Citizen Photojournalism: Motivations for Photographing a Natural Disaster and Sharing the Photos on the Web

This study examined what citizen photojournalists describe as their motivations for documenting a natural disaster and their descriptions of why they think they shared their photographs with an online community. This study extends and utilizes the uses and gratifications theory to explore new media gratifications rather than older models of the theory. Eight citizen photojournalists who documented the Spring 2011 Alabama tornado outbreak were interviewed for the study. The results revealed four themes relating to the citizen photojournalists' descriptions of their motivations for documenting the tornado. These themes were (1) filling the void of professional media, (2) exposure for small communities, (3) showing progress and rebuilding, and (4) documenting personal memories. Five themes were revealed as to why they thought they shared their photographs with an online community. These themes were (1) visual communication with friends and family, (2) initiating discussion with photo, (3) receiving praise from online community, (4) becoming a better photographer, and (5) entertainment value. The purpose of this study was to examine the motivations of a citizen photojournalist and to also further integrate new media utilization of the uses and gratifications theory in relation to why the citizen photojournalists share their images with online communities.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Akron

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Owen, Daniel M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pipps, Val

• Communication
• social media
• new media
• citizen journalism
• citizen photojournalism
• photojournalism
• uses and gratifications theory

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1362739905

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:akron1362739905