The article offers new insights on citizen journalism by introducing the concept of counter-hegemonic communities, drawing from my conversations using the indigenous Filipino methodology of pagpapakuwento (sharing of stories) with three long-time citizen journalists in the Philippines, and an autoethnographic account of the traditional broadcast news production process. Studies about citizen journalism center on the power of citizen journalists and their use of modern communication technology in news reporting. Guided by Antonio Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony and counter-hegemony, the article argues that the counter-hegemonic potential of citizen reporting cannot be solely located within the agency of ordinary individuals or to the accessible modern communication technology in the digital age, but equally important, on the community stories that citizen volunteers bring to the public sphere as demonstrated by the compelling narratives of the citizen journalists I talked to. I extend Gramsci’s concept of counter-hegemony by presenting community values as counter-hegemonic in their own ways. I describe a situation where community stories stubbornly insist their visibility in both the old and new media through citizen journalism that challenges both traditional broadcast media practice and State power. The article calls for a contextualized understanding of social media engagements, particularly in the Global South, where the utilization of modern media platforms is not the same for all countries.

Authors:
Ricky Rosales, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Philippines

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Ricky R. Rosales is an Associate Professor at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule

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