ABSTRACT

This study focuses on news discourses by citizen journalists at the citizen journalism and alternative media platform of AMH Voices in Zimbabwe between the years 2014–2018. Central to the study was an endeavour to demonstrate how the multidimensional crisis in Zimbabwe supported the emergence of citizen journalism and how citizen journalists constructed alternative political narratives and counterhegemonic discourses of the crisis on the platform. The theoretical point of departure is that of interpretive communities. Zelizer (1993. “Journalists as Interpretive Communities.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 10 (3): 219–237) observes that journalists become an interpretive community when they are united through shared discourses and collective interpretations of key public events. The argument is that AMH Voices emerged as an interpretive community of citizen journalists bound by common counterhegemonic interpretations of the crisis. The methodological approach to data analysis was critical discourse analysis which allowed the researcher to investigate meanings, emerging themes and ideological bias of citizen journalism. The study established that citizen news discourses at AMH Voices were mostly framed in non-dominant perspectives using interpretive news writing styles to express alternative political narratives, challenge the status quo and advocate for radical political change. The interpretive writing style foregrounded the citizen journalists’ interpretations, opinions and emotions regarding the crisis.

摘要

本研究重点关注 2014 年至 2018 年津巴布韦公民新闻和 AMH Voices 替代媒体平台上公民记者的新闻话语。该研究的核心是努力展示津巴布韦的多维危机如何支持公民新闻的出现，以及公民记者如何在平台上构建关于危机的替代政治叙事和反霸权话语。理论出发点是解释性社区。Zelizer（1993 年。“作为解释性社区的记者。”大众传播的批判性研究10 (3): 219–237) 观察到，当记者通过共享的话语和对重要公共事件的集体解释而团结起来时，他们就会成为一个解释社区。论点是，AMH Voices 是一个由公民记者组成的解释性社区，受到对危机的常见反霸权解释的约束。数据分析的方法论是批判性话语分析，它使研究人员能够调查公民新闻的含义、新兴主题和意识形态偏见。该研究表明，AMH Voices 的公民新闻话语大多以非主流观点为框架，使用解释性新闻写作风格来表达替代政治叙事、挑战现状并倡导激进的政治变革。