Abstract
Stuart Allan begins his new book Citizen Witnessing by posing a seemingly innocuous question: what does it mean to bear witness in a moment of crisis? Rather than answer through the perspective of the various technologies enabling witnessing – the Twitter and Facebook revolutions too often lauded by the mainstream press – Allan more provocatively examines the practice through the lens of journalism’s identity crisis. He engages with current and past debates over the role of observing in society, proposing ‘citizen witnessing’ as a key concept for journalism to consider (p. 203).
Throughout the book Allan reframes common assumptions about journalistic norms, objectivity and the practice of witnessing. In various chapters he questions and dissects the practice of journalism as a social construction, the notion that witnessing’s resurgence is technologically inspired, and the blurry lines between the two concepts. In so doing he revisits classic debates about the role of the journalist, providing a deep and insightful review of the literature on journalistic practices. A particularly useful section delves into the debate between Walter Lippmann and John Dewey, parsing through their differing views of the relationship between the press and democratic public to note that their discussions look ‘acutely relevant in light of the changes confronting news organizations today’ (p. 55).
Helpfully, Allan reminds us not to get too swept up in the technological developments that may enable witnessing, putting people firmly at the center of the discussion. He begins his review in the pre-internet era, pointing to Abraham Zapruder’s film of the John F Kennedy assassination and George Holliday’s videotape of the Rodney King beating as earlier examples of citizen witnessing. While firmly establishing himself against deterministic views, he notes that technologies have allowed citizen witnessing to grow and multiply, tracing the role of Twitter in fanning the flames of revolution in the Middle East and smartphone videos in documenting the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi.
At its best, Allan asserts, citizen witnessing is raw, immediate, independent and unapologetically subjective, making the most of the resources of web-based initiatives – collective intelligence, crowdsourcing, wiki collaboration and the like, within and across diverse, evolving virtual communities – to connect, interact and share first-hand, unauthorized forms of journalistic activity promising fresh perspectives. (p. 94)
He is sharply critical of the economic challenges that constrain journalists today; closing international news bureaus and shrinking investigative reporting budgets in his view compromise the integrity of the kind of news reporting that advances citizenship in the public interest (p. 17). Citizen witnessing works symbiotically alongside disadvantaged journalists for the common good, he says: ‘It is in the gaps, silences, and fissures of more traditional definitions that the basis emerges for envisaging alternative networks of civic participation firmly situated in the politics of the everyday’ (p. 151).
Perhaps most interesting is chapter 6, titled ‘WikiLeaks: Citizen as Journalist, Journalist as Citizen’. Here, Allan explores WikiLeaks as a new form of boundary-blurring journalism that puts data before the journalist. Allan focuses his analysis on the public debate between journalists and government officials over the morality and trustworthiness of the platform. As Alexis Madrigal of the Atlantic puts it succinctly: In the new asymmetrical journalism, it’s not clear who is on what side or what the rules of engagement actually are. But the reason WikiLeaks may have changed the media is that we found out that it doesn’t really matter. Their data is good, and that’s what counts. (p. 163)
While much of the chapter focuses on the figure of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a discussion of the whistleblower herself, Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning), is not to be found. Manning’s treatment in response to her participation in the leaks is a reminder of the extreme dangers whistleblowers face today, and an important part of both the WikiLeaks saga and the consequences of journalism that some hold is in the public interest.
Stuart Allan’s book is particularly useful for its conceptual definition of a heavily nuanced and changing practice of journalism. Noteworthy for its capacity to encapsulate both theoretical rigor and concrete examples, Citizen Witnessing does an excellent job of charting murky waters by presenting rich historical examples and a review of the relevant literature. Yet rather than merely encapsulating a debate, the book opens a new one: how can citizens and journalists most effectively work together to motivate citizen engagement and democratic participation? Related concerns – like the consequences that the aftermath of witnessing can have for citizens, particularly in countries where freedom of speech is restricted – will need considerable and sustained attention. Allan’s book thus serves as a strong foundation on which to build a critical discussion of a field that is clearly in ferment.