The role of “citizen journalist” in Arab revolution from the perspective of the elites in Arab media (Syria model) / Areej Al Bostangy

The Arab Spring has been shaped by successive episodes of the revolutions of freedom, the largest geopolitical movement that has rocked the Arab world and the Middle East since the 1960s, which witnessed the eruption of the so-called national revolution that sanctified the Arab exodus from the yoke of old colonialism and their aspiration to independence, freedom, dignity and national sovereignty, like other nations. This study aimed at determines the role played by the citizen journalist in the Arab spring, and to identify the impact of the citizen journalist in the Syrian revolution. In order to achieve the objective of the study, a questionnaire was designed as a main tool for collecting data. It included (42) items divided into four variables (credibility, professional, quality and contributions). The sample comprised of (300) individual's that selected randomly from all the media elite who work in Jordan. After the distribution of the questionnaire and data collection, the SPSS software was used to answer the study questions through the use of descriptive analysis. The study found that the degree of acceptance of the media elite to the work of citizen journalism ranked first compared to other sources of news (such as television and newspapers), the role provided by the citizen journalist did not rise to the level of the other media, the respondents' estimates of the ability of the "citizen journalism" to fill the vacuum resulting from confusion and official misrepresentation through their technological tools such as the telephone came out clearly against this idea; and the role of the journalist citizen is disproportionate to the professional and ethical characteristics known within the work environment of the media, as there is a significant weakness in the ability of the journalist to apply the standards used in the real media. In the light of the results the study recommended that the findings of the present study showed that most of the news and information provide by citizen journalist not credible and not professional. Thus, it's important to create a control group in order to monitor all kind of news provides by a citizen journalist, and this study relied on individuals primarily composed of the media elite who worked in Jordan. It would be valuable to investigate the role of the citizen journalist in other populations, including media elite from other countries. Conducting these studies highlights the real and actual role of citizen journalism in the Arab revolutions, and there could be differences in the evaluation of the citizen journalist role.