The Rodney King beating is an example of a Citizen journalist as an individual was filming the footage from his window apartment and therefore it is first hand footage of the incident. This footage clearly highlights how aggressive the Los Angeles police officers are towards the American- African victim Rodney, as they are going against their role to protect society. The police officers have now been in charged for assault as they used excessive force; however, in 1992 they did not get charged even though there was clearly proof of them being violent against him. As a result, this led to a riot in Los Angeles which caused 53 people to die and 4000 were injured. This is significant in relation to citizen journalism as without George Holliday (person who filmed the footage) King's beating would just be a hidden incident and therefore there would of been no consequences for the officers. As a result, this caused a rise in developments in technology as now consumers can film videos through their phones and therefore create their own content.
2.7/7 Bombing
This footage was caught by CCTV of the 7/7 bombing which focuses the attackers actions as they enter the underground station. The attack took place in Aldgate station at approximately 8:51am; however, 15 seconds later a third bomb occurred in a Tube tunnel near Russel Square. Notably, on 7th July 2005 the four main terrorists; Germaine, Mohammed Siddique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain killed themselves and 52 others in this horrific terrorist assault on London. Moreover, this gave citizens journalists the opportunity to influence the mainstream news which highlights the concept of user-generate content as they are producing the information. Furthermore, some of the footage which people have filmed on their phones was first hand view which makes it raw, hard hitting and emotive. This is significant in relation to citizen journalism as those individuals was able to post it publicly on social networking sites such as Facebook or Youtube which then resulted to a moral panic. This highlights the concept of user generate content people around the world began to connect with one another or watching all of the live footage's.
Mumbai Terrorist Attack
The Mumbai terrorist attack took place in Indian on the 26th November 2011 which devastated the entire country as in total 164 people were killed and at least 308 were injured. The attackers used a variety of chemical bombs and AK-47 rifles; however, luckily one of the attackers was Ajmal Kasab caught by the police and an eyewitness. However, the rest of the attackers fled from the scene and shot at citizens also killing eight police officers. Furthermore, the Mumbai attackers were directed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant in Pakistan and there was ten young armed men trained and sent to Mumbai but had directions from people in Pakistan through mobile phones and VoIP. This clearly highlights that the developments in technologies allows individuals across the world to connect with each other; in this case it was used for a negative and harmful purpose. Furthermore, this is significant in relation to citizen journalism is because as the footage was live from a reporter it allows the world to be up to date with the media coverage. Also, the citizens of Mumbai were tweeting and posting messages on social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter; as a result this produces a moral panic as it allows millions of users to interact with one another which highlights the concept of user-generate content.
Asian Tsunami
The natural disaster occurred on the 26th of December 2004 which affected many countries such as; Indian, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. This disaster was devastating and horrific as it killed over 10,000 people in southern Asian. For instance, Indonesia is the worst hot country in the region as it killed a approximately of 4,185 people. Whereas, in Sir Lanka over 3,500 people have died and more than one million of people have become homeless. Furthermore, hundreds of individuals are missing in the Southern Indian coast and witnesses have reported seeing bodies being washed away by the sea. Moreover, due to this devastating disaster health experts claim that there might be a high chance of that many people who have survived can die due to diseases rapidly spreading like typhoid, cholera and malaria. Additionally, this is significant in relation to citizen journalism because the footage provided was a on-the-spot witness from a citizen journalist and therefore it was accurate. This is significant to the relation of citizen journalism as the individuals who had this footage posted it on social networking sites for the world wide audience to have a watch. Similarly, this also helped victims of families to contact with one another and allowed victims to share their experience through forums.
Virginia Tech Shooting
The Virginia Tech shooting happened on the 16th April 2007 in Virginia Polytechnc Insititute and State University. The attacker Seun-Hui Cho who was a student at the university shot and killed 32 people an attacked 17 others. Notably, Cho has previously been diagnosed with a serve anxiety disorder and after this horrific attack he was claimed to be mentally ill and was ordered to get treatment done.The incident caused Virginia Commonwealth elected official to re-examine gaps between state gun purchases laws. This incident is significant to the relation of citizen journalism as the individual who has filmed this has got a on-the-stop witness of the event and therefore it gives the world a true picture of what happened. As a result, individuals can post these footage online especially on social networking sites such as Youtube for people to keep up to date with the events, which again conveys the power of user-generate content.
Hudson River Plan Crash
The Hudson River plan crash happened on January 15th 2009 as it lost engine power and ditched in the Hudson River off midtown Manhattan. All 155 individuals were evacuated safety by ferries and watercraft. Notably, the USA aircraft took off from LaGuardia airport in New York to North Carolina, with 100 passengers and five crew on board. Now the Hudson River is a memorial for people to thank god for the survival of all the passengers in the plane. Furthermore, this is significant in relation to citizen journalism because if the individual did not film the crash we would not of known what really happened. This shows, that it gives a true picture of what happened and therefore as it has been uploaded on Youtube individuals around the world can access the video. This highlights the concept of user-generate content as individuals across the world can connect with one another about this accident or view more videos associated with it.
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