Hopes for Citizen Journalism

I hope that citizen journalism will continue freely, openly and without any potential of repressive surveillance or governmental control in the future. When citizen journalism becomes a stronger form of media, I don’t think it will replace mainstream media in giving news to the public. Mainstream media will continue to give news. As long as it is liable for giving “truth,� people will use mainstream news as a source, whether or not they use citizen journalism as an additional source. (There is some talk about having citizen journalists being legally responsible, just like professional journalists, in some aspects). My main point is that I have not seen new media replace old media. New media have simply augmented old media. For example, when video came on the market, people and businesses were worried that the cinema industry would go out of business. It hasn’t. People are speculating that there may be an end to books due to the rise of the Internet and multimedia. I’m sure that books will continue to be published.

So, whether I trust citizen journalism more than mainstream media would depend on the particular blogger and the topic of discussion. Some bloggers write more responsibly than others. I’m sure that other students can post links of their favorite sources of citizen journalism.