Framing: Week 9

While I have no doubt that citizen journalism with eventually have an impact of democracy, (and could argue that it’s already starting it) the question to comes to mind is one of reliability.  For political issues, many people turn to “professional” sources.  How will people begin to sift through the rumors and the truth in citizen journalism in relation to political matters?  Will there be a ton of conspiracy theories floating around, or will reports remain accurate?

Citizen journalists are typically those with access to technology, however, a significant portion of the United States are not in the financial position to have access to this technology.  Would the rise in citizen journalism cause a severe bias in agenda setting as the agenda would be set by those in better financial situations?  Would only having voices of certain socioeconomic statuses cause a slant in reporting?

Is it still technically citizen journalists if there are professional editors sifting through articles choosing what is posted or where things are posted?  Does this not opent the door to the problems with professional journalism that were the catalysts for citizen journalism to start with?

Tags: framing