The Failure Of Citizen Journalism
Publish2 has a post up about the rumored heart attack suffered by Steve Jobs and how CNN’s iReport and other citizen journalism outlets can be gamed and hurt the credibility of all:
When we first conceived of Publish2 as a platform exclusively for journalists, we worried that we would take a lot of flack for trying to define who a journalist is at a time when that definition is expanding. But we realized that our “velvet rope” is really about what we want to keep OUT, i.e. covert PR, undisclosed marketing, and SPAM. That’s why rather than a definition we opted for a set of editorial standards.
The issue with citizen journalism is not about who is qualified or smart enough to be a journalist. It’s about TRUST and TRANSPARENCY. It may not be brain surgery, but (dis)information in the wrong hands does have the potential to do real harm. There’s a reason why journalism has developed standards for reporting, sourcing, fact checking, and accuracy.
It’s because these standards protect people.
The same applies not only to open systems like CNN’s iReport or Digg but blogging in general. Anyone can do it and anyone can create an aura of credibility under a false name and false pretenses with the intent of gaming the system and ultimately harming someone or a cause. Trust and transparency are key to legitimatizing a forum, but it’s going to take a lot of gatekeeping and cleaning up to ensure the cream rises to the top.
