Citizen Journalism as an upcoming challenge for Politicians

In India, citizen journalism is increasing accountability and transparency while putting politicians to the test as people closely observe their behavior.

In India, the upcoming trend of citizens journalism has made a huge challenge for the the government and politicians. As the people are more into digital media nowadays they are all keenly watching the lawmakers actions and decisions which makes it a hurdle for the higher ups indulge in any kind of malpractice in their work life. This has made huge transparency between the people and the government to keep things clean.

Source: Citizens Journalism

Bringing more transparency to political life is one of the main difficulties that citizen journalism poses. Now, common people have the ability to reveal problems that may go unreported by mainstream media, such as power abuse, corruption, and inefficiencies in government. It is more difficult for politicians to behave without monitoring due to public attention since any dubious behavior may be swiftly publicized and disseminated across platforms. Politicians' capacity to influence or sway narratives is diminished by the ongoing scrutiny that citizen journalism affords them due to its real-time reporting capabilities.

Politicians have always shaped public opinion and spread their message through the media. But as citizen journalism has grown, they are no longer the exclusive voice in public conversation. Since independent reports and viewpoints are widely disseminated and frequently contradict official narratives or government propaganda, politicians find it tough to control the debate. The political propaganda that was formerly simpler to sustain is disrupted by the range of opinions found in citizen journalism.

In addition, citizen journalism is essential for altering public opinion and planning protests. For example, if we take the case of the latest Abhaya murder case how common as protested against the authority for the victims justice and still it is going on. Also taking the case of Manipur violence people all around India stood up for Manipur against the government through social media, people took over the job of a journalist and is becoming the bridge themselves. As a result of the increase in the citizens journalism the lawmakers are won't be able to overlook an issue. Furthermore, this also helps in bringing the attention the authority to the local or regional issue which the mainstream media would overlook.

As most of the Indian know about Dhruv Rathee a youtuber who breakdown the crimes and political game that is happening in India. This common man has influenced the youth of India in many ways as he addresses the issue with proof that makes his content credible. Here we can clearly see how a common man can act as a catalyst in changing a mass's opinion and thoughts, which helps the lawmakers to focus on the issues that they are missing out 

Source: Dhruve Rathee

Talking about the disadvantages there has been a major increase in the spreading of misinformation and controversial gossips which may cause an adverse effect for the lawmakers in decision making. These kinds of rumors frequently target politicians, harming their reputations and causing misunderstandings. Taking the case of the latest Hema Committee report for the state of Kerala, we have seen that many woman have come in front of the media raising accusations of sexual assaults against most of the actors from the Malayalam film industry but some of them are falsely accusing the actors for fame and compensation, this case is still under investigation . 

So, Citizen journalism can affect the system of a country in both direction, it might need a control in the future or else it has the capability to destroy the entire system.