iJournalists Are Coming (Real Ones)

July 9, 2007 10:29 AM | Written by Scott Schneider

Much has been written about the effects of internet technology on the news and the growing phenomenom of citizen journalism. There are books on the subject, sites explaining in great detail what it is, sites dedicated to tracking as many of these initiatives as possible, and even websites about how to introduce citizen journalism into your traditional media outlet. And this writing only compliments the established citizen journalist sites that exist such as Oh My News and Back Fence. And whether you are for the movement or against it, it's is hard to ignore the influence it is having.

Currently many of the major news organizations are trying to integrate citizen journalism components and give their traditional sites this grassroots outlet. Organizations like MSNBC and CNN are creating areas on their site for "citizens" to submit photos and stories. But will this shift truly establish a new form of online news or will news consumers continue to be loyal to the major news outlets and professional journalists that they trust and recognize?

There are two things that point to the latter.

First, with the advent of this new stream of "news" stories, comes a growing national educational movement about what is news and what isn't. The Knight Foundation recently gave a $1.7 M grant to teach undergraduates how to evaluate credibility of news. This is the country's first university level news literacy program and it will help a new generation of news consumers discern what is a legitimate news source and what is not. Just as some people might cringe at the thought of "citizen police" and "citizen doctors" to augment what tradtional police and doctors do (that would basically be "vigilantes" and "back alley doctors"), an educated public might soon not be comfortable with the concept of a "citizen journalist".

The second is that the iPhone came out last week. This might seem like a non-sequitor, but this new class of device is significant. Most citizen journalists today are well motivated and technically savvy (enough to gather images and content and assemble and post stories fairly easily). In many ways they have been more nimble and adept than their professional journalist counterparts. But what the iPhone begins to do is combine journalist functions into a streamlined interface and easy to use device. The days where Lois Lane grabs a notebook and shoves a pencil behind her ear are already long over. But soon she won't even have to bring Jimmy Olsen along. It is a matter of time (and some iterations of the hardware) before traditional reporters will be completely autonomous and set up to get the facts, get the photos (and video), write, send and file their story with a single device.

And when this next generation of traditional journalists are trained and armed with untraditional tools, we will see a gradual shift back to the major news outlets, who will be all the wiser for this citizen journalist movement.

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