Citizen Journalism empowers us to be Social Detectives

Citizen Journalism is an alternative communications tool where the reporters themselves are the protagonists, processing and dissemination content through alternative means such as social and digital networks and collaborative environments. This summer, I received a scholarship to join an 11-day Citizen Journalism course with the youth movement organization Global Platform in El Salvador. Global Platform offers courses that empower young leaders to exercise their civic muscle with critical thought and advocacy for global transformation. In this course, we learned to deal with national issues and to tell stories that would create a strong, local impact. In Module I, Citizen Journalism, we learned how to create a full story using simple questions like why and what as well as photo reporting, while situating our story outside our ethos, logos and pathos (logic, emotions and actions). I felt that this course was assimilating the type of work that SERES does with education for sustainability. In Module II, Social Detectives, we learned about public opinion, reportage, editorial cartooning and which applications have alternative ways to disseminate the information we collect. During the process we had the opportunity to visit the radio partners ARPAS ES to learn how to understand controversial critical issues that occur in our country and a way to voice these issues through Citizen Journalism. By the end of the course I had learned that as free citizens, we can individually become broadcast channels; we are, as beings, a direct way to express what is happening in our localities. From now on, through SERES and in my other work, my action plan will focus on training local social detectives ambassadors to strengthen their collaborative work to tell own stories. By: Susana Ruiz SERES Facilitator & Youth Ambassador El Salvador