民间记者，台湾称公民记者，为公众传媒以外的人，或曾经为公众传媒的记者，但已经脱离公众传媒，以独立身份对事件做出报导和评论的人。这个风气沿自博客和民间独立媒体的盛行。

一般市民可以在自己的博客中撰写独立于主流传媒的报道，同时，网上的独立媒体亦会鼓励市民成为民间记者，以报导形式介入社会诸多议题。民间记者采访的动力来自自己的生活，兴趣和对社会的关怀，不计报酬，是一种自我的实践，并透过采访进入他人的生活处境，了解别人的状况和思想。所以民间记者的新闻所触及的议题多种多样，写作时亦不会扮客观中立，而是带有感性和主观的色彩。

The concept of citizen journalism (also known as "public", "participatory", "democratic", "guerrilla" or "street" journalism) is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information." Similarly, Courtney C. Radsch defines citizen journalism "as an alternative and activist form of newsgathering and reporting that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to shortcomings in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism." Jay Rosen proposes a simpler definition: "When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another."