Katie Couric vs. Citizen Journalism

Th news is an important aspect of everyone’s life. It is the only thing that informs us of what is going on outside of our front door and beyond. When I was a kid, I couldn’t care less about the news, but as I grew older and became more aware of a world outside of my bubble, I soon found myself paying attention to the news.

I know journalists can pass along the wrong information, or that someone has their hand in what is considered to be important news, but it’s impossible to wake up in the morning and take a brisk walk around the globe to see what is going on for myself. So, I have to rely on the t.v., radio, and Internet for those stories.

Now, Axel Burns, Walter Bender, and Cass Sunstein have all written about people contributing to the news, creating alternative means of news reporting and developing the citizen journalist. The common person is now taking the reporting of news into their own hands and attempting to fill in the gaps left by the professionals. My only problem is that now we not only have to filter through the reports of the professionals, but we have to filter through the “facts” of hundreds of others. We have trained ourselves for decades to interpret the journalist’s B.S. and to read between the lines, but how can we be certain that the new citizen journalists are accurate too? And are we now going to be inundated by news that has no relevance to anyone?

Again, we find ourselves on the fronteir of something new brought about by the changes of technology. So, we need to find a way to educate the reader and the citizen journalist on the responsibilities, integrity, and accuracy of the news that is being pumped into the system. I trust Katie Couric. It’s all about the eyes, and I can’t see the eyes of those writing on the Internet.

~ by Cait on October 10, 2007.