Response – Post 8

This week one of my questions addressed the idea of citizen journalists as concept creators and the idea of re-telling/re-crafting stories versus simply disclosing them. If we accept the fact that citizens can in fact be news creators and distributors, then do we hold them to the same standards as professionally trained and employed journalists?

After this week’s discussions, I feel like citizen journalism is a force to be reckoned with and that traditional media is going to have to start accepting this new format of news and distribution. With technological innovations influencing the news industry, we’re continuing to see a change in the gatekeeping processes. No longer does news stream through professionally recognized outlets, but it now flows through informal channels and websites and is reaching mainstream audiences.

With this current news flow, I think it’s only fair that we begin to hold citizen journalists to the same standards of credibility and accuracy as traditional news media. If citizens can shoot and edit footage, write an article or find other ways to distribute news to the general public, than there should be a place for them to look up how to accurately write a news story online as well. Simple research will show citizen journalists how to put a good story/package together for the public. If citizens are indeed going to call themselves journalists than they MUST adhere to the same standards and practices that professionally trained reporters do, otherwise they are just misleading the public and losing individual credibility.

Tags: citizen journalism, credibility