“Welcome to Syria”: Embedding with ‘citizen journalists’
This Al Jazeera English report on Syria’s citizen journalists is interesting.
When people in the media industry talk about "embedded journalists" they usually mean journalists embedding with military units.
It is, of course, possible to ’embed’ with other people or organisations and it is perhaps a sign of the times that ‘journalists’ like Jane Ferguson are now embedding with ‘citizen journalists’.
Although in many ways, this is just an evolution of the journalist’s all important relationship with local fixers who make so much journalism possible. It’s just these days the fixers are documenting and publishing their own material as well.
Many ‘fixers’ from conflicts past undoubtedly deserved the title of ‘journalist’ as well, but in the 21st century it seems even more relevant that these citizens are recognised for the journalism they produce.