Participatory News Production in Local Digital Media: Citizen Journalism and Information Credibility on Instagram @infogarut

Abstract

The rapid development of digital media has fostered the emergence of participatory journalism practices that enable communities to actively engage in the production and dissemination of information. Instagram has become one of the platforms facilitating such participation, including through the local digital media account @infogarut, which utilizes citizens' contributions in delivering public information. This study aims to analyze the forms of citizen journalism participation, editorial policies, and information credibility verification mechanisms implemented by @infogarut. A descriptive qualitative approach within a post-positivist paradigm was employed. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and documentation involving media managers and citizen journalism contributors. The analysis was guided by Cohen and Uphoff's Participation Theory, which examines participation in decision-making, implementation, benefit-taking, and evaluation. The findings reveal that citizen participation is manifested through the submission of information, photographs, and videos related to various events occurring within the community. To maintain information quality, @infogarut implements editorial policies through content selection, source verification, fact-checking, and information credibility assessment prior to publication. The findings further indicate that citizen journalism contributes to accelerating the dissemination of local information and increasing public engagement in the news production process. Nevertheless, this practice continues to face challenges associated with information accuracy, verification procedures, and ethical responsibilities in digital content publication. This study confirms that collaboration between citizens and local digital media has strengthened participatory news production practices while simultaneously expanding public involvement within the digital information ecosystem.