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While covering the Minneapolis ICE protests in January, NPR reporter Jasmine Garsd learned of a shooting incident and rushed to the scene where ICE Agents had killed Alex Pretti. A video of the fatal shooting, taken by a bystander, had already been shared online.  “I got there, and we're reporting, we're talking to people, we're seeing videos, and immediately our standards team is looking at these videos and looking into the veracity,” Garsd said during a recent panel discussion, The Rise of the Civic Documenter, hosted by and the Warren B. Rudman Center for justice, Leadership & Public service.    

Listen to the discussion.

Panelists discussed the challenges of navigating the onrush of online information produced by an engaged public equipped with recording devices.  At times, these bystanders, also known as citizen journalists or civic documenters, have captured historic events and moments, “fundamentally changing how the news is made and how those in power may act,” said moderator and NHPR senior reporter in his introduction. 

{Quotes in this piece have been edited slightly for clarity and brevity). 

Panelists included, immigration reporter with NPR; Melanie Plenda, co-organizer of the Civic Documenters program and director of the, a statewide nonprofit network of more than 20 local news, education, and community organizations; and attorney Greg Sullivan, president of the.

Todd Bookman, Melanie Plenda, Jasmine Garsd, Greg Sullivan

Soon after Alex Pretti was killed, government officials made claims about the incident that were contradicted by multiple videos deemed credible by news organizations. There was no evidence that Pretti had been brandishing a gun, for instance, when approached by federal agents.  “This is where a standards team or a fact-checking team comes in,”   Garsd said.  “I was able to confidently go on the air and say, this is the amount of times this man was shot, and that he was shot in the back. And that was so powerful and important,” she said. “I think it really illustrates this circle of citizen journalism, professional journalism, citizen journalism, professional journalism -- working in tandem.” 

Just weeks before Pretti’s death,  Renee Good was shot and killed by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale ICE deployment in Minnesota.  In the Good case, too, bystander videos analyzed by professional journalists contradicted the government’s account of the incident.  

Garsd described a climate of intimidation and violence created by federal agents in Minneapolis.  “It was Orwellian,” she said. “We were getting tear gassed,” she said. “ It was so disproportionate, the level of force being used. And then I would go to the hotel to file a story, and I would turn on CNN or I would turn on NBC, and I would see a press conference by either the White House or former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino talking about violent protesters, and I can unequivocally say that is not what we were seeing.”

Rudman Center executive director Anna Brown holds the mic as audience members ask questions during Justice & Journalism event.

Plenda defined citizen journalists in this way: “Someone who sees something happening that they feel is not being looked at, that’s happening sort of in the dark, that no one knows about. And they have a need to tell other people about it so that maybe there's some collective action.”

“Sometimes those folks are advocates.  Sometimes they're just concerned citizens, and they don't have a dog in the fight, and they just want their community members to know what's going on. I would say we have a lot of both in New Hampshire, and I think when there are communities that go uncovered, I think the citizen journalist is the one who takes the mantle onto their own shoulders to help educate and inform their community.”

Citizen journalists have the same protections under the First Amendment as professional journalists, said Greg Sullivan. “All of us, if we're in a place we have a right to be, we have a right to film whatever's going on, whether it's a sporting event or an arrest,” he said.  “Obviously no one should interfere with a law enforcement action, but so long as the person doing the filming is staying a reasonable distance — and that's to me the most important word in the law, is reasonableness — you don't want to get in the way, but you also don't want to be intimidated to the point where you're not able to accurately film what is happening.”     

Citizen journalists also help bolster a depleted news workforce, Plenda said.  “Because there are not that many reporters in the United States anymore, we need people who are on the ground seeing what's happening, who know the community, who know what's going on, to provide that level of information, “ she said.  In this interest, GSNC, in partnership with the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications and the New England First Amendment Coalition, trains community members to observe, document, and explain what happens in local public meetings across New Hampshire. For info, visit.

News organizations must also vet information obtained from citizen journalists.  “Our job then is take that information and find out the context, ask the questions,”  Plenda said.  This can include identifying AI-generated images, all of which can take time, slowing the dissemination of news.  But that delay can mean the difference between spreading misinformation and sharing trustworthy news.

“You want to have the scoop, the breaking news,” said Garsd. “Sometimes it's good to just sit on it and wait until you're sure. Maybe you'll lose out to someone less responsible than you, but in the long run I think you will be more trusted,” Garsd said.  “There have been multiple times where I was so ready to hit publish on this story, but I'm just not quite there yet with the facts. Maybe that puts me a little bit behind someone else, but I also know that with listeners and readers, I have a reputation, and that's invaluable.”