Citizen Journalists: What to do with them?

For Article: Wikipedia Founder Lukewarm on Citizen Journalism?
Posted by Jane Abao 11/17/2006 12:16:18 AM

There are many angles from where citizen journalism can be looked at. There are the writers or reporters who can write but do not have access to traditional news outlets unless they pay, therefore blog their stories or send them to citizen journalism sites or communities. With this kind of people, you do not have problems about content treatment that Jimmy Wales is up against. They know their structure. They know about target readership and about communication effects.

Definitely, we don’t have to pigeonhole citizen journalists as of one mould - as lesser individuals below the quality of traditional reporters

I am with iTalkNews.com, a Citizen Journalism site where I do most of the editing. I find encouragement that some of reporters (mostly the Indians) do have some social consciousness that I do not find in traditional reporters. Even their pictures show that they are carefully taken to project social relevance, and that these pictures have messages to tell, be it indicating a rural development, calling for change, showcasing government neglect, depicting social evils, suggesting a solution, or merely projecting truth in what obtains in society. Some of these action-oriented stances are also found in some stories submitted. What they do is worth encouraging.

The problem is that in this site - as in other sites - there are so-called reporters who take advantage and write about their products [advertisements] dressed as news. And well too often, the site’s personality as citizen journalism vehicle is watered down. There is no way to control this syndrome but to touch their conscience through editorials if they have conscience at all.

I think Jimmy Wales’ over-all impression comes from the droves of unschooled citizen journalists flooding the media outlets nowadays. It does not mean that these people are useless. They can be directed. It only takes some people - with commitment -to help them out.