E&P Must Read article about blogging & mainstream print media

[displacedtexan]

Steve Outing writes that newspapers should move quickly to harness the power of "citizen journalists" (AKA "bloggers").

In Defense of Citizen Journalism

The citizen-journalism movement is where journalism is heading. Newspapers, if they want to stay in the game, need to acknowledge the "lecture" model of journalism is dying, and join in the "conversation."

By Steve Outing

BOULDER, Colo. (February 22, 2005) -- Earlier this month, the Poynter Institute (where I work as a senior editor for Poynter.org) held its Web+10 Seminar. It was a fascinating exploration of what journalism will look like in the next 10 years. And a big chunk of the discussion was about what we're calling "citizen journalism." The journalism leaders (mostly from the Web side of the business) who participated in that seminar seemed pretty certain that community members' involvement in producing the news was an inevitable and desirable component of the future of journalism.

Also, I've been covering the citizen-journalism movement quite a bit recently at my various writing venues. Frankly, I'm bullish on the concept. I believe that journalism can right some of what's wrong with it by letting the public in and turning the old "lecture" model of journalism into more of a "conversation" model -- regaining trust and credibility by losing the arrogance of the old way of doing journalism.

But that's not a popular view (yet) among news-industry leaders, as evidenced by an article written by one of my Poynter colleagues, Julie Moos. She pitched the idea of news outlets including more voices in their products: "As hard as the media tries to be inclusive, we cannot be all things to all people. So why not invite people to be all things to each other?"

Moos invited 16 top editors and news directors from U.S. daily newspapers and TV news operations to comment on her thesis, that news organizations should invite un- or under-covered communities to cover themselves. I was disturbed by some of the answers she got, which were hostile to the notion. I've gotten similar feedback when I've written articles, blog items, and columns about inviting the public to participate instead of just read or watch.

Much, much more...

http://tinyurl.com/3s9l6

Note: This is an excellent outline for newsprint media validation of what we do... without trying to turn us into generic news stenographers.