graphics for videos and memes. It’s regarded as a good replacement for Photoshop.
Inkscape is part of the same GNU-fostered Creative Suite-alternative family. It serves as an open source answer to Adobe Illustrator.
For radio broadcasters:
BlogTalkRadio is a popular free option for Internet-based hosting and broadcasting. Once you find your niche and want to expand your audience, you can pay for upgrades if you so wish.
The Liberty Radio Network LRN.FM offers free hosting, but you are responsible for purchasing broadcasting equipment. They have tips on choosing the right devices on their website.
Ian Freeman of Free Talk Live has a YouTube video discussing how to run a traditional broadcast radio show, using a technique he calls “free radio,” though, again one would have to purchase their own equipment to get started. The video can be watched here; his talk begins at 1:06.
For those without home Internet or computer access:
Without a personal computer or Internet at home, most of the suggestions above are irrelevant. There may be community resources available. In Seattle, for example, the Seattle Community Media Lab is a community-supported, community-run media center for activists and citizen journalists. Free resources include Internet access, printing stations, webcams and mics for podcast recording and graphics, sound and video editing stations.
If you’re interested in help finding free or low-cost resources in your area, feel free to send me an email (listed at the bottom of this article).
Become Good at What You Do
It’s no secret that there’s a lot of bad journalism out there, both mainstream and alternative. To put a significant dent in the corporate power structure, citizen journalists have to be good — good by our own standards, but good nonetheless.
Writers need to have articles that are spell-checked. Video bloggers need to have videos that are edited. Pamphleteers need to have literature that is formatted.
While we can make our own rules, and should, we have to hold ourselves to basic standards of quality. I highly recommend getting to know AP Style if you’re wanting to be a writer. Sites like Examiner.com and most other news sites use AP Style for their editing standards. Over time, you can alter your style and invent your own, but having a set standard to build off of will help you establish consistency and credibility.
Also, make sure the information you’re spreading is of unique value. Mikael Thalen, lead features writer for StoryLeak.com and contributor for Infowars.com, has this advice to give for aspiring journalists:
I would say, if you want people to take notice of your writing, you need to offer something they can’t get anywhere else. A lot of people write on news that has already gone national, which is good and needed, but try to find big stories no one else has yet. Follow local news groups across the country and reach out to local activists across the political spectrum as well as your state representatives.
Network!
Following in the vein of Mikael’s advice, connect with other citizen journalists and activists in your community. Not only can you learn from other journalists and activists, land opportunities, build a following and get leads on stories, the support system is needed.
It’s important to network on social media, but it’s also important to get involved locally to become a voice and media outlet for your community. That’s what counter-journalism is all about.
Never Give Up
As with any form of activism, citizen journalism can be taxing on the mind, body and spirit. It’s important to keep your chin up and focused on the goal. Take breaks and take care of yourself when you’re feeling overwhelmed or like you aren’t making a big enough difference.
Andrew Demeter, creator of the Teen Take YouTube channel and video correspondent for Infowars and Press for Truth, speaks about the importance of a support network and working locally:
One piece of advice I would lend to novice and aspiring activists alike is: connect with like-minded activists in your community. Because tackling dark and divisive issues can be both de-motivating and intimidating, exchanging viewpoints with, or expressing frustration to, locals may provide empathy and/or reinvigorate your activism. Now, I don’t intend to dilute the significance of fighting your cause at the federal level, but grassroots campaigns, initiatives, and protests — despite stereotypes of trivial proportion — have the potential to initiate a national, or even global, chain reaction.
Our actions and words touch people in ways we may not know, and each act and effort you take to make the world a better place has positive consequences. Never give up!
Further questions on becoming a citizen journalist can be sent to my email: emilierensink[at]riseup.net.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Please feel free to re-publish any information from this article in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to the original source.
Emilie Rensink writes about social justice, activism and civil liberties. She’s been interviewed by alternative journalist pioneers such as Ben Swann and Dan Dicks for her work as an international co-organizer and media facilitator for the March Against Monsanto in 2013 and for exposing GOP corruption as a Ron Paul delegate in 2012. Her work has appeared on WeAreChange.org, the Reason.com blog, PunkRockLibertarians.com and more.
Follow Emilie on Twitter: @emilierensink