by John Hummel

Created on: March 04, 2008   Last Updated: April 25, 2008

Citizen journalism is unique from traditional journalism by virtue of the fact that anyone can participate in it, regardless of whether they hold official press credentials or not. It's journalism for the people by the people, making it an ideal venue for the freelance writer to have their views and opinions seen and heard by others.

More ands more in our increasingly connected world, news stories of all shapes and sizes are being brought to the forefront by citizen journalists; ordinary people like you and I that have something to say.

The best stories are mined like nuggets; sometimes you have to dig through a lot of hard obstructions before you find something shiny. It's not always about getting the scoop on the biggest story happening at the moment. A freelance writer has a golden opportunity here to gain valuable exposure for themselves. By investigating a story that grabs their attention, the freelancer not only sharpen their powers of observation and discovery, valuable tools for any writer, they may in fact come acr0os something important in their research that was missed by others.

By offering their input as a citizen journalist, the freelance writer is able to, if they so choose, get response and reaction to their stories, thereby continuing to hone their craft even further. Opportunities don't necessarily present themselves in employment or financial ways; sometimes being given the means to sharpen our tools and improve our own product will lead us to a point where others will see the merit in our work and compensate us accordingly.

No matter the topic you're reporting on or the method in which you're reaching your audience, a freelance writer offering a journalistic piece to the public has the potential to gain valuable exposure for themselves. This in turn should provide the writer with the incentive to elevate their own writing skills, knowing that there are others who are seeing it and critiquing it. By improving their reliability, their legibility, and their ability to connect with their readers, the freelancer can use a citizen journalism forum to get better at their craft and gain a leg up on their rivals in the marketplace.

Reporting as a citizen journalist, and assuming they are not doing so anonymously, the freelancer is putting their reputation on the line, and therefore should ensure the veracity of any statements or claims made in their piece. If you are a freelancer who is serious about their craft, and why wouldn't you be, then you'd want to make a good impression with all of your work, including journalism. You want to be confident that you've minted a solid piece of work; and if you feel that it will shine through in your writing.

It's good to explore as many avenues as you can when working as a freelance writer, so citizen journalism is just one area of many that you can try your hand at. And if you have aspirations that one day you would like to write full time, make sure you do your best to make all of your work stand up to scrutiny. After all, you never know who might be reading it!

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