The Common Sense Pamphlet by John Paine

Perhaps one of the most old and first examples of citizen journalism was written on january 10th 1776 by the philosopher John Pain. his pamphlet the Common Sense.

this pamphlet contained dangerous ideas for the period and Paine knew he couldnt publish it in any of the popular media outlets he had available in that time. thats when he recured to citizen journalism by printing his own pamphlet to wake the people up and rise against the establishment.

the pamphlet stimulated the revolution with strong ideasand opinions that couldnt be published in newspapers. he managed to distribute 600000 copies and today a blog would have the same effect than his pamphlet considering the population in the 13 colonies back then.

today thanks to people like Paine we know the value of opinions through citizen journalism and independent media

The Common Sense Pamphlet by John Payne

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=OB1lxXWaiGQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA6&dq=the+common+sense+by+thomas++payne&ots=7-RNK1JUSC&sig=otVawHliML6BhY0p1qFRU48CyfU#v=onepage&q=the%20common%20sense%20by%20thomas%20%20payne&f=false

Citizen Journalism

what is citizen journalism?
citizen journalism is when the regular people or what we know as the audience use whatever means of communication they have in their hands to inform one another and put their opinions out there. people that are not journalists committing random journalist acts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58iZpMRclwI
most people would ask why have an opinion when you cant change anything? and this is exactly why the average citizen uses citizen journalism, to try and change things with their opinions and their facts when they are different to the mass medias one.
usually this is best seen in blogs. the small blogger against the mass enormous media. the readers and the audience are now becoming part of the authoring of facts. everyday people are taking control of information so that information is no longer or at least it is harder for it to be manipulated by the interests of huge media enterprises.

people with strong opinions that may be afraid to publish them in ordinary publications such as newspapers and tv and radio are now using blogs pamphlets and fanzines to publish themselves. citizen journalism is now as it has been for centuries their new alternative to their own press.

this is the base of Indi Media.