Understanding media empowerment: citizen journalism in Palestine

This study addresses the nature of citizen journalism in Palestine, aiming to identify its role in promoting professionalism, ethics, and objectivity, and in empowering digital media, information accessibility, and democratization of media production. Using survey data from undergraduate students across 10 Palestinian universities (n=300) selected via stratified sampling, the study examines perceptions of digital media empowerment and non-professional practices. Results suggest that official media can benefit from citizen journalism by providing accurate and valid sources of information to citizen journalists, potentially increasing audience engagement through enhanced perceptions of independence and credibility. However, citizen journalism does not significantly undermine gatekeeping practices over new media content in Palestine, and there is no relationship between adopting citizen journalism as a complementary method and the credibility or reliability of news stories presented by citizen journalists.

Ibrahim Horoub