An exploration into the impact of citizen journalism on traditional journalism in Lesotho

Abstract

In recent years, technological advancement in communication has given citizens opportunities to be recipients and purveyors of news. Social networking sites propagate citizen journalism, wherein ordinary citizens without professional training gather and disseminate information. This has presented a number of challenges due to limited quality control standards for determining what constitutes news. The study thus sought to establish the depth and breadth of the impact of citizen journalism on traditional journalism in Lesotho. The study used the qualitative methodology embedded in a case study design. The in-depth face-to-face interviews with (n=10) journalists were conducted to get insight into the impact citizen journalism has on traditional media. The respondents were selected using a purposive sampling technique. In this case, respondents were selected based on their availability and knowledge of the subject at hand. The findings were analysed using thematic analysis to interpret the findings. The results revealed that citizen journalism had posed an imminent threat to traditional journalism as it plays a complementary role. It was also discovered that the fast passed nature of citizen journalists compromises the quality of the content. The study also revealed that mainstream media professionals face fierce competition from citizen journalism, resulting in poor-quality stories. Therefore, the study recommends that mainstream media should have platforms where citizen journalists can submit content that can be vetted for quality control and ethical considerations.