"Citizen Journalism, Global Perspectives"

I contributed a chapter to volume two of an excellent book on journalism, titled "Citizen Journalism, Global Perspectives", edited by Einar Thorsen and Stuart Allan. The book offers "an overview of key developments in citizen journalism since 2008, including the use of social media in crisis reporting and provides a new set of case studies highlighting important instances of citizen reporting of crisis events in a complementary range of national contexts." 

My chapter, titled "Reporting a revolution and its aftermath: when activists drive the news coverage", offers an attempt to understand the role of social media-equipped activists in driving the news coverage of the Egyptian Revolution and its associated events through a case study that looks at the reporting of five selected news organizations, Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Russia Today and XINHUA. At least four of the five news organizations included in the study were found to be practicing ‘counter-elite sourcing’, which is commonly associated with alternative media outlets when “they oppose the conventions and representations of the mainstream media” by privileging activists and other marginalized voices over elite and official sources. My study suggests that social media-equipped activists have played a significant role in pushing news media to change its practices; departing from their conventional elite- sourcing routine towards more source diversity and non-elite sourcing practices.

For more about the book:  http://citizenjournalism.me/