Citizen Journalism and the Future of Journalism, Jennifer Carbert

The Internet has caused the world to blur the lines between citizen journalists and working journalists. In this blog for clarity purposes we will call the traditional newspaper or broadcasting reporter a working reporter, and a citizen who takes interest in world events and posts blogs about subjects online a citizen journalist.

Arianna Huffington, in a conference in Washington DC said,

"The contributions of citizen journalists, bloggers, and others who aren't paid to cover the news are constantly mocked and derided by the critics of new media who clearly don't understand that technology has enabled millions of consumers to shift their focus from passive observation to active participation -- from couch potato to self-expression."

Some Journalists feel threatened by citizen journalist. They feel as though citizens are taking over the news business and not accurately reporting the news. Working Journalists believe all citizen journalism is riddled with personal opinion and bias and readers will not be able to discern the difference between editorials parading as news, and well researched news articles. This may be true, some readers may not be able to tell the difference between solid research and opinion laced articles, but many people know the difference and feel more included in the news process when they can contribute.

Huffignton was explaining that technology has changed so therefore the news business must change to keep up. Sites such as AllVoices.com creatively allow readers to interact with the news and write stories, but they also include articles from trusted, long-established new rooms. Citizens can contribute and cover the news working journalists are not informed of are simply do not have time or space to cover. Citizen journalism has opened up the field, no longer are journalists the strong gate-keepers of information, but they are simply the trusted sources used to verify information given by others.

Blogs and citizen journalism are under close watch by the working journalist; however, due to the open content of the internet working journalists and news rooms cannot control what content is posted, or viewed. Instead of complaining about the inconstancies of citizen journalists, working journalists should accept the fact that they are allowed to write whatever they want. Keeping on top of these articles and following up on unknown stories is a great source of information. Verifying information, and balancing possible biased articles from citizen journalists will also give the working journalist more credibility in the eyes of the reader.

Note: Image from http://sajadi4.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/wethemedia1.jpg