The concept of Citizen journalism (also known as "public", "participatory", "democratic "guerrilla" or "street journalism" derives from public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information." Citizen journalism should not be confused with community journalism or civic journalism, which are both practiced by professional journalists. Citizen journalism should also not be confused with collaborative journalism, which is practiced by professional and non-professional journalists working together. Citizen journalism is a specific form of citizen media as well as user generated content.
New media technology, such as social networking and media-sharing websites, and the increasing prevalence of cellular phones have made citizen journalism more accessible to people all over the world, who can often report breaking news much faster than traditional journalistic organs. Notable examples of citizen journalism being used to report major world events include the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement. At the same time, the unregulated nature of citizen journalism has drawn criticism from professional journalists for being too subjective, amateurish, and haphazard in quality and coverage.
