Abstract

The use of digital media has expanded the opportunities for citizens to participate in the production of news. The paper investigates citizen journalism in extra-ordinary contexts, focusing on the L’Aquila earthquake. Through semi-structured interviews, it analyzes the motivations that pushed citizens to produce grassroots information. The findings highlight that citizens’ narrative was born from the desire to: a) contrast traditional media; b) document the ‘real’ condition of the city; 3) create a ‘glue’ for re-establishing the bonds broken due to the earthquake, online. Among the obstacles faced, the interviews point to strong fragmentation, lack of funding and poor visibility of content.