Dubai : Are citizen journalists reliable? Are they a force to reckon with or can they only complement the traditional media? How can they be made accountable?
The answers to these questions remained elusive as a discussion on the subject at the two-day Arab Media Forum ended without consensus in Dubai on Wednesday.
As citizen journalists, also called "street journalists", play an active journalistic role, sending instant messages and images on mobile phones or blogging their views on the internet, Ali Al Karni, Director, Al Jazirah Newspaper Chair for International Journalism, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, said the new tribe has emerged as the ‘Fifth Estate', achieving a coup d' etat against the traditional Fourth Estate.
Anwar Al Hawari, Editor-in-Chief, Al Ahram Al Iqtisadi, however, said citizen journalism can only play a complementary role to the traditional media.
Mohammad Al Kayali, a blogger from Syria, said bloggers were now an important reference point as their comments were closely followed by the traditional media. "The lines between the different types of journalists are now becoming thinner," he said.
Ahmad Ashour, General Manager of Al Jazeera Talk website, said citizen journalists as laymen were important sources of information as they often reported from the core of the action which may not always be accessible to journalists.
But the forum did not seem to find a solution to the issue of citizen journalists using their blogs or the social media to settle personal scores or disseminate messages or pictures that go against accepted ethical practices.
