Citizen Journalists

Yesterday, as of this writing, I participated in a panel discussion on journalism in the 21st century. It is a fascinating topic and one, as a former reporter and a guy who loves starting each day with a newspaper or two that I personally find of great interest. The panel, which was part of a conference sponsored by the Virginia Association of Arts and Science Communicators, featured several communication scholars who, like me, used to work for a newspaper. Several times throughout our hour-long discussion the phrase "citizen journalist" was used. New to me, this is a label used to describe those people who pass along photos and/or report on or share story tips to others on the Internet.

One of the panelists viewed this recent phenomenon as a positive development in the evolution of journalism. He also went on to say it gave him great reason to feel optimistic about journalism's future because this trend represents a way of sharing information in a quick and broad way and demonstrates a greater engagement on the part of the public in the reporting of news. I wish I shared his optimism but I don't. While I applaud the sharing of information, what concerns me is the bulk of what these so-called citizen journalists are spreading seems to be rumors and celebrity-oriented tidbits rather than hard news. Additionally, these civilians often lack the time, inclination or base of knowledge to put what they are passing along into any kind of meaningful or even helpful context. In other words, they lack the training to do what professional reporters are supposed to be doing.

Thus, while a greater volume of information is being passed around thanks primarily to the Internet, I am concerned that so much of it is diluted and trivial as to compromise any meaningful benefit it might otherwise bring to an issue or a reader's knowledge base. Sadly, I do not see this trend subsiding. As more of us utilize the web as our primary source of information, I see us as a people being fed a greater volume of thin doses of so-called news. That, I fear, is not good for any of us. But as I write this I am at a loss as to what to do about it. I certainly do not want to prevent the efforts of these citizen journalists. Their actions are part of the social media revolution that is at the beginning of its historic arc.