Action! Livestreaming as means of civic engagement: A case study of citizen journalism in Egypt and Syria

Abstract

This article focuses on the use of livestreaming by citizen journalists in Egypt and Syria to accomplish social change, and on citizen journalism as an act of civic engagement. As an analytic frame, Dahlgren’s (2009) six modes of civic engagement are used to better understand the role of citizen journalists in a changing society. Through a number of qualitative interviews with citizen journalists, traditional journalists and Bambuser, this article concludes that citizen journalism not only played an important role in regards to civic engagement in Egypt and Syria during the recent uprisings in the countries, but continues to do so in the present.

Keywords: Egypt, livestreaming, media convergence, public sphere, social change, Syria.