Citizen journalism refers to the reporting of news events by members of the public using the Internet to spread the information. Citizen journalism can be a simple reporting of facts and news that is largely ignored by large media companies. It is easily spread through personal websites, blogs, microblogs, social media and so on. Some types of citizen journalism also act as a check on the reporting of larger news outlets by providing alternative analysis.

Citizen journalism is referred to by many other names, including:

• Collaborative citizen journalism (CCJ)
• Personal publishing
• Grassroots media
• Networked journalism
• Open source journalism
• Citizen media
• Participatory journalism
• Hyperlocal journalism
• Distributed journalism
• Stand-alone journalism
• Bottom-up journalism
• Nonmedia journalism
• Indymedia
• Guerrilla journalism

There is some nuance to these usages, but all revolve around online publishing and the distribution of information by members of the public.