Why do citizen 'journalists' get a bad rep?

by Jaqueta Abbey

What kind of citizen “journalism” blog would we be if we didn’t give voice to the other side of the citizen contribution argument? Read on to see some of the criticisms people have about contributions from citizens.

Citizens are not trained journalists

Many people have a problem with the fact that citizen journalists are called such when they have not been trained in a journalism school nor have any professional journalism experience.

With the term “journalist”, people make certain assumptions. Because someone is a “journalist”, he/she is all knowing and can validate any story with facts and primary sources. We know that they have taken themselves out of the story and written it objectively. We intuitively know that what they are telling us the truth because it is their duty to report the truth. Regular citizens usually don’t have access to this kind of information unless the situation involves them.

John C. Dorvak is a PCMag.com columnist who is the former editor and consulting editor for Infoworld. He has also contributed to various periodicals such as Forbes and the New York Times. In a 2006 article called “The Folly of Citizen Journalism”, he had this to say:

“Citizen journalism, to me, is like citizen professional baseball—it's just not practical. You can't play professional baseball just because you think the Seattle Mariners stink. You're not a good enough ballplayer. Yes, bloggers have been breaking news stories here and there, but it's usually because they amplify something that media professionals have already written about but that was ignored by the major media.”

You can read the full article here.

Credibility

How do we know if a citizen journalist is telling the truth? Part of the reason, citizens lack credibility is simply because they do not know or do not care to take the proper steps to double-check and triple-check their information.

I’m sure that a few actually do, but for the most part if not’s someone’s job on the line, or they are in a hurry to post something, they are not going to take the time necessary to make sure their information is verified. Also, I bet that due to the fact that these people are just citizens and not professional reporters, the people who could verify their facts probably won’t give them the time of day.

Citizens thought to be activists/subjective

There are those out there who have the belief that citizen journalists must have some kind of agenda. Why else would ordinary citizens be interested in creating news? It is true that there are people out there, using so-called citizen journalism blogs and websites to push their agenda, but that does not mean that everyone claiming to be a citizen journalist is doing so.

We all know it is hard to remain objective about an issue, and professional journalists are trained to put their opinions to the side to give an objective view of a story. Citizen journalists may not even think about this being an issue they need to address, or they might have thought they were presenting all sides to the story when actually they were not.

So can anything be done to boost the reputation of citizen journalism?

If part of the criticism is that citizen contributors are called journalists, what are alternatives to the title “citizen journalist”? As of late, people have been using terms such as “grassroots media”, “people’s media” and “participatory media”.

Also, why not train those interested in doing some reporting? One option is to set up journalism boot camps. The Society of Professional Journalists has actually implemented the Citizen Journalism Academy with the mission of helping “everyone wanting to practice journalism to do so accurately, ethically, and fairly.” These workshops feature segments such as Be Responsible: Exploring Ethics and Decision Making, Get to the Point: Reporting and Writing Basics, and Staying Out of Trouble: A Media Law Primer.

To learn more about the Citizen Journalism Academy, visit the website.

Perhaps with professional journalists teaching newcomers some of the expected standards, eventually people will be more inclined to accept citizen-reported news as an addition to professional news.