Summative- New Journalism

When talking about citizen journalism, the main issue that rises is most people aren't actually participating, and if they are, the validity of the content is lost. The feedback I recieved followed this notion, as the first person said, he was more of a consumer than a producer. Social media provides us (people with access) the opportunity to comment and say what they want on news stories, which takes away from the journalists jobs who strive on being trustworthy and respectable. I feel, along with the second person commenting, that there is no real harm in sharing your opinion on events. We live in a place where everyone has the right to be heard equally, even if it is just how they feel about a news story. As long as people are aware of whose posting what, there is no harm. As colin (first person) said in his blog, and I agree with, in the end it comes down to money, which a lot of the topics in this class relate to. Twitter now has accounts for major newspapers, people have the news so easily accessible and at their fingertips. Which is convenaint for the "tweeters" but they are providing this in hopes that they click on the link, leading them to their website with their content. Technology, as mentioned isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so I agree that politicians will start using this to their advantage, as the second person said, we just need to be aware of the "forces at play". As social media progresses and people become more comfortable with it, perhaps we will see more producers commenting on events and putting their two cents into a topic. As for now, both consumers and the people providing the information seem to be happy, we get news quickly (what this generation is about) and they get their money.

When the bombing in Boston happened, I saw on twitter and Facebook people uploading pictures of possible suspects and men on rooftops, this is just an example of how, like Hermida (2012) said social media provides more eye witnesses in a crisis. I found this interesting, but like anything, going agaisnt the tradtional form of things is hard to do, but social media is providing an outlet to go agaisnt tradtional forms of journalism.