Citizen Journalism, Rejuvinated

In the wake of citizen-mediated news events as the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the London train bombings, Senator George Allen's political suicide, the Virginia Tech massacre, the real question is why anyone would still wonder about the possibility, much less the efficacy, of so-called 'citizen journalism.'

There is a huge potential for citizen journalism, only need is to shift the pattern and create trends that will revolutionize the whole communication industry. Why can't it, It’s all sorts of micro-local content that is outside the economic constraints of the journalism coverage parameters. It includes meetings, festivals, social gatherings and "stuff" that people in the community care dearly about. Today, and in the future, citizen journalism will have to do far more with a lot less.

Why not turn avid and talented readers into citizen journalists? That is the objective to be aimed and below are listed the trends to follow those objectives:

1. Citizen Journalism will begin to tap into citizens as extensions of their local coverage. The reports will point an editor who will review content to make sure it’s fit to print.

2. It will develop an ecosystem using a product such as iUpload  to allow individuals to develop content for the reports. This platform contains a workflow engine so the citizen journalists can be tightly integrated into the reporting process. There are many permutations of this scheme.

3. Citizen journalists Websites will emerge to build out community newspaper, reporter etc solely built on the talent of local writers, photographers, Videobloggers and Podcasters. Some of these sites will employ a workflow process and a template to ensure continuity; others will just go free form and post individuals’ contributions.

Moreover the trend will include a model that will combine the talents of topic experts throughout the web with those who have a knack for aggregating and editing their material to satisfy an audience. Citizens will be customers, reporters will be experts, and editing will be news outlets’ core competency.

 “Expert journalism is future, not because it is good for journalists but because it is good for news consumers.”

I have to tell you, it’s really cool to participate in this citizen journalism trend. It’s amazing the number of people who have something to say or are willing to jot a few notes about an issue of local interest. As citizen journalism get further away from being to afford micro-local coverage (hyperlocal journalism, so to speak), and the big Medias Titans (Yahoo, MSN, Google) take an interest in local content, the greater would be the impact.