Why is Citizen Journalism Important?

Because our UK media, is letting us down. Badly.

Once respected newspapers are often disguised soapboxes of polemic and the vast majority have right, and far-right wing agendas.

The result of this has been evident just this week with a mis-leading statement from our Prime Minister. Our government leaders now feel empowered to decieve, defraud and outright lie to the population they are supposed to represent. The endgame is genuinely frightening. The more we tolerate this decline, the easier it is to lose our already damaged democracy. That might sound dramatic but where America go, we usually follow and only recently it came within a cigarette papers’ width to becoming a dictatorship. It’s still very, very possible.

So who can you trust?

Gradual erosion

Whatever your view on the BBC, there is no doubt whatsoever that the cuts to it’s funding, will only continue the decline in quality news journalism.

Previously respected media outlets are now telling us how and what to think rather than presenting factual, credible evidence-based reportage. The ‘Overton Window‘, an idea that addresses how a society can be guided to accept the unacceptable, whether that’s to the left or the right. Ideally this ‘window’ would be in a central position that represents the views of the majority of people. At this moment in time, we are staring through to a far-right vista that, I would argue, enable the previously unthinkable to happen – would the world have sat on their hands over Gaza 10 years ago?

Who’s right – Who’s wrong?

The absence of trustworthy media, makes it harder for everyone and dis-engages the populace as a whole. Few people have the time or resources to seek out truthful information by double-checking with Full-Fact. Mis-information and agenda-powered articles are more prevalent than ever on the internet. We’re humans and belonging can be more compelling than knowing the truth.

Therefore conspiracy filled publications such as The Light, can fulfill a need to feel re-assured. Difficult and extremely complex issues can be distilled into relateable and easy to grasp theories – even the wildest speculations can become almost plausable.

If you want to believe the planet is flat, covid was fake or climate change is a hoax, I can say straight up, The Totnes Pulse really isn’t your thing.

So who can you trust? This is difficult because even the most well meaning sources will have an opinion and this will be carried into the narrative. This very publication will have a view on things, but we are totally committed to presenting the absolute truth and enabling voices to be heard. In my opinion, Byline Times, and their local counterpart West Country Voices present well researched news stories with properly checked data. They may appear to be very left wing, however it’s important to take into account the Overton Window mentioned earlier – left wing compared to what? Where we are right now? That probably equates to the centre ground. Special mentions also go to Private Eye investigations and whilst not being a news publication, The Good Law Project are well worth supporting because they are using the law to stop our government running roughshod all over us. If you review their current cases you can see they have a massive workload!

Doin’ It For Ourselves…

So if we’re not sure what is right or wrong, we have to find out for ourselves and that’s exactly what we are doing. Jim Funnell has been researching and investigating the Plymouth FreePort which is going to have a huge impact on this area. It’s going to affect us all directly. Zoe Clough has been finding out about our lost NHS Dentists and what happend with the Dartington Summer School and Mike Craddock has been looking at bollards! This is ‘Citizen Journalism’. Some are, but not all us are qualified reporters but what is that qualification? Finding out the truth about a situation?

We can all do that.