While watching CNN a few moments ago, I noticed they are not only using Twitter, but also embracing the reporting of citizen journalism done through Twitter. Come on, CNN and Twitter citizen journalists — somebody please tell me they see this sad connection.
This inspired me to head to their website, where I quickly found iReport. This is basically a glorified public forum that gives validity to a post that anyone can make about anything. Seeing that CNN is using non-journalists to do their job, well, lacks professionalism to their methods.
Sure, people would call a newspaper back-in-the-day and submit “news tips,” but this brings it to a whole new level. Many people will read these citizen reports and take them for the real and truthful news. There is a reason why journalism is a profession — not to get all elitist on you. Would you want a citizen doctor performing surgery on you? I doubt it.
The featured story on CNN’s iReport was about the possibility that Nancy Pelosi might wear a “Snuggie.” This is just sad. This is supposed to be reporting? This is supposed to be journalism? If I wanted to read garbage like this I wouldn’t go to CNN. Maybe they could change their name to CJN (Citizen Journalism News) and just fire all their reporters. That would be a rather trendy idea.
Their slogan for iReport seems to be “Unedited. Unfiltered. News.” This shows how pathetic the site is, ironically. When is something that’s unedited a good thing? Ask any professor and I doubt they will tell you that a student’s unedited paper is a good thing. Oh, and unfiltered, yeah, that is real great. A bunch of junk that doesn’t really matter, like the Snuggie story, becomes the highlight of the page. All of this equates to something that is far from news.
You should probably note the disclaimer on the website:
iReport.com is a user-generated site. That means the stories submitted by users are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post. Only stories marked "On CNN" have been vetted for use in CNN news coverage.
There is a virus taking over the news industry that makes them feel they need to include the public into their reporting. This is only to help their ratings and revenue stream, though, because people like to see themselves on TV and websites. People will watch a program if they think their MySpace comment could be on CNN. Now, this is a reality. They actually do put your comment on TV. Well, aren’t you special.
Bloggers should stick to blogs and journalists should stick to informing the public. This twisted affair is only going to lead to a frothing-at-the-mouth-news-child that seems to entertain at best.
2 comments:
It is a bad habit of the news organizations to allow people to post "pseudo" stories.
I saw it starting way back when they had people uploading photos of the train bombings in London. Although, this is a bit different than just random posts on a website.
Citizen participation is great for the news, especially when they aren't there right when the action happens, but CNN may be taking it too far, as people assume, very dangerously, that people will always tell the truth and investigate it.
"Frothing at the mouth news-child." I like that.
Post a Comment