Why contribute? Motivations and role conceptions among citizen journalists

With the emergence of information communication technologies and their implementation into online news presentation, there has been a growth in citizens as journalists and their participation in the production of news (Schaffer, 2007). Many news sites today offer features for local citizens to submit news stories or photos, allowing news consumers to also have a say in what they consider to be meaningful news. According to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project (2006), 35 percent of adults have created content online, and more than half of teenagers 12–17 post their own Web content. Another recent Pew study reports that video-sharing sites, such as YouTube and Vimeo, are used by fully 71 percent ofAmericans (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2011). The report also found that rural Internet users and online African-Americans and Hispanics are now just as likely to make use of these video-sharing sites as their urban/suburban and white counterparts. Furthermore, among the 100 major daily newspapers in the US, 58 percent have integrated user-generated content (eg, comments, photos, videos and articles) into their news-making processes (The Bivings Group, 2006).