evaluating:Your Guide to Citizen Journalism: Rob Smethurst

In an article by Mark Glaser, he discuses the purpose of citizen journalists. This article does seem to have a bias toward citizen journalists taking the reins of the realm of journalism. He seems to be mostly interested in showing that the news agency's need the citizen journalist in their arsenal. The information provided does seem to be somewhat accurate as far as amateur journalism is concerned, however not up to date.The article is aimed at a mass audience, and is designed to inform them.

The value of the site is good for a jumping of point for people that are interested in citizen journalism. It provides a fair view of terms and history, but because it is not current there is a chance that a lot of the information is out of date.

The references provided at the end of the article sound good, but some are no longer functioning.

The author is a writer for PBS, and has written many articles for them.

Picture of Mark Glaser

Evaluating the Institute for Citizen Journalism Website, Maxwell Rausch

This was a story posted on the Institute of citizen Journalism's website in 2007: Canada set to extridite native Tuchone to the US.



Is this site reliable?



The mission of the site itself is to promote citizen journalism and provide support for citizen journalists: no product or ideology is being pitched, beyond the ideals of journalism itself. There is no predeterminedaudience, the story is available as a matter of interest. The author's name, Rex Weyler, is clearly visible beneath the headline, which in itself is a link to his credentials.



The story is formatted and presented as a hard news story, not fitting for a book or a journal. The site provides the date the article was published as well as the occurences of the events themselves. While this provides more than enough information to google the topic and verify the facts, links to other sources are not readily provided. it should also be noted the article is also out of date, although the story may still ahve all the information pertinent at the time the story was relevant.


The site is independently run ,with no allegiances to other organizations. It is a national site, and provides stories for readers and resources for journalists across Canada. Moreover, the author has no invested interest in the topic, besides as a concerned citizen and human rights activist. Even so, he still manages to write without bias.



The transparency of the site and its writers makes the ICJ a reliable source. Image depicting: John Graham.