ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with identifying a set of particularly important conceptual issues for citizen journalism, namely by tracing the shifting, uneven contexts of media participation. It addresses journalism’s participatory cultures, providing a broader context of theoretical understandings of how technological drivers give shape to communicative platforms to make possible alternative, citizen-centered forms of reportage. The chapter focuses on two historic cases—Indymedia and WikiLeaks—that draw from a (h)activist ethos and focus on developing alternative platforms and infrastructure for journalism, as well as questioning established approaches to journalism. It discusses the scholarship focusing on the evolving forms, practices, and epistemologies of citizen journalism, showing how its gradual consolidation as a participatory phenomenon has served to recast what counts as journalism—and who can lay claim to the role of journalist. The local groups were connected through a common set of principles on openness and nonprofit alternative journalism, the shared use of technical resources, and the collaborative ethos of the free software movement.
