Response Post for Week 9

To recap, the agenda setting theory states that mass media news has a large influence on what audiences read and know as news. Mass media news organizations are setting the agenda for what they believe to be newsworthy. Goode states, “‘Citizen journalism’ refers to a range of web-based practices whereby ‘ordinary’ users engage in journalistic practices. Citizen journalism includes practices such as current affairs-based blogging, photo and video sharing, and posting eyewitness commentary on current events” (1288).  Therefore, Citizen journalism affects the agenda setting theory because no longer are audiences influenced by just the mass media newsworthy stories. Citizens can blog about news, read every angle of a story, and choose the news stories they find interesting. So, audiences aren’t just reading what USA today finds newsworthy, they’re reading what they find interesting and newsworthy, as well. “The democratic appeal of online news lies in the prospect of alleviating that scarcity and the additional democratic appeal of citizen journalism, more specifically, lies in the prospect of citizens themselves participating in the agenda-setting process,” says Goode. Examining this relationship between citizen journalism and the agenda setting theory helps explain the “implication that social news holds for democracy and the public sphere” (1289).

Are citizen journalist websites here to stay or could they been seen as merely a fad because they have no actual original content, just the reproduction of other websites?  This question could be viewed from many different angles, with many different opinions. Personally, I think that citizen journalism is here to stay. I think audiences now have an awesome opportunity to make a balance between the mass media and the citizen journalism articles. I hope that the future brings a well-balanced medium between the two. It would be a good idea for a citizen journalism website to first post the news story or information and then let readers post opinions, link to blogs, videos, and photos.

My last question dealt with a similar dilemma of balance. Where is the line between citizen and professional journalism? Today, most every professional journalist also has a blog, are those considered citizen or professional? Furthermore, many citizen articles can seem professional. I know that I have been hyperlinked to other articles that end up being non-professional and I had no idea until doing some extra research. Another great questions is whether or not it really matters if we know the difference? I think it does. It is important to know whom your author is and if the information is fact based or opinion of facts. On the contrary, some may believe that get a wide variety of information is just as important, even if it is most opinion.