What is Citizen Journalism?

Although outlets for the public to create community media, from public access television to community radio, date back to the 1970s, citizen journalism is a term that came out of the mid-2000s to describe everyday people creating worthwhile, community-relevant media shared online.

The earliest and most recognized form were blogs. Soon after, YouTube came on the scene followed by Twitter and many other social media applications that revolutionized how we get our news.

The Rapidian comes out of the citizen journalism movement. Instead of bloggers, Tweeters and other media makers producing in relative isolation, The Rapidian is an intentional network of citizen journalists who have Grand Rapids in common. By distributing on TheRapidian.org, Rapidians come across louder and clearer about who we are and what matters to us.