by Ryan Dube

Created on: March 05, 2008   Last Updated: April 25, 2008

Citizen journalism has become synonymous with blogging, forum posting, and other online activities that attract people from every walk of life and from every age group. However, online journalism is much more than that. As a field of research and writing of its own, it is developing a loyal and passionate following.

The reason for its success is because there are so many individuals who, for whatever reason in their own lives, made a decision at some point to follow a career path that was not conducive to their love of writing. In some cases, individuals were forced to pursue fields of study, and a career, that promised more financially than writing ever could however the love for the craft and the passion for research remained.

These are the weekend warriors of investigative journalism. These are the folks who get home from work and immediately log on to the online world to conduct interviews, chat with sources, and gather information for their stories. These are individuals with a variety of educational background often times Bachelor's, Master's and/or PhD degrees who are bringing not only their natural writing skills to the table but are also bringing along their vast training and skills.

If the mainstream media believes that there aren't many Citizen Journalists writing successfully, or that those who are actively pursuing it are poorly trained and inept - they are due for quite a surprise.

A 2005 Harris Poll discovered that Americans, at least, no longer trust mainstream media. The survey discovered that Americans did not trust "the press" by almost a 3-to-1 ratio (62% to 22%). Additionally, they did not trust television by almost the same margin (58% to 22%).

And do we really wonder why?

Who excitedly announced, during the 2000 election, that Gore was the winner..then Bush..then Gore..then Bush? Who fed the DC Sniper's sick desire for publicity? And how well, exactly, has the news media "educated" us on Iraq when a July 2006 Harris Poll reports that "a full 50 percent of U.S. respondents up from 36 percent last year said they believe Iraq did have the forbidden arms" despite the fact that a 16 month, $900 million investigation by the "Iraq Survey Group" found in 2004 that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 exactly what U.N. inspectors discovered in 2002. How many Americans hear about that...or is Britney Spear's new haircut that much more important?

Who's uneducated?

Let's face it Citizen Journalism is the new

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