Citizen Journalism, Good?

One day you are out and suddenly you see an accident happening in front of you. What would you do?

A good citizen would: call 911 and/or try to help.

But , What if you: simply did not have time OR had a previous bad experience?

These days, even when you try to offer your help, you get in trouble. It is important to reach out to help with good intentions and hopeful results. Still, just by being a witness, you could end up in an investigation. The most you can do in a critical situation is to call 911.

Citizens have duties towards them selves and each other.

Now, what if you were asking for trouble?

"asking for trouble" , bare with me as I elaborate further.

3 months ago, our communication professor assigned a reading for our next class. Among the readings, there was one that I thought was very interesting. That reading was on Citizen Journalism.

When I first read the title of "Citizen Journalism" , I thought to my self: doing what journalists do but without the job title. This can be dangerous.

Remember the tech massacre virginia?

Some students wanted to get quick shots and videos from their phones to help out by covering the scenes. Imagine how risky and dangerous that would be. Now, imagine if you were a journalist who does that for a job to make a living.

Not any person whose job title does not include the description of journalist is simply qualified to report on news. Even if he/she had the means (camera, cell phone, etc...) AND even if the story they are witnessing could be priceless.

Practicing citizen journalism can be risky and dangerous and more importantly, it is a trust.

CNN launched a new site on the internet that it called iReport. Basically, any any any one with access to the internet can post any any any report.

You can imagine what kinds of reports were published although eventually, taken down. What is the point of letting those kinds of reports get published in the first place? What happened to credibility?

People misuse CNN's iReport section because CNN has the credibility. So if they publish a title like: Steve Jobs had a heart attack or even something like IBM filed for bankrupcy.

Well, what is the effect of these falsified news?

Aside from it being not true, it is a lie and a shameless scare on the web sites that allowed the false posts to take place. Monetary loses in the stocks of those companies involved. Intangible loss and destruction of reputation that took years to build.