Well if Anderson Cooper says it's ok...

"I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University." -Bill Buckley

Citizen journalism is an interesting and, at times, controversial concept. It's rather simple, by nature as it means citizens capturing and reporting news on their own. No frills, no expensive equipment, no editors. Just Joe Blow whipping out his iPhone when something newsworthy happens.

Citizen journalism really took off with the onset of "new media." With easily accessible recording devices and simple to use sites on the internet, capturing and sharing news became something everyone could do. Citizen journalists have sprung up all over the world and are quickly growing in numbers. They come in all shapes and sizes and report their news through a variety of outlets.

Where is Citizen Journalism?

Citizen journalists use many outlets to publish the news they find. Millions of people have blogs that they share news and opinions on. Others upload home videos of events or interviews onto sites like YouTube. Citizens can also upload reference material onto sites like Wikipedia and share information with the world.

One major outlet for citizen journalists is Twitter. With the ability to make news blurbs instantly Twitter has been seen recently as a place to find breaking news straight from the source. A recent example of this is the plane crash in the Hudson river. Before any news outlets heard about the story, it was already uploaded on Twitter by an onlooker and being spread around the internet.

Can I believe it?

Naturally many people, especially formal news outlets, find citizen journalism controversial. While some can say that citizens offer an unbiased, unfiltered opinion of the events and people around them, many would argue that news from untrained amateurs is unreliable and potentially not factual. I think that with any from of news we should always double check the facts and consider the source. Just like I would question MSNBC’s take on the Republican National Convention, I would be skeptical about my neighbor’s blog on the war in Iraq.

I think that for some things citizen journalism is appropriate. News photos shot from camera phones or an amateur poll about new movies coming out would be perfectly acceptable. If I want an explanation of the new stimulus package or the state of affairs in China, I would feel more comfortable hearing it from a venerable news outlet though. I think that citizen journalists lack the proper training to accurately portray a news story of great importance. Not to say that citizens can’t voice their opinion, but I certainly wouldn’t take someone’s blog as the “end all say all” on an issue.



Even though it’s important to fact check and consider the source of news, I still think the citizen journalism is pretty cool. The idea of ordinary citizens sharing news instantly with people all over the globe is truly remarkable. Moreover, Anderson Cooper gives citizen journalism the thumbs up, and nothing is cooler than what Anderson Cooper deems as alright.