Citizen Journalism is On the Case

One of the myriad projects gestating under the wing of
the inexhaustible Sooz, of recent front-page
fame, is a workgroup to
describe, explore and promote the concept of "Citizen
Journalism". What
exactly is a Citizen Journalist? Other than the starting point that they
are most decidedly NOT Professional Journalists, not much is know about
this elusive species.

In an attempt to address this issue and to contribute to Sooz’s effort,
we have been thinking about these questions, about what makes a Citizen
Journalist different from the other strange creatures constituting
the food chain of the news stream, and what a potential Citizen Journalist
should and shouldn’t aspire to. Here’s what we’ve come up with so far:

First, what the budding CJ should NOT try to do:

• Citizen Journalists cannot replace the traditional press as a source
  for history’s raw material. Instead they must augment and ameliorate
  conventional journalism, offering roe perspective, depth and humanity
  to the tone and commentary.

• Citizen Journalists cannot pretend to be neutral and unbiased. Reflecting
  the hallmarks of their origin in the Blogosphere, CJs are bold and
  biased, but wear their biases up front and center for all the world
  to see.

• Citizen Journalists cannot count on the backup of a highly trained
  and paid team of editors, fact-checkers and lawyers ready to back
  them
  up in a
  crisis
  or confrontation. Conversely, they cannot hide behind the anonymity
  of an organization.

• Citizen Journalists cannot take advantage of a network of state-of-the-art
  studios, cameras, equipment and in-house experts. Their entire
  operation is home-made, seat-of-the-pants, spare-time and intensely
  personal.

• Citizen Journalists do not have access to high-ranking officials,
  get invited to press conferences, speak personally and privately
  with high-profile
  news makers or get embedded with US military forces in Iraq.

• Because of the above, Citizen Journalists cannot be bought, bribed
  or threatened with loss of employment or access, or with promises
  of money
  and power. Of
  course, given the trickledown dynamic of the blogosphere, it is inevitable
  that players will try to influence or "buy" power bloggers. The recent
  controversy involving the Dean campaign’s relationship with certain
  bloggers is an early example of this. There are bound to be more.

But of course, this is nothing new and in no way different that the
way players, corporate or governmental, have been in bed with (i.e. screwing)
conventional journalists for decades. We need look no further than the
Bush administrations’ payments to Armstong Williams and other columists for examples of how this game
works.

So, given these limitations, what exactly can Citizen Journalism contribute
to our evolving media infrastructure? Is there enough of a need that
CJ can carve out a niche in the information ecosystem? Here are some
possibilities:

• Because of their ubiquity and distribution, Citizen Journalists will
  often be the first on the scene and provide eye-witness 1st person
  accounts of
  news events around the globe.

• Citizen Journalists can provide a diversity of opinion sorely lacking
  from the mainstream media. As anyone who has lived abroad in a
  country with a truly free press knows, a normal range of journalistic
  opinion
  makes the differences between CNN and FOX look like the differences
  between Greyhound and Peter Pan.

• Citizen Journalists can provide the insight that only a real human
  being whose life has been directly impacted by an event can give. Diametrically
  opposite to the "unaffected-unbiased" sham of the mainstream media
  this perspective holds that we cannot really understand any event
  outside
  of our personal experience without seeing how that event affects
  and is
  perceived
  by someone like us.

• Citizen Journalists can make connections the mainstream press misses.  By
  reading widely and collating and cross-referencing, the CJ
  can often generate insights by relating diverse sources and streams
  that would otherwise go unappreciated.

• Citizen Journalists can encourage and engage in discussions, critiques
  and dialogs, via comments and cross-postings, which the mainstream
  press has neither the time nor the format nor the inclination to include.

• Citizen Journalists can provide instant expert analysis.  With
  a potential data bank of millions of working experts in every imaginable
  field of human endeavor, the CJ can often confirm or reject news from
  the mainstream media faster than they can check on each other. The
  work of the font experts on the Dan Rather Texas Air National Guard
  letters is a case in point.

• Citizen Journalists can create a cumulative groundswell of coverage. Often
  more powerful than one or a few loud voices are hundreds or thousands
  of quieter voices raised in unison, especially if they are not clones
  of each other but individually distinct. The on-line Dean for President
  story is a good example of this.

• Citizen Journalists can keep a story alive that otherwise would disappear
  via the 24 hour news cycle. The strange case of Trent Lott eulogizing
  Strom Thurmon is the most quoted example.

• Citizen Journalists can, by following and cross-referencing individual
  mainstream media writers and stories, function as a much-needed oversight
  on these self-appointed guardians of public opinion and awareness. Logically,
  the mainstream media hate the idea of anyone checking up on them,
  pointing out their inconsistencies and biases, which is why they
  are so upset
  and parochial about the whole concept of Citizen Journalism. Although
  they don’t like to admit it or write about it, professional journalists
  in America today are a privileged class and
  increasingly feel removed from and superior to the average man in the
  street, the consumer of their product. The position and importance
  of the Fifth
  Estate in our society is incontrovertible, and enshrined in the very
  documents which give our democracy life. However, the role of the
  media as a check on governmental power has grown so complex and important
  that we must ask the question: Who will watch the watchers?

Of course, in the end, it is the marketplace which will decide wherever
there is a desire and demand for the Citizen Journalist in Brave New
World of total information access. People will vote with their modems
and their eyeballs, and, in the opinion of the Dowbrigade, it is those
who most successfully meld insight and entertainment who will have
the biggest impact and success in the future.