Welcome one and all to Sam's Spin, your direct link to the fascinating world of CMNS 3420. This week heralded the beginning of the presentation era, with group one presenting a thoroughly informative account of the citizen journalist phenomenon. The group highlighted key issues such as the increasing prominence of the citizen journalist, who, enabled by new media technologies and opportunities are fast becoming a recognised source of news. This fascinating new breed journalists included the bloggers, tweeters and Johnny on the spots with readily available resources to capture news on the ground as it happens. Discussion quickly turned to the nature of the citizen journalist as a legitimate news source, and whether the blogger uprising could ever hope to rival the established media heirachy. The Drudge Report and Twitter were cited as examples of the way new media is enabling the Average Joe to make his thoughts known to the world at large, and how these technologies enable the immediate spread of news as it happens through the conduit that is a citizen journalist. Indeed the Drudge Report (http://www.drudgereport.com/) is a fine example of the way one citizen journalist's voice was heard, and the ability of such a person to command a certain respect in the journalistic world. The website has grown into a fully blown news site, and Drudge himself earns $5000 in revenue through advertising on his popular site.
I suppose the key questions that arise from today's class is what is in fact the place of the citizen journalist in a constantly evolving media climate? Can a citizen journalist have the same authority as a professional? How do we define a citizen journalist? Are they just any person who witnesses an event, or do they have to create a conventional journalistic account of the event before they are pronounced as 'journalists'?
Essentially, the citizen journalist is fast becoming an important source of breaking news in contemporary media. However, while they may provide fast, concise and shallow representations of events, it is up to professional journalists to dig beneath the surface and develop these stories on a deeper, more accurate and more accessible format. Certainly citizen journalists are important, however it is unlikely that they recieve the same level of respect and trust from the public that they vest in established media sources. The citizen can in some instances transcend their status and attain the rank of 'journalist' in exceptional circumstances, when they are able to convey events in a journalistically appropriate manner through a recognised medium.
That's all for now, stay tuned for more enlightened views from your favourite cmns blogger, me.
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