Mobile Citizen Journalism in Sub-Sahara Africa

Abstract

In recent years the African mobile phone market has grown rapidly. As a consequence, for marginalized groups new opportunities to participate in society and to express themselves have emerged. Besides, traditional journalism needs to respond on the growing number of mobile citizen journalists who increasingly participate in news making. In this thesis a number of Sub-Sahara African (citizen) journalists are asked to express their experiences, opinions and expectations regarding this development. They generally believe that the democratic features of citizen journalism will have positive effects on African media developments and will contribute to the empowerment of marginalized groups. Despite an acknowledgement that citizen journalism often lacks quality and reliability and that mobile citizen journalism might be a dangerous weapon for malicious parties, the respondents are generally positive about mobile citizen journalism.