This article reports findings from two studies regarding the role citizen reporting plays in emergencies. Findings from first study, a content analysis of citizen reporting about the Haiti Earthquake, Gezi Park Protests (Istanbul), Xynthia Storm (Europe) and Boston Bombings, indicates that citizen reporters were predominantly engaging in reporting of straight news. Citizen reporters were more likely to report their own observations than reporting or summarizing information they gathered from mainstream news sources. Relatedly, we found that citizen reporters were more likely to give voice to alternative sources of information, like bystanders or witnesses of incidents, than sources, such as government representatives. However, we also found that use of alternative sources does not necessarily translate to providing viewpoints that may contextualize the events. Namely, we found that episodic frames, rather than thematic frames, were likely to be utilized by citizen reporters. The second study, online interviews with citizen reporters whose coverage was content-analysed in the first study, found that a sense of editorial independence and disenchantment with the mainstream media’s coverage of the incidents were the main sources of motivation for citizen reporters. Results also indicate that citizen reporters tend to adopt a ‘publish, then filter’ approach to reporting and fact-checking. Implications for information verification issues are discussed.

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Recent social movements, as exemplified by the informal organizations formed during and after the Occupy Movement in the United States and Gezi Park Protests in Turkey, are characterized by distrust towards institutional political bodies and hierarchical organizations (Boler et al. 2014). Also, the debate on the relationship between social movements and digital media technologies often highlights the opportunities that these technologies provide for ‘largely unfettered deliberation and coordination of action’ (Castells 2012). Scholars critical towards the concept argue that horizontal grassroots organizations may suffer from problems of continuity and formation of a durable movement (Calhoun 2013). This article aims to investigate the organizational characteristics and media practices of grassroots organizations that were established or mobilized following Gezi Park Protests, a nation-level social protest in Turkey. Drawing on participant observation of three grassroots social movement organizations in Istanbul ‐ Dogancilar Park Forum and Imrahor Garden; Macka Park Forum and Komsu Kapisi Association and Validebag Volunteers ‐ this analysis will aim to contextualize opportunities and obstacles associated with the horizontal structures of such movements. The article will particularly focus on the strategies that these organizations utilize to maintain the sustainability of the respective movements and approaches they employ in media and communication practices at a local level.