Citizen journalism

Citizen journalists should not be ruled off limits

Emily Bell, The Guardian, Monday January 30, 2006

At a recent gathering of TV executives talking about news, the subject of seismic change in the industry cropped up. With rolling news channels opening and closing with the frequency of LibDem leadership nominations, one might have thought there were plenty of dominant industry themes to argue over. However, unusually, we all agreed that one of the key changes, if not the key change, over the past year has been the availability of news material from the public.

Four critiques of 'citizen journalism Martin Stabe, UKPG June 9, 2006

Broadly, there are four objections to the term “citizen journalism”. One objects to the word “journalism”; another objects to the word “citizen”. In between are two objections that the common usage of the term does not overlap with its empirical reality. One says the use of the phrase is overbroad; the other says that it is too narrow.

The bloggers and journalists are comrades-at-keyboards

Jeff Jarvis, The Guardian, Monday August 21, 2006

Bloggers don't think they'll replace reporters, they want to work in symbiotic bliss, amateur alongside professional, complementing each other's skills to expand the reach of the news. I call this networked journalism and I am seeing more examples of the two tribes coming together not to clash but to conspire.

Have You Got News For Us? Guradian, Nov 6, 2006

As Five News and the Sun launch campaigns to buy stories from the public, Owen Gibson looks at the rapid rise of user-generated content.

The silliest, and most destructive, debate in journalism

Let's quit arguing the merits of "mainstream" versus "citizen" journalism and instead work together on "better" journalism.

By Robert Niles, Online Journalism Review, Jan 3, 2007

Blogging Between the Lines Dana Hall, American Journalism Review, Dec06/Jan07

The mainstream media have fallen in love with blogs, launching them on everything from politics to life in Las Vegas to bowling. But does the inherent tension between the blogosphere’s anything-goes ethos and the standards of traditional journalism mean this relationship is doomed?