Citizen Journalists: Baltimore, Wash D.C. Ferguson, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Use Our Platform To Grow Your Audience

Are you a Citizen Journalist? Do you want to expand your reach, expand your audience?

That’s what Before It’s News is here for. 

Before It’s News is a people powered website with no government censorship, (Porn, Profanity, or Inciting violence, will not be allowed) the last frontier of free press. 

Before It’s News is open to the public to share News and Information that is important to them, free of charge. 

Before Its News receives approximately 283,424 unique visitors per day and 768,080 page views per day. During a single month, an average of thirty days, the number of unique visitors is more than 6.5 million. 

Before It’s News is Ranked in the top 3% of all websites in the world. 

Amateur journalists have been responsible for a number of notable “scoops” in the past decade.

In 2004, a team of conservative bloggers exposed fraudulent documents used in a “60 Minutes” story about President George W. Bush’s military service. 

The controversy, known as Rathergate, led to the firing of several CBS employees and tarnished the reputation of respected journalist Dan Rather, who left the network in 2006.

Photos and videos shot by eyewitnesses during the the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2005 London Tube bombings and the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings also provided vivid imagery that brought those stories home [source: Mediabistro].

The rise of citizen journalism has been controversial, because it raises the question: what does it mean to be a “professional” journalist if everyone is a journalist?

Critics of citizen journalism argue that real journalists, professional or amateur, adhere to certain standards like fact checking, naming sources, searching out opinions on both sides of an issue and avoiding libelous statements [source: Hogg].

You don’t need to have a degree in journalism or carry press credentials to practice these principles, but publishing a personal opinion about a politician or posting a grainy cell phone video of a celebrity does not necessarily make you a journalist.

Interestingly, in the wake of mass budget cuts to U.S. newspapers, largely due to the rise of the Internet as a communications tool, mainstream media outlets have quickly (and somewhat ironically) moved to incorporate elements of citizen journalism into their news programs and publications. 

Cable news networks solicit viewer photos and videos of breaking news stories.

Newspaper reporters write blogs and update Twitter accounts, inviting reader interaction and participation.

After all, if the local paper doesn’t have the staff to cover City Hall, then bloggers will step in to publicize issues that matter to local readers [source: Stverak].

The recent events surrounding Michael Brown in Ferguson Mo, and now Freddie Gray in Baltimore Md, have once again given rise to a new generation of Citizen Journalism.

The Freddie Gray incident is spawning new protests in cities all across America. 

With Jade Helm coming this summer, it is sure to be history in the making for Citizen Journalists who will be covering these events. 

Also, weather event’s and natural disasters are often focus of Citizen Journalist reports. Who better to report on a natural disaster than the people from the community that were impacted by the disaster. 

I am Michael Roach, Editor in Chief at B4IN, I invite all Citizen Journalists to set up their own B4IN account and take advantage of our audience who thrives on alternative news and Citizen Journalists reporting “Raw” footage of today’s events around the world.

Citizen Journalist with questions may contact me directly at [email protected], I can help you set up your account, share a list of tools that will help you maximize your efforts in the field when reporting, and assist you with information on where the next big event is likely to unfold. 

We are the last Frontier of Free Press, won’t you join us?