Based on anthropological perspective, this study considers citizen journalists as participatory observers who have long participated in a certain community, namely, the native anthropologists in the field. Through in-depth interviews, this study offers research concerning citizen journalists' own reflection and explores how they become a citizen journalist and form their journalist ideology. The result indicates that the degree of community identification is the key factor of citizen journalists’ journalistic ideology and professional roles as citizen journalists. This study categorizes two types of ideology: participant’s ideology and observer’s ideology. Their differences are shown in interpersonal relations within the community, language, frequency of ordinary participation, narrative, standing point, and responsibility of their reports. In addition to empowerment, the intimacy of interpersonal relations between journalists and news sources also affects citizen journalists’ news philosophy, strategies, and practices.