Journalists get a bad rap. They have the reputation of being elitist liberals and not being able to connect with the common folk. Well, journalists have heard these complaints cries (or at least read about them on blogs - it's pretty hard to hear cries of the People from the inside of newsrooms) and have been doing something about it.
As of late, journalists have turned over the duties and responsibilities of the fourth estate to the common man and woman by deputizing them citizen journalists.
Experience nor expertise matter when it comes to reporting the news. J-school? Pssh! Now, all that is needed to report the news is a cellphone camera, an Internet connection and the simple coherency to type in English. Further proves that anyone can report the news.
For journalists, citizen journalism couldn't come at a better time. It's kinda hard to report the news when you are on an unpaid furlough or staff reductions have made it so you are doing the work of an entire news desk. Journalists like citizen journalism so much they are willing ordered to train people off the street to do their jobs, like what they did at the Oakland Press.
Now don't confuse citizen journalists with bloggers. While bloggers simply shoplift the news reported by hardworking journalists and regurgitate it for their site, citizen journalists are just simply replacing those hardworking journalists and supplying newspapers with free labor.
And everyone is getting on the bandwagon. Even CNN has its "iReport," which basically makes national news out of YouTube videos. So instead of paying for a news crew to cover a plane crash, a flood or the demise of the country's economic system, news ad-generating organizations can now use the "reporting" of the "Hey, I was there" guy.
Soon, instead of paying for the expertise of analysts like New York Time's Paul Krugman, newspapers can go cheap and source expert opinions and answers from its audience. Hey, it works for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
Doctors, lawyers, even hairstylists need licenses to conduct business. But not for journalists. Everyone is invited.
