- March 31, 2006 • 3:02 pm PST
- + responses
Check out this essay on the divide between "mainstream journalists" and "citizen journalists." Columbia Journalism Professor Samuel Freedman argues that un-trained journalists are merely collectors of information. Sometimes, they can be helpful, but they are not capable of creating balanced, informed news like a trained professional journalist.
But is this really true? Clearly, citizen journalists are here, they're on the internet, and the mainstream media is noticing and using their work (see the recent flaps between the AP and RawStory, and between the AP and Talking Points Memo). On the other hand, there is no blog that you read with the same sense of security you get from a newspaper. There must be some balance that the polemicists on either side of this debate seem to be missing.
Via Romenesko
More From Good: Black, White, and Read All Over
More From Good: Wikipedia and Bernstein
But is this really true? Clearly, citizen journalists are here, they're on the internet, and the mainstream media is noticing and using their work (see the recent flaps between the AP and RawStory, and between the AP and Talking Points Memo). On the other hand, there is no blog that you read with the same sense of security you get from a newspaper. There must be some balance that the polemicists on either side of this debate seem to be missing.
Via Romenesko
More From Good: Black, White, and Read All Over
More From Good: Wikipedia and Bernstein
