Citizen Journalism, the case of Virginia Tech

Abstract

The revolution in communications technology has created a highly competitive environment for those who provide news and information to the public. The new mass media landscape is characterized by the appearance of «citizen journalists», people who gather information by using cell phones, digital cameras, and blogs to get out word of what they’ve witnessed or heard; peopled that have creating the concept of »Web 2.0». By using digital technologies they can also become news producers and cover a story in ways that mainstream journalists don’t. It is in this sense that conventional media have started to take advantage of the work of citizen journalist so quickly and prominently. Our goal as it is to analyze how citizens covered the Virginia Tech shooting by creating new stories of common interest and determining the media agenda.