citizen journalism has gotten most of its attention in how it can make a difference for (hyper)local content. less attention, however, has been paid to how citizen journalism can make a difference in the global context. this is unfortunate for at least three reasons.
first, because of the dichotomy we subconsciously create between the local and the global, we forget to consider how the global is often intertwined with the local, or how the boundaries between the two are blurring. while the world is not yet quite the global village as McLuhan has envisioned it to be, and I am not quite ready to argue that the local is the global, examples such as the images from the Burmese monks uploaded by cameraphones suggest that the global, while perhaps not the same, is often only one step away from the local.
second, citizen journalism needs to be considered in the global context because of our moral duty to listen to the other. the media is often the only way we learn about the rest of the world. where else would most of us learn about Burmese monks except through the media? but how many other voices have we and are we still ignoring at the same time? roger silverstone has referred to this as a notion of hospitality, understanding the media as a space (a polis in its ideal form) where certain actors (us) are more powerful than others (them), which gives us the obligation to at least listen. to take hospitality and thus the other seriously means that we need a better understanding of the dynamics of how geographically but also socio-cultural distant events are brought to our attention. citizen journalism in the global context gives the other the rather unique capacity to bring matters to our attention on their own terms, rather than ours.
third, to raise the issue of citizen journalism in the global context is to problematize the classic notion of citizenship as tied to the nation-state and suggests the possibility of practicing citizenship in a global civil society. it is an invitation to examine globalization from the bottom up. citizenship in a global civil society should not be confused with global or cosmopolitan citizenship. a large group of people might participate in global civil society with strong and explicit ties to the nation-state. a strong national identity does not preclude, and might even be a prerequisite, in order to participate in global civil society. examining citizen journalism in the global context will provide us with clues to the changing meaning of citizenship and participation.