RECENTLY, A country that's well-known for its terrorism activities and is said to be the most dangerous nation to live in - turned out to be a hot spot for Citizen Journalists . Pakistan has come up with a new Citizen Journalism portal Hoshmedia.com. One of the reasons behind the creation and sustainability of this site is rising Internet penetration, and the fact that the traditional media in Pakistan are also utilizing stories of Citizen Journalists. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) recently revealed the statistics of internet usage in Pakistan that has risen from 26,611 in 2005 to 1,656,800 in September 2011, and is expected to grow to more than 20 million by the end of 2012.

The founder of Hoshmedia website and Pakistani journalist, Sahar Habib Ghazi, on the website says that she is creating a new platform for citizens, students and bloggers to report thoughts, photos and experiences, and share it with the world. The concept, as such, is not new as there are many news portals these days in South Asia working on the same concept as merinews.com, ibn live’s citizen journalism section, groundreport, and allvoices - all daily bringing to fore new issues that are generally neglected by conventional media.

Talking about general people turning Citizen Journalist and reporter, there is a the example of Satendra Jabegu, who grew up illiterate and while doing a job in a library, is now a famous Citizen Journalist in a small district of Nepal, as per Nepal Times. Almost 12 years ago, in 1998, Jabegu was hired by the READ Community Library and Resource Center at Jana Kalyan, in Barbote, Ilam, as a Librarian and did a lot of research work on study assignments related to journalism. From there on, his career of journalism started, and he went on to be appointed as Chairperson of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, and Editor of three local newspapers. Indeed, it’s true that where there is a will there is a way for Citizen Journalists across the world.