“I know my work has effect.”– the rise of the woman citizen journalist in India

ABSTRACT

Using in-depth interviews with 65 participants from the CGNet Swara and the Video Volunteers, two citizen journalism organisations, this study investigates how citizen journalism in India is encouraging a new generation of women in very resource-poor areas to participate in the news production process and produce what they call a ‘journalism of change’. Women journalists say they have found a ‘space’ and ‘channel’ through these organisations to report on stories that are women centric but also serve the community as a whole. Viewing their roles as ones of responsibility rather than power, they also work to motivate other women to join, creating networks of empowerment that encourage greater participation from women who hitherto had few such opportunities. The reporters speak up for the rights of women but reporting on women’s issues can often be a delicate negotiation with patriarchal social structures.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizen journalism
• participatory media
• empowerment
• India
• women
• communities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. https://www.videovolunteers.org/fixing-india-catching-a-human-trafficker-featuring-navita-devi-2/.

2. https://www.videovolunteers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/low-Final-Annual-report-22-23-2.pdf.

Additional information

Funding

The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was funded by a grant from the Center for Advanced Media Studies (CAMS), Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno.