Reliable Citizen News?

Published January 22, 2026

 

The recent Iranian protests and the fraud cases in Minnesota serve as a powerful reminder that citizen journalism is real and has impact. We are living in a transition period: the infrastructure for grassroots reporting exists, but its maturity is still a work in progress. 

For those who hold sacred the process for developing and valuing true expertise, even bringing up “citizen journalism” can elicit a wave of emotion. Simply put, there are clear downsides to undertrained people doing certain jobs. On the flipside, watching my son fix his car after watching a YouTube video was cool. But, that doesn’t make him a mechanic. Or does it – kind of?

Journalism’s definition is “the activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast.” When you interject the term citizen, we are referring to “non-professionals.” So that means regular people broadcast material that someone deems as news. That’s what we’re talking about. What could go wrong?

The evidence cited earlier shows that citizen journalism works, even without formal credentials. However, skepticism remains. Critics often dismiss ‘regular people’ as either dangerous or incompetent. It reminds me of my days with technical integration teams at American Airlines. Our clients would occasionally ask if our work could be taught to one of their travel agents in a few hours. After spending years perfecting a craft, it was no surprise that some of my top techs would be offended when a client assumed there is no learning curve.

And yet, there’s a real flip-side. As painful as it might be, I’ve got to point out that medical doctors regularly don’t get it right. Fortunately, not all of them are cocky while falling short. So, training and experience doesn’t guarantee anything. And that’s very much how I personally feel about much of the news reporting world of recent. ‘Malpractice’ seems like the appropriate term in too many cases.

Regardless of all of the arguments for and against regular people making themselves “reporters,” it is happening – often by accident, just because someone happens to be right in the middle of the action and has their phone out and an active Internet connection. 

As an aside, I have definitely said negative things about people filming things instead of helping in the moment. That’s a real problem. Simultaneously, we collectively appreciate having that “extra different angle” that someone captured. This entire topic is both simple and crazy complicated. That seems to be the theme of modernity.  

I’m here to offer some encouragement. There are tools coalescing right now that could help us all benefit from citizen journalism. I stress the word “could.” To start better understanding how this could happen, we get to revisit some technological terms, with some of it being kind of old technologically speaking; in other words, only a few decades old. So, take a quick deep breath. Let’s revisit blockchain, AI, GPS, and decentralized crowdsourcing. Yippi! 

We often associate blockchain with the volatile world of finance, but its greatest gift to democracy is the ‘immutable record.’ Imagine a citizen journalist in a high-stakes uprising. With blockchain, their footage is instantly watermarked with verifiable timestamps and source data. This isn’t just a technical trick. It’s a shield against accusations of fraud. It takes the security of the ‘crypto’ world and applies it to the truth, ensuring that once a fact is recorded, it stays recorded, exactly as it happened.

Next, we need AI-powered fact-checking and verification tools automated into our systems. Using natural language processing and machine learning, we should be able to cross-reference claims, detect biases, and validate sources in real-time. This should build trust by providing rapid, scalable accuracy that rivals professional journalism standards. 

Now for the “old” technology we depend upon daily – GNSS technology. GPS and other international standards like it all embed precise location and time data directly into reports. These “digital fingerprints” allow for independent verification, proving a reporter was on-site without needing a centralized authority to vouch for them. 

Finally, automated moderation and crowdsourcing systems have matured rapidly, evolving past their early pitfalls. New decentralized systems will be built to use community fact-checks and reputation scoring to help citizen journalists self-regulate. This group-driven credibility provides a solid defense against claims of unprofessionalism or fraud.

Upgrading and using these technologies is essential to filter the chaos we all experience online. If this feels like a bunch of technojargon, take a second look term by term. You’ll realize you may already understand many of these building blocks. The secret to the future of news lies in carefully combining these tools to ensure that when a citizen speaks, the world can trust what they say, enabling more and higher quality news in the future.

I’m right there with you on not being excited about more news. But what if it really was higher quality presenting angles of reality that existing news models ignore or miss? If the quality goes up, we all might actually enjoy more news. Maybe.  

The interesting dynamic to start watching for is how “citizen journalists” transition into “professionals.” There are two common definitions of being a “pro.” One means expert. Another definition is “getting paid to do it.” We are already comfortable with this specific ambiguity of calling someone a “pro.” And all of our experience in judging what flavor of “pro” each person is case by case will continue to be an important skill.

Before you decide it’ll be great to create and post a news clip to get yourself a million views overnight, just remember high visibility cuts both ways. Not everyone is ready for the spotlight. The extra scrutiny that citizen journalism is prompting now will most likely help the entire new industry self-regulate. With any luck, we’ll all benefit.

Will citizen journalism add noise? Yes. Clarity? Sometimes. Bottom line, there are new tools that should help improve the odds. We’ll figure it out – eventually.

And beyond this, let’s see what’s next!

 

J Matt Wallace