Content area
This research investigates the shift of citizen journalism during the 21st century with special attention to how new technologies affected the whole process of news production, distribution, and public participation. With the help of online platforms and the internet, a great deal of society has been given the opportunity to speak up and has started to participate in the news-making and distribution through social media and other internet channels. This change of events has made it difficult for the previously existing power of gatekeeping to be held by professional journalists who determined the credibility and impartiality of the news, besides having an impact on public opinion and the entire mass media world. In order to investigate the mentioned issues, a quantitative approach was employed. The research data were collected through an online survey where the participants were self-reported and were 486 in number who usually participate in citizen journalism. The replies of the participants were evaluated using descriptive statistics, and reliability analyses were performed to assess the consistency of the measures. To investigate people’s beliefs about the credibility, bias, and their impact on the audience, latent construct modelling was applied with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) included. The survey results reveal that citizen reporting gives rise to speedy, unpretentious, and public-influencing news; albeit, it struggles against a major trustworthiness issue caused by misinformation and bias. The corresponding results stress the necessity of equipping people with media literacy skills, conducting verification practices, and adhering to moral standards so that the trust in citizen journalism is maintained and its democratizing potential is unlocked. These revelations are a great source of information for decision makers, media, and well-informed citizens.
Introduction
The landscape of news consumption and production has undergone a revolution in the last few years owing to digital technologies (Mhlanga et al. 2022). The use of digital technologies has been made possible by the wide-spread internet access (Dovbysh 2021). One of the trends that have emerged as a result of this is the rise of citizen journalism that allows ordinary people, armed with smartphones and social media, to report and share news without any involvement from the traditional media (Mutsvairo and Salgado 2022). The news became decimated through this trend where a variety of voices were presented to the public and debates were held at and given the attention of real-time reporting of the issues that were neglected or reported later by the mainstream media (Puranik 2024; Ncube 2021). The internet has turned the citizens into being more engaged, active in creating the narratives, and even in influencing the public opinion, thereby changing the news-making and consuming process fundamentally (Grossman 2022). Citizen journalism is the term used for non-professionals who through digital and social media platforms engage in the gathering, reporting, and dissemination of news and information. Such power enables very ordinary people to get involved in the news sector and provide instant reporting of occurrences from different aspects other than what the traditional media have shown. The flow of information through citizen journalism, though it has empowered and democratized the information flow, still bears certain disadvantages that are noticeable. To begin with, the majority of citizen journalists do not have formal education or professional training in journalism and they tend to be very careless, which results in a great risk of misinformation and sensationalism. Another major drawback of the whole citizen journalism phenomenon is that the ethical standards used by citizen journalists are often just self-imposed due to the lack of accountability in this area. This has serious ramifications in terms of misinformation, for instance, as it relates to deciding the credibility of a source. Moreover, it has been a question of disproportionate weight: the news coverage could differ substantially from one to another, thereby through the lens of personal bias or feelings of the citizen journalists, with no effort made to provide a fair, all-sided view point. The misuse of the Web for selfish reasons is still a matter of lesser visibility in the case of citizen journalism, as the latter has allowed the implementation of various parties’ agendas through the so-called “journalism” of their influences or the promotion of their visibility. All these points only confirm the need for a critical approach to user-generated content when it comes to its credibility, accuracy, and fairness in the digital news era. Although the editors may discuss this matter, the situation of citizen journalism is still the same in that there are no formal accountability systems that are equivalent to those of reputable media outlets; these systems would involve difficult fact-checking as well as obeying certain codes of conduct. The bulk of citizen journalism is merely individual narrations of events, which may contain a certain degree of misunderstanding or misinterpretation, leading then to distorted or incomplete stories being told. The establishment of proper standards coupled with the training of reporters in various methods of ethical verification from multiple sources is essential for the attainment of more balanced reporting since the effect of subjectivity on the framing is thus minimized. Established sources—those that have been confirmed by a reliable document, an observer, or by coincidence between different platforms—play a decisive role. They not only increase the accuracy but also gain the trust and the credibility of the stories that are created by citizen journalism and so these stories become more trustworthy and powerful to the different audiences of the digital age.
This paper investigates how the role of citizen journalism is evolving through the lens of the overall media environment. Unlike professional journalists, who are constrained by editorial policies and ethics’ codes, citizen journalists usually act freely without any form of official training or supervision (Gajardo and Mellado 2025; Porlezza and Arafat 2024). Such autonomy presents both advantages and disadvantages. At the bright side, citizen journalism has been one of the major factors facilitating the increasing news coverage by instantly providing the grassroots views, giving the silenced a voice, and sowing the seeds of community involvement (Stephanie 2024; Akpuruku et al. 2024). It is a crucial player in times of crises, protests and breaking-news scenarios, where the mainstream media has either not covered or has postponed the coverage (Luna et al. 2022). In contrast, the lack of professional standards is among the main reasons that smudge the image of user-generated content and thus lower its trustworthiness. Misinformation, bias, and the broadcasting of unconfirmed and altered content are enormous dangers to public debate and the democratic processes that rely on an informed citizenry (Hochstein et al. 2023; Choudhary et al. 2025).
Among the benefits of researching citizen journalism is the opportunity to be informed about its capability to act as an alternative news source (Salaudeen 2022), the way it contends with media power and has been utilized even to those advantages while bypassing negative forces (Cinar 2024). Additionally, it brings to the fore the transformation of news reporting in the digital environment and the changed dynamics between the public and news media (Khanom 2023). On the other hand, among the disadvantages are the problem of maintaining the accuracy of users’ content (Khan et al. 2023), the risk of unbalanced reporting leading to echo chambers being increased, and the difficulty of managing content that needs to be free of suppression of speech (Avin et al. 2024). The blending of digital technology with social media has taken citizen journalism to new heights that were unthinkable before. It has not only transformed the news production and distribution processes completely but also opened up discussions about the credibility, bias and integrity of journalism practices. Despite the fact that user-generated content provides immediate reporting, draws in community social consciousness and participation, it has often not been subjected to any kind of verification, editorial scrutiny or even ethical standards, thus making the misinformation and distortion of public opinion still major threats. All these issues lead to the erosion of public trust and the reliability of the entire media ecosystem is then questioned. This leads to the debate: should not everyone be informed about the difficulties and advantages of citizen journalism and what its impact is on public opinion and media practice? this understanding is vital for the promotion of responsible, accurate and ethical news consumption.
In addition, the paper gives a thorough and critical evaluation of citizen journalism by dissecting it into three main parts: first, dependence on users’ news; second, the existence of and influences of biases on the acceptance of the news; third, the interplay between public opinion and media within a larger context that has been stimulated by this. It assesses the credibility of such sources with respect to accuracy, source verification, and reliability in relation to mainstream media and also aspires to develop a comprehension of the ways personal inclinations, absence of editorial control, or ideological biases determine reportage. Moreover, attention has been directed to how citizen journalism affects the involvement of audiences, constructs the public narration, and constructs socio-political discourse in a changing world. Out of all this, the research presents in-depth but practical and real-time recommendations to inform the audience, citizen journalists, and policymakers on how best the consumption and use of user-generated news in this digital age has made responsible and credible.
Theoretical framework, literature review, and hypothesis development
Theoretical framework and hypothesis development
Gatekeeping Theory, first introduced by Lewin (1947) but also later substantiated by researchers such as White (1950) and Shoemaker and Vos (2009), serves as a theoretical basis for explaining the process by which information is screened and relayed to the public (Reader 2021). Selected for consideration, the Gatekeeping Theory explains how news contents are filtered, framed, and delivered, thereby contrasting the undeterred flow of information controlled by the editor with that of citizen journalism. The author supports that the theory will provide a framework for studying how the absence of formal gatekeepers affects perception with regard to credibility, bias, and influence in user-generated news. Gatekeepers in conventional journalism, including editors, producers, and reporters, determine the selection, framing, and dissemination of news items. These actors and institutions act as gatekeepers between happenings happening in the world and what eventually reaches the audiences (Blanchett 2021). Techniques that allowed the reporting of news to be accurate, unbiased, and trustworthy were the organizational routines, professional ethics, and editorial standards. The digital age, however, has completely changed the classical gatekeeping model (Valdeón 2022). The rise of social networks, blogging, and mobile technology made it possible for average people to be not only receivers but also producers of content and distributors of news. The model is known as citizen journalism and it transcends the traditional editorial filters, allowing the public to report live, often from the most personal perspectives. While this has made information sources manifold and sharing of information has become less controlled by the elite, it has also led to the dispersal of gatekeeping functions (Lilleker and Thompson 2021). In the new media environment, the gatekeeping has become widespread outside of the newsrooms and editors. It has now become a function that is being shared amongst algorithm platforms, social media, and online communities, and even the citizen journalists themselves. With the distributed gatekeeping model, opportunities and challenges arise (Salonen et al. 2023). On the one hand, it allows for the rapid spread of the news, especially where mainstream media sources are not available in regions or circumstances. It also offers counterpoints and raises issues that has lack representation in mainstream media (Müller and Wiik 2023). On the other hand, a lack of official editing authority renders user-generated content dubious regarding its objectivity and credibility. The collapse of conventional gatekeeping structures has also contributed to a proliferation of more misinformation and sensationalism (Røsok-Dahl and Kristine Olsen 2024). The absence of institutional oversight has led, in some cases, to information from citizen journalists being partial, affective, or simply based on unverified gossip. The public has now to assume a more explicit responsibility of discerning the truth and trustworthiness of the news they are hearing very often, without the resources or support to do so properly (Ojebuyi 2023). Thus, the Gatekeeping Theory continues to be a very useful tool for the analysis of the impact of citizen journalism in the internet era. It shows how the trends in media production and consumption affect and govern the public discourse, the quality of information, and the trust of society in news. With the lines that differentiate professional and amateur journalism becoming more and more blurred, it is very important to understand how gatekeeping is changing in order to evaluate the impact of user-generated news content on today’s media (Olsen et al. 2022). The Media Ecology Theory, as stated by McLuhan (1994), is an ally in this changing communication atmosphere and how the media environment affects the way people perceive, interact, and create knowledge. The theory describes that technological mediums and not just the content carried with them determine the way people think, communicate and understand reality. Applied to citizen journalism, the digital media landscape is a novel “ecosystem” where gatekeeping has not been centralised since it is distributed through networks of users, algorithms, and platforms. Immediacy, interactivity, and participatory capabilities of digital media not only change the pace of disseminating information but also the credibility judgments and biases of the latter (Logan 2010). Media Ecology Theory, therefore supplements the Gatekeeping Theory by placing a new analytical emphasis on the role of the person who mediates the flow of information as a control to the technological environments that redefine the essence of control, credibility, and discussion in the era of user-generated content.
Empirical literature on citizen journalism and user-generated content (UGC)
User-generated content (UGC) sharing, the essence of citizen journalism, has transformed traditional media paradigms in the digital age. Social networking sites and mobile devices have enabled ordinary citizens to become part of news production, bringing in fresh perspectives that de-hegemonies institutional journalism. The trend has spurred extensive scholarly studies on the credibility, bias, and social impact of UGC. Mbulumi (2024) scrutinized the coverage of UGC in Tanzanian newspapers and its main emphasis on UGC as a tool for newsroom content support. UGC is, as a rule, in the form of either text or pictures, coming from social media or the readers, and it is the inherent characteristic of UGC that makes it so economical and at the same time attracts more users to interact. Yet, the research brought up the verification method as one of the main issues, which in turn lowered the quality of journalism, a matter that has been mentioned in connection with the quality of content and editing in general. The Tanzania Media Council demanded strict control of ethics and editing, thus emphasizing the fine line between participatory journalism and professionalism. This very confrontation has been shown in the systematic review done by Peña-Fernández et al. (2024) regarding audience participation in news media. They concluded that even though citizen journalism was considered a form of democratic participation, the engagement of the audience was falling because of the reasons that had previously caused the public disillusionment: journalists’ doubts and the preference of profit over civic action. The research puts citizen journalism into the category of “mediatised participation” and claims that its potential has been hindered by the commercial and institutional constraints. After this, Segun (2024) questioned how the citizen journalism phenomenon had affected the dynamics of mainstream media. The literature review concluded that news production, dissemination, and audience engagement had undergone considerable changes. On one hand, UGC empowered people with equal access to information and enhanced their freedom of expression, but on the other hand, it disrupted the editorial gatekeeping, created the problem of misinformation, and changed the people’s trust in the media.
From a technology standpoint, Karimi et al. (2021) came up with and implemented a model that would evaluate online news outlets based on user-generated content (UGC). The study brought out the fact that UGC is not only used for online news but also that it is suitable for ranking performance systems due to its completeness, diversity, and timeliness. However, UGC is still a promise and at the same time a challenge where thorough vetting has to be done in order to keep the content fresh and accurate. Lysenko (2024) happened to be the one who investigated the UGC in the news about wars, where the citizens’ visual/audio materials are the ones that help in the reporting of the inaccessible happenings. The journalists make the verification of such materials possible through the use of reverse image search, geolocation, and expert consultations. UGC definitely widens the news coverage and at the same time introduces new insights but it is still subjected to ethical issues and verification concerns when used in sensitive reporting situations. In relation to Nigeria, Chioma (2024) studied how social media affects the news consumption pattern of young people. According to the results, while citizen reporting might be timelier and more relatable than conventional journalism, its trustworthiness is still doubted. The study suggested the need for stronger media literacy programs aimed at developing the users’ capacity to assess the credibility of news, thus giving the significance of digital competencies in the period of mass misinformation. The Surendran (2024) assumption was supported by examining the influence of citizen journalism on public opinion. The youngsters consider social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube their primary information sources, as they perceive these digital environments to be more accessible and representative. Nonetheless, these social networks are at the same time questioning their credibility, which is indicative of the dual nature of citizen journalism as being both powerful and dangerous. Abbasi et al. (2024) discussed the issue from a mental health perspective, exploring the psychological effects of citizen journalism on the people living in Pakistan. They discovered that the audience was under the influence of tension and emotional suffering because of the unedited and raw user-generated content that was overflowing with emotions. Some of the people engaged in participatory journalism had a great experience, but the study still pointed out the need for ethical standards and content regulation so that the risk of causing more harm is minimized.
In the Malaysian scenario, Bahari and Sualman (2025) pointed out that the Newswav aggregator is able to let people produce hyper-local content which usually gets buried by the major media’s coverage. Despite the platform’s advocacy for diverse opinions and everyone being included, it still has to overcome the problem of being viewed as credible and of good quality particularly when it comes to non-trained professional journalists. Finally, Wang (2021) stated that the incivility of comments on news articles affects the attitudes of the readers. He also noted that interestingly, the introduction of automated moderation of comments was identified as a contributor to the increase in the perceived credibility of news content among the audience with high trust in technology, particularly for the latter group. This study highlights the indirect yet strong function of audience engagement to influence judgments of news credibility, which is highly applicable in UGC-based platforms. Therefore, the literature presents a picture of sophisticated citizen journalism. Although UGC has democratized media space and pluralised narratives, it continues to raise verification, credibility, and professional standards. These need to be tackled through multi-stakeholder engagement involving technological tools, regulatory measures, and media literacy to make participatory journalism work in the best way possible for the information ecosystem. Figure 1 manifests the proposed conceptual framework, illustrating the relationships between independent variables (presence of verified sources, type of news source, type of news content consumed) and dependent variables (perceived credibility, perceived bias, and influence on public opinion).
[See PDF for image]
Fig. 1
Conceptual framework.
H1:User-generated news content with verified sources is perceived as more credible than content without verified sources.
H2:Citizen journalism content is perceived as more biased than traditional journalism content covering the same event.
H3:Exposure to user-generated news content on social media has a stronger influence on public opinion than exposure to traditional news sources.
Research methodology
An orderly and quantitative approach was used to study the credibility, perceived bias, and impact of citizen journalism in India. To make sure that the evaluation of the credibility, perceived bias, and impact of citizen journalism in India was done in an objective, reliable, and replicable way, an orderly and quantitative method was applied. The application of quantitative methods makes it possible to systematically measure audience perceptions and effects of the media, thus allowing for the statistical validation of the relationships between the variables (Creswell and Creswell 2018). Besides, past media research supports the quantitative approaches for news credibility and bias perceptions assessments, as those methods would help in identification of correlations between such variables as media trust, source reliability, and audience engagement (Tandoc and Seet 2024). The adoption of the quantitative method certainly facilitates the statistical assessment of the impressions associated with the reliability, partiality, and influence of citizen journalism. Nonetheless, the method guarantees an objective assessment, experimentation with the hypothesis, and generalization from a large set of data. The whole survey was conducted over a period of four months, from early January 2025 through the end of March. India was selected as the area of investigation since its digital news ecosystem is rapidly evolving, evidenced by the very active citizen journalism on such platforms as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, the independent news websites, among others. The socio-cultural setting, in which both mainstream and alternative narratives coexist, happens to be a perfect one for understanding public perceptions of credibility, bias, and influence. The purposive sampling technique was employed to confirm sufficient exposure to citizen journalism sites among the participants. A total of 486 responses were obtained, making it possible to carry out substantial statistical analysis and latent construct modelling. For exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, a final sample of 486 respondents was considered statistically adequate under the criteria set by Hair (2009) and Kline (2023). According to Hair (2019), SEM requires a minimum of 200 samples, while Kline (2023) proposes a range of 200–500, pointing out that the larger the samples, the higher the credibility of the model. Comrey and Lee (2013) also classify the sample of 500 as “very good” for multivariate analysis. Thus, the chosen sample size meets and approaches these benchmarks, ensuring statistical robustness.
Cohen’s (2013) guidelines were used for power analysis to further affirm adequacy. Assuming a medium effect size (f2 = 0.15), a statistical power level of 0.80 (β = 0.20), and α = 0.05 for multiple regression that included as many as 5 predictors, the minimum required sample size was nearly 92. That said, the obtained sample size of 486 had higher statistical power and thus ensured a reliable detection of medium-to-small effects while minimising the probability of Type 2 errors. This study targeted respondents who had been exposed to UGC (user-generated content) and a citizen journalism platform for some time. It targeted mainly urban or semi-urban locations, as they are known to have very high internet penetration and a tendency for most people to use social media for news consumption. These areas were guaranteed to have respondents who had quite the experience in judging credibility, bias, and influence. Purposive sampling is best used as it allows the use of specific criteria to choose respondents (Etikan et al. 2016). The only prerequisite for people to qualify as participants was to engage in citizen journalism at least three times a week, which guaranteed their informed and relevant responses. This approach has been popular for media research, where exposure-based knowledge is vital for credible perception-based evaluations.
Initial analysis of data was done through frequency distribution to characterise the respondents by different demographic and media viewing habits. The demographic description is presented in Table 1, revealing heterogeneity by age group, educational level, occupation, Internet Usage Frequency, and Preferred News Sources.
Table 1. Demographic profile of respondents (N = 486).
Demographic variable | Category | Frequency | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
Age group | Under 18 | 28 | 5.8% |
18–24 | 134 | 27.6% | |
25–34 | 148 | 30.5% | |
35–44 | 86 | 17.7% | |
45–54 | 52 | 10.7% | |
55 and above | 38 | 7.8% | |
Educational level | No formal education | 18 | 3.7% |
High school or equivalent | 96 | 19.8% | |
Bachelor’s degree | 242 | 49.8% | |
Postgraduate degree | 130 | 26.7% | |
Occupation | Student | 124 | 25.5% |
Unemployed | 48 | 9.9% | |
Employed - Non-media | 186 | 38.3% | |
Employed - Media | 44 | 9.1% | |
Self-employed | 56 | 11.5% | |
Retired | 28 | 5.8% | |
Internet usage frequency | Rarely (<1/week) | 12 | 2.5% |
Occasionally (1–3/week) | 36 | 7.4% | |
Regularly (4–6/week) | 78 | 16.0% | |
Daily (1–3 h) | 166 | 34.2% | |
Daily (>3 h) | 194 | 39.9% | |
Preferred news source | Traditional media | 92 | 18.9% |
Official news websites | 116 | 23.9% | |
Social media platforms | 168 | 34.6% | |
Citizen journalism platforms | 74 | 15.2% | |
Word of mouth | 36 | 7.4% |
After that, the distribution of primary variables was outlined by descriptive statistics. Perceived credibility, bias, and influence items in the questionnaire were altered from validated instruments of earlier studies. Content validity was determined through expert judgment that involved three media research scholars. A pilot study with 50 respondents was carried out to refine and enhance the scale items. The reliability test confirmed the internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha (α) values being more than 0.70 for all the constructs. The factor structure was confirmed by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) prior to SEM testing. They computed mean (μ), standard deviation (SD) (σ), and variance (σ^2) as the indicators of central tendency and dispersion. The following formulas were used for their calculations:
1
where denotes the individual observed values and has the total number of observations.To ensure internal consistency of the measurement items, reliability analysis was conducted using Cronbach’s alpha (). A value of was considered acceptable. The formula for is:
2
where has the number of items, has the variance of item ii, and has the total variance of the summed scale.To analyse the relationship among the constructs of credibility, bias, and influence, a correlation matrix was generated using Pearson product-moment coefficients. The correlation for two variables x and y has been characterized as:
3
Discriminant validity was determined by comparing the square root of the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) of each construct with inter-construct correlations. Discriminant validity exists if:
4
where has the average variance extracted for the construct , and the correlation between constructs and .To check the developed hypotheses regarding the impact of demographic factors on credibility, bias, and influence perceptions, One-Way ANOVA was applied. This technique evaluated if there were statistically significant differences between group means. Any p-value less than 0.05 was taken as significant. ANOVA’s F-ratio was determined as:
5
ANOVA enabled hypothesis testing to establish whether exposure to citizen journalism and demographic variables had a significant influence on dependent measures like perceived credibility, bias, and influence.
Subsequent to EFA, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied employing AMOS to evaluate the theoretical model illustrating the causal relationships between the latent variables: perceived credibility, bias, and influence of citizen journalism. The SEM model adheres to the general equation:
6
where represents the vector of endogenous latent variables, denotes exogenous latent variables, and are matrices of coefficients, and has the vector of error terms.Model fit was assessed by employing various indices. A chi-square to degrees of freedom ratio (χ2/df) was employed, where a value less than has been seen as a good fit. Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was utilised to measure the error of approximation per degree of freedom, and values less than are acceptable. Comparative Fit Index (CFI) was also employed, and values greater than confirm a good model fit.
This broad statistical platform facilitates empirical testing of user-generated news content in the online world, providing insight into perceptions regarding citizen journalism in terms of credibility, objectivity, and influence on public opinion. Having SEM integrated allows measurement and structure evaluation of the conceptual model, with solid conclusions made regarding the psychological and sociocultural aspects of digital news credibility
Result
Descriptive statistics with reliability (Cronbach’s alpha)
The reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s Alpha) and descriptive data for six citizen journalism-related constructs are shown in Table 2. On a 5-point scale, the means, which vary from 3.78 to 4.12, show that respondents usually agree. Strong agreement regarding the significance of source verification has been indicated by the highest mean for Verified Sources (M = 4.12, SD = 0.61). With the lowest mean (M = 3.78, SD = 0.64), News Source Type indicates a reasonable level of consensus about preference or confidence for particular source types. With Cronbach’s α values ranging from 0.81 to 0.87, substantially above the acceptable threshold of 0.70, all structures show strong internal consistency. With the highest reliability (α = 0.87), Influence on Opinion indicates very consistent responses. All things considered, the constructions show significant patterns and are statistically reliable.
Table 2. Descriptive statistics with reliability (Cronbach’s alpha).
Construct | Mean | SD | Cronbach’s α |
|---|---|---|---|
Verified sources | 4.12 | 0.61 | 0.85 |
Credibility | 3.94 | 0.67 | 0.83 |
News source type | 3.78 | 0.64 | 0.81 |
Perceived bias | 3.89 | 0.59 | 0.84 |
News content consumed | 4.05 | 0.71 | 0.86 |
Influence on opinion | 4.02 | 0.66 | 0.87 |
Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) – factor loadings, AVE, CR
The CFA results for six latent components pertaining to citizen journalism are shown in Table 3, together with standardised item loadings, Average Variance Extracted (AVE), and Composite Reliability (CR). Strong individual item contributions to their respective constructions are indicated by all standardised factor loadings exceeding 0.67. Since all loadings are above the legal cutoff of 0.60 and many items load above 0.70, indicating high measurement performance, this validates convergent validity. All constructs have AVE values between 0.52 and 0.58, which is higher than the minimum cutoff of 0.50 that has been advised (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). This means that the construct accounts for more than 50% of the variance instead of error. In particular, News Source Type has the lowest AVE (0.52), which is still sufficient for convergent validity, while Perceived Bias has the highest AVE (0.58), indicating that it captures the most shared variation among its items. Strong internal consistency and construct reliability are shown by the CR values, which range from 0.82 to 0.86 and are all much above the acceptable cutoff of 0.70. News Source Type has the lowest CR (0.82), showing good dependability, while News Content Consumed has the greatest CR (CR = 0.86), reflecting extremely consistent responses. All things considered, the CFA results validate that the observed variables accurately reflect their corresponding latent constructs in the context of assessing user-generated news material, supporting the measuring model’s convergent validity as well as dependability.
Table 3. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) – factor loadings, AVE, CR.
Construct | Item loadings (standardised) | AVE | CR |
|---|---|---|---|
Verified sources | 0.78 | 0.56 | 0.84 |
0.74 | |||
0.81 | |||
0.76 | |||
0.69 | |||
Credibility | 0.72 | 0.54 | 0.83 |
0.79 | |||
0.75 | |||
0.70 | |||
0.67 | |||
News source type | 0.73 | 0.52 | 0.82 |
0.69 | |||
0.77 | |||
0.74 | |||
0.68 | |||
Perceived bias | 0.81 | 0.58 | 0.85 |
0.77 | |||
0.75 | |||
0.72 | |||
0.70 | |||
News content consumed | 0.79 | 0.57 | 0.86 |
0.82 | |||
0.76 | |||
0.70 | |||
0.68 | |||
Influence on opinion | 0.76 | 0.55 | 0.84 |
0.74 | |||
0.81 | |||
0.69 | |||
0.73 |
Correlation matrix with discriminant validity
The inter-construct correlations and the square roots of the diagonal AVE values are shown in Table 4. When each construct’s square root of the AVE is higher than its association with other components, discriminant validity has been proven. The discriminant validity of AVE has been satisfied, for example, because its square root (0.75) is greater than its correlations with Credibility (0.44), News Source Type (0.38), Perceived Bias (0.40), News Consumed (0.42), and Influence (0.46). Likewise, Credibility (√AVE = 0.73) confirms its discriminant separation with lower inter-construct correlations, including with NST (0.45), BIAS (0.47), NCC (0.41), and INFL (0.52). The diagonal values of all other constructs, such as News Source Type (0.72), Perceived Bias (0.76), News Consumed (0.75), and Influence (0.74), are greater than the comparable off-diagonal correlations, exhibiting the same trend. With the strongest correlation values between Credibility and Influence (0.52) and Influence and News Consumed (0.53), the correlation coefficients also show moderately positive associations that are relevant but separate constructs. These results validate acceptable discriminant validity and lend credence to the structural model’s use of these constructs.
Table 4. Correlation matrix with discriminant validity.
Construct | VS | CRED | NST | BIAS | NCC | INFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Verified sources (VS) | 0.75 | 0.44 | 0.38 | 0.40 | 0.42 | 0.46 |
Credibility (CRED) | 0.44 | 0.73 | 0.45 | 0.47 | 0.41 | 0.52 |
News source type (NST) | 0.38 | 0.45 | 0.72 | 0.48 | 0.46 | 0.44 |
Perceived bias (BIAS) | 0.40 | 0.47 | 0.48 | 0.76 | 0.43 | 0.50 |
News consumed (NCC) | 0.42 | 0.41 | 0.46 | 0.43 | 0.75 | 0.53 |
Influence (INFL) | 0.46 | 0.52 | 0.44 | 0.50 | 0.53 | 0.74 |
ANOVA
There is statistical support for testing H1 from the One-Way ANOVA results shown in Table 5. When one degree of freedom has been used, the Between Groups sum of squares has 15.68, which shows the variance in perceived trustworthiness caused by the presence or lack of verified sources. 484 degrees of freedom and a Within Groups sum of squares of 386.32 capture the remaining variance that cannot be accounted for by the independent variable. Between-group variation’s computed mean square is 15.68, while within-group variation’s is 0.798. A significantly high F-value of 19.60 and a corresponding p-value of 0.000, below the traditional significance threshold of 0.05, are the results. This suggests that news articles with verified sources are statistically significantly more credible than those without. As a result, H1 has been supported, and the null hypothesis has been rejected. The significance of source verification in digital journalism has been validated by the fact that the existence of verified sources greatly raises the perceived legitimacy of user-generated news content.
Table 5. One-way ANOVA of H1.
Source of variation | Sum of squares (SS) | Df | Mean square (MS) | F-value | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Between groups | 15.68 | 1 | 15.68 | 19.60 | 0.000 |
Within groups | 386.32 | 484 | 0.798 | ||
Total | 402.00 | 485 |
The One-Way ANOVA analysis used to assess H2 is displayed in Table 6. With one degree of freedom (df), the Between Groups sum of squares has 22.45, which represents the difference in perceived bias between citizen journalism and traditional journalism. There is still a variation in perceived bias that cannot be explained by the independent variable, as indicated by the Within Groups sum of squares of 377.55 with 484 df. The within-groups mean square has 0.78, and the between-groups mean square has 22.45. This results in a rather high F-value of 28.78, indicating a strong influence. The results are statistically significant, as indicated by the associated p-value of 0.000, which is significantly lower than the traditional alpha threshold of 0.05. Given these values, this study accepts H2 and rejects the null hypothesis. The perception of bias has been greatly influenced by the kind of news source. The perception of citizen journalism content is more biased than that of traditional journalism, which supports worries about the editorial objectivity of user-generated news.
Table 6. One-way ANOVA of H2.
Source of variation | Sum of squares (SS) | df | Mean square (MS) | F-value | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Between groups | 22.45 | 1 | 22.45 | 28.78 | 0.000 |
Within groups | 377.55 | 484 | 0.78 | ||
Total | 400.00 | 485 |
The One-Way ANOVA analysis tests H3 are displayed in Table 7. With one degree of freedom, the Between Groups sum of squares has 19.84, showing the difference in public opinion that has been attributed to the kind of news that people consume. The Within Groups sum of squares, which represents the unexplained variation in public opinion among individuals, has 396.16 with 484 degrees of freedom. The within-group mean square has 0.818, whereas the between-group mean square has 19.84. This leads to a significant statistical effect, as indicated by the F-value of 24.22. Public opinion has been statistically significantly impacted by the sort of news content that has been consumed, as evidenced by the corresponding p-value of 0.000, which is highly significant (p < 0.05). Consequently, H3 has been supported, and the null hypothesis has been disproved. The results show that, in comparison to traditional news sources, user-generated news content on social media platforms has a greater impact on influencing public opinion, underscoring the growing persuasive potential of citizen journalism in the digital information ecosystem.
Table 7. One-way ANOVA of H3.
Source of variation | Sum of squares (SS) | df | Mean square (MS) | F-value | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Between groups | 19.84 | 1 | 19.84 | 24.22 | 0.000 |
Within groups | 396.16 | 484 | 0.818 | ||
Total | 416.00 | 485 |
AMOS-style structural regression (SEM model paths)
The AMOS-based SEM analysis (shown in Fig. 2) identifies strong correlations between the hypothesised constructs. Figure 2 presents the AMOS-based structural regression model. It explains the standardised path coefficients (β) between the latent variables: verified sources (VS) significantly influence credibility (CRED), type of news source (NST) significantly influences perceived bias (BIAS), and type of news content consumed (NCC) significantly influences public opinion (INFL). Factor loadings for each observed indicator are also shown, supporting the reliability of the measurement model.
[See PDF for image]
Fig. 2
AMOS-style structural regression (SEM model paths).
Table 8 explains the structural model findings. It summarises the path coefficients (β values), their levels of statistical significance, and the variance explained (R2) for each dependent construct. The results provide empirical support for the hypothesised relationships (H1, H2, H3) and confirm the model’s validity.
Table 8. AMOS-style structural regression (SEM model paths).
Path | Estimate (β) | SE | CR | p-value | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Verified sources → Credibility | 0.47 | 0.06 | 7.83 | <0.001 | Significant |
News source type → Perceived Bias | 0.53 | 0.05 | 10.6 | <0.001 | Significant |
News content consumed → Influence | 0.41 | 0.07 | 5.86 | <0.001 | Significant |
Verifying sources improves perceived trustworthiness (standardised estimate (β) = 0.47, SE = 0.06, CR = 7.83, p-value < 0.001). Similarly, News Source Type strongly predicts seen Bias (β = 0.53, SE = 0.05, CR = 10.6, and p < 0.001), suggesting citizen journalism is more likely to be seen as biased than established sources. Consumption of news content has a considerable influence on public opinion (β = 0.41, SE = 0.07, CR = 5.86, p < 0.001). All routes are statistically significant, supporting the hypothesised model structure.
Discussion
These findings lend strong support for all three hypotheses and will become part of the ongoing debate regarding citizen journalism, UGC, and the construction of news credibility, bias perceptions, and the public. The present study takes a step further in such a discussion. The true statistical robustness of the findings has been shown in both ANOVA and SEM analyses, besides comparisons with existing literature to gain insight into how these findings fit or extend previous studies. The results indicate that there is a significant difference in perceived credibility between verified and unverified content, which was confirmed by the ANOVA and SEM analyses. The finding suggests that the verification processes are important in either gaining the trust of the public or in the case of citizen journalism, attracting the public. Readers perceive the use of trustworthy sources as a signal that the information they are receiving has been subjected to quality checks even if it is in a non-mainstream reporting context. This is in line with Karimi et al. (2021), who argue that the proper vetting of user-generated content has resulted in better completeness and diversity in the news. Likewise, Lysenko (2024) pointed out that verifying information using geolocation and expert consultation is necessary for high-stakes reporting, such as conflict zones, to maintain ethical standards. In addition, Wang (2021) proved that the mechanisms that improve integrity in content, such as automated moderation of user comments, increase credibility perceptions indirectly. Such studies-in this context, therefore, back the current findings, as they all signify that credibility in citizen journalism is, indeed, contingent upon the mechanisms of verification present. The second hypothesis demonstrated that citizen journalism has been perceived as having more bias than traditional reporting, corroborated through ANOVA as well as SEM results. This also relates to concerns in the literature regarding the subjectivity and absence of editorial gatekeeping in reporting through UGCs. A few scholars, such as Peña-Fernández et al. (2024), noted how citizen reporting symbolises democratic participation at first. However, as biases come to people’s minds regarding objectivity with regard to citizen reporters, as institutional forces shifted profitably regarding civic engagement, the perceptions also shifted toward profit and not civic engagement.
Chioma (2024) outlined how, regardless of being timely and relatable, social media-based news is still viewed by young audiences in Nigeria as being compromised in its neutrality, thereby exemplifying the credibility-bias paradox from participatory journalism. Segun (2024) pointed out that the disruption of conventional norms of editorialism has only worsened the focus on misinformation and slanted narratives. Recent experiments have confirmed this pattern and said that the audiences’ experiences with bias in content that is factually right have not changed. This shows that reporting and mentioning the truth through transparency has been just as effective as the accuracy of the facts in making the audiences trustful. These were the main points the survey supported. The tests done to analyse the results of the survey indicated that the consumption type of content is directly related to people’s public voices. The SEM analysis points out that there is a strong positive correlation between user-generated news content and its effectiveness in convincing people, while ANOVA confirms the significant differences in the types of content being questioned. The results are backed up by Surendran (2024) who pointed out that social media sites, especially Instagram and YouTube, are the foremost sources of information for the younger generation, thus influencing their perception and opinion on the issue. In the same way, Bahari and Sualman (2025) showed that the digital platforms permitting hyper-local citizen reporting had been participating in inclusivity and representation, thereby making public discourse richer. On the other hand, Abbasi et al. (2024) cautioned that the UGC with strong emotions had been creating a feeling of psychological distress in the audience which is revealing the bad side of its impact - convincing when the checking is light and toxic when left unchecked at the same time. The whole dramatic engagement, persuasion, and possible risk are the reasons why one has to be aware of the ethical practice that operates within participatory media settings and content moderation should also be in place so that the impact does not become manipulative or harmful.
The overall conclusions drawn from the research provide a clearer understanding of the ever-changing situation of the citizen journalism role in the media ecosystem. Among the factors that obtained the greatest strength from the combination of technology and editorial innovations, verification ascended to the top as a significant factor of legitimacy as described by Karimi et al. (2021) and Lysenko (2024). However, bias which is continuously perceived still emphasizes the dilemma between purity and impartiality, which, on one hand, coincides with the thoughts of Peña-Fernández et al. (2024) and Chioma (2024), who claim that audience trust is undermined by the mere fact of journalists holding neutral views that are widely seen as compromised. The aspect of content type again has a decisive effect on the persuasion level of UGC. This is still a thing that media consumption trends are shifting towards more digital platforms, a fact that has been marked out in research by Surendran (2024) and Bahari and Sualman (2025). Citizen journalism has indeed taken over conventional news production, making it possible for a variety of stories to be told and their audiences to be large. Hammel (2024), on the other hand, warns about the dangers of falsehood and emotional mastery in a contrasting scenario. Nevertheless, the professional ethics literature has characterized citizen journalism as engagement with a dilemma between empowerment and new responsibilities. Mbulumi (2024) asserted that user-generated content has not only enriched the newsrooms but also improved the interaction between journalists and the public; however, the problems of quality control and professional standards are still present to a great extent. The tensions thus created point towards the continuous struggle between the ideals of participation and the norms of established journalism and hence suggest that citizen journalism has to be a multi-stakeholder approach with respect to risk optimization: media literacy programs, platform-based verification tools, and ethical frameworks.
Limitations
The current research, although revealing important aspects about the credibility, perceived bias, and effect of citizen journalism in India, remains limited in some aspects. To begin with, self-reported survey data being the main source of information opens up the possibility of participants showing bias in their responses, as they have given socially acceptable answers or not completely accurate ones at all. The second limitation is that the research conducted is cross-sectional; thus, it is not possible to talk about causality among the variables. Only a snapshot of the present-day situation is given, instead of the continuous change through time. The third point is that although the sample size is sufficient, it can still be said that the representativeness is rather limited since the different regions, languages, and economic classes in India have not been entirely reflected in the study. Apart from this, there has been a measurement error and exclusion of unobserved variables, which could easily result in less reliable outcomes. The longitudinal or experimental designs with more varied samples are the way to go for future research, which would enable one to find out causal mechanisms and shifts over time in trust, perception of bias and engagement with the verified citizen journalism content.
Conclusion
This research thoroughly assessed the efficacy of citizen journalism through the assessment of credibility, bias, and the impact of user-generated news content in the online era. Implications show that the inclusion of authentic sources has a positive impact on the perceived credibility of such content, emphasising the need for transparency and accuracy in online reporting. Nonetheless, citizen journalism has also been seen to be more biased compared to conventional journalism, presumably because of the lack of editorial control and the dominance of personal or ideological viewpoints. But people-generated content was found to have more power over the public opinion than the traditional sources, as it ultimately proves the increasing power in the creation of narratives and discourse. The research brought out the positive and negative aspects of participatory journalism. It was praised for being easy-to-use for the public, live news reporting, and giving voice to the people who are usually silenced, etc. Yet, the fears about the quality of journalism, the veracity of facts, and misinformation have been expressed too. The results help to come up with recommendations aimed at the promotion of ethical news consumption and the right practices of user-generated content. Consumers are required to carry out a critical evaluation of the credibility of the content, citizen journalists should comply with the minimum verification standards, and the authorities must find the ways to create a situation where accountability and freedom of speech can coexist, with the latter not being suppressed. To sum up, the normal course of citizen journalism as a main driver of the media development has been paved, however, still its credibility support and bias reduction are core to its triumph.
Implications
The results of the research are quite significant for media consumers, content creators, and authorities in the modern digital era. To begin with, the relationship between trusted sources and believed credibility is such that it calls for the citizen journalists who are conditioned with basic verification techniques to support their credibility in the long run. Media literacy programs should also teach people how to assess the credibility and bias of news content created by users. Secondly, the negative image of citizen journalism in terms of bias points to the fact that the editorial training or the codes of ethics have somehow made the citizen reporters impartial and factual. The influence of user-generated content on public opinion is one of the reason that it is considered powerful in telling the stories of societies, thus leading to the implementation of controls by the sites that might tip the scale in favour of either free speech or responsible reporting. The findings are a reminder for the regulators that the creation of legal frameworks which promote transparency without killing citizen journalism is becoming more and more important. To sum up, the study reaffirms the changing roles of all the participants in the preservation of the integrity of the cyber news spaces.
Author contributions
SCZ was responsible for the research conception, framework construction, data organization, methodology, software application, drafting of the original manuscript, as well as review, editing and revision.
Data availability
The data that supported this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
Ethics approval
Name of Academic Committee: Leshan Normal University Academic Committee Charter (2021). The research was conducted under the applicable guidelines/regulations for human participants (all requirements set out in the Declaration of Helsinki were complied with). Project number: KYLL20250901, approval date: January 2024.
Informed consent
Written people assent and informed consent were obtained from participants. Informed consent time: June 2024. The questionnaire survey is anonymous. Before completing the questionnaire, respondents have been informed of the purpose of the survey, the methods used, and the way the results will be utilized. The questionnaire is filled out voluntarily by the respondents. The answers of the participants will not be used in any form, and no respondent will be harmed.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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