Open journalism is a type of journalism that involves an active role of the audience in creating and curating news on open-source Internet platforms. This activity is focused on the interaction of traditional media organizations and independent media with socially active citizens and assumes that the public can not only receive news, but also participate in its production. In the article, the author, based on the theory of democratic participation, highlights the reasons for the audience's increasing interest in open journalism, considers examples of the implementation of open journalism ideas from different angles: anonymous exposé practices on the WikiLeaks resource, media activities of "people's" authors on the open-source Wikinews resource, and open journalism in partnership with professional journalism on the OhmyNews resource. The risks and prospects for the development of a relatively new practice are analyzed in the context of the evolution of the media system and its theoretical understanding.