by Marsha Ford

Created on: January 02, 2009

"Are citizen journalists more trustworthy than professional journalists?" I'm not sure that's a valid, or even a fair question. What exactly is meant by "trustworthy?" What's implied here is that being a non-professional journalist somehow makes the writer a more honest one, and professional journalists are all liars lacking the integrity to produce fair works. I am not a journalist - professional or otherwise - but even I find that notion a bit simplistic.

Yes, journalism in general has become increasingly clouded by the agendas of those holding the purse strings. And yes, we can all watch the news or read the papers and tell pretty quickly if the news is leaning a little too much one way or another. And yes, what we even call news nowadays is up for a whole debate of its own. But none of this is solely the blame of professional journalists, and none of this validates a blanket denigration of their honesty.

One's status as professional or non-professional does not make them any more or less trustworthy. There is nothing to prevent a citizen journalist from exhibiting bias in reporting - intentionally or unintentionally. Citizen journalists provide an important public service, but that doesn't somehow give them automatic status as trustworthy sources. To think so assumes that citizen journalists can never be subject to their own biases or agendas. Have you truly never seen a citizen journalist's news smack of bias or just plain dishonesty?

If we see a problem with the trustworthiness of professional journalists, we could look to companies running the show. Better yet, perhaps we should look at our own part in it. How many times have you seen news that appeared one-sided, and your response was to tsk, tsk and move on. Worse, how often did you continue going back to the same news program, newspaper, or even web site? How many magazines fly off shelves because the stories are written to titillate rather than inform? By watching, reading, and buying biased news, we encourage its production, reward companies for inferior work, and leave professional journalists in the position of playing the game or being unemployed. If we want news we can trust, we have to fight for it - with our wallets, our time, and our voices. Those that won't give us trustworthy news shouldn't be kept in business. And given the opportunity, I have no doubt we'd find a lot more professional journalists ready to give us news we can trust.

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