ADD CITIZENS, STIR

Mainstream media isn't going away anytime soon (see post below), but it has to change and "citizen journalism" is increasingly seen as one of the ways to bring change about. Steve Outing is a big proponent. In a column for Editor & Publisher, he writes:

"Citizen journalism" is one of those buzzwords that's hot in our industry right now. (You also may have heard it called "participatory" or "open-source" journalism.) While some journalists might hope it's a fad that will go away soon, I don't think that's likely. Inviting the public to participate in online news publishing by contributing articles and photographs is likely here to stay -- indeed, it might allow journalism institutions to renew some of the public trust they've lost in recent years by inviting the public in instead of keeping them outside the ropes.

Outing points to the similarity behind citizen journalism and what's traditionally happened in small, weekly newspapers, which have relied on contributions from the community for decades. He calls it micro-level content and lays out ways larger media organizations can add it to what they're doing.

Worth a read, but get to it before it disappears behind the E&P subscription firewall.
10:41:17 PM  LINK TO THIS POST  

WHY MAINSTREAM MATTERS

For all the muscle-flexing by bloggers following the U.S. presidential elections, the idea that blogging and related internet enterprises will replace mainstream media is a pipe dream. The internet may — and should — change mainstream media, by continuing to undermine weaknesses and force much-needed change. Bloggers, podcasters and others taking full advantage of new technologies and greater reach, may play a major role in a new mix of media.

But for a good example of why mainstream media will continue to matter, take a stroll through recent postings at The Scoop, a web site that tracks investigative journalism.

Some recent entries:

• LA Times revelations that the city's Department of Water and Power spent more than $400,000 to help bolster the mayor's image.
• A Greensboro News & Record series that ties more than 70 per cent of major crime in that city to crack cocaine.
• Eric Nalder's Seattle Post-Intelligencer report on how owners of luxury yachts are taking advantage of extensive tax loopholes.

This is the type of reporting that (with very rare exceptions) bloggers aren't doing. It requires a great deal of time, and skill in finding and assessing documents and sources, and bringing together disparate information from a multitude of sources. In a lot of cases, it benefits from the power of brand (a well-respected or at least widely-read publication) to open doors.

There are bloggers who have all those skills (and all the drive needed to carry out long-term investigative projects), but the mainstream media has another benefit — the finances needed to keep body and soul together over the long haul.
12:39:30 PM  LINK TO THIS POST