I know traditional journalists sigh at the notion of Citizen Journalism (Read: Free).  The idea of pure amateurs reporting the world as they see fit.  No fact checking, no scrutiny, no authenticity – it’s a world turned upside down – a world based on innuendo, rumor and lies.  It would mark the end of the world.

The reality is that Citizen Journalists and traditional media can work together – breaking news and reporting stories together.   The paper can be the truth filter, whilst having access to a massive network of field reporters.

The Globe and Mail is one of growing number of media outlets that has embraced using the resources of the general public in helping break stories – this includes adding twitter feeds, posted videos, and images.

From the G20 summit riots to the Ontario Earthquake – the collective web of armature reporters help report stories in a real-time manner unimaginable just a decade ago.  In turn news organizations win by being able to see what’s the trending story, where the story is breaking – what is important to focus resources on.

The G20 stories, and all the assorted blogs covering the event create a pool of content “real” media organizations can utilize.  This content tells the story that would have been impossible to do with out having access to infinitive resources.

So citizen journalists play roll of news gatherer – and the traditional media acts as the filter.   The loop is complete when news organizations fail to cover stories the masses want reported – by turning to blogs, twitter, Facebook, comments sections or any other means to express their opinion about a current affairs event.

This article has not been fact checked in any way, shape or form.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Citizen journalism not making up for loss of local newspapers (arstechnica.com)
• Citizen Journalism. Bah. (fakeplasticsouks.blogspot.com)
• Citizen Journalists are Back! (web2.sys-con.com)