Scott Lucas, from Enduring America, recently brought his readers’ attention an article in the New York Times about how Citizen Journalism needs to be praised for its ability to bring the world stories that the mainstream media outlets are either incapable or uninterested in reporting. Here is my comment.
Thank you, Mr. Stetler, for giving citizen journalism the credit it deserves, and thank you Mr. Scott Lucas for being a role model for citizen journalists everywhere.
There is a consistent trend in articles that criticize social media. First of all, most criticism of social media that is done by main stream media usually points out the obvious flaws in the genre. Those who use Twitter regularly, or rely on blogs for information, are fully aware of how to use social media responsibly to compensate. Unlike people who watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh, most people on Twitter don’t believe everything that they read. Which brings me to my second point; most of the people criticizing social media, like Twitter, don’t use it, often because they’re part of the mainstream media and social media sites are a direct threat to their bottom line.
Does anyone remember the 2008 election? The best source of polling data and analysis was arguably http://www.fivethirtyeight.com, and who could forget what Ariana Huffington or Matt Drudge have contributed to political news. Major media outlets have always relied on experts or witnesses from the field, but with the advent of technology those witnesses and experts don’t need CNN to get their voice out into the fray. Mainstream media is simply jealous. My response: try actual reporting, instead of lobbing shots at bloggers who are doing the reporting for you, and see where that gets you.
Read my previous article, “Journalism in the Twitter Age“
Posted in Foreign Policy, Iran, Middle East
One Million Voices for Iran