Citizen Journalism and Newspaper Sites: The Revolution will be Uploaded

By Mark Toner

First Published: April 2008

Here’s a late-breaking bit of news from Bluffton, S.C., as reported by a citizen journalist going by the unfortunate moniker "noprostate."

Hardly page A1 material for a daily newspaper, but it has all the elements of a compelling story—the hint of danger in a familiar public place, the involvement of law enforcement, and even a difference of political opinion to give it a bit of resonance. H. L. Mencken it’s not, but perhaps this flavor of user-contributed citizen journalism shares more in common with I. F. Stone, who a generation ago took his investigative form of reportage out of daily newspapers and into the self-publishing world.

What a difference a generation makes. Citizen journalism started coming into its own in 2005 and has grown by leaps and bounds. Now, it has become national news in its own right. Consider the well-documented attacks on the Church of Scientology by "Anonymous," a group of hackers and activists who’ve delighted in posting confidential documents and unflattering stories about the Church in recent months. Or Wikileaks, which invites a global audience of whistleblowers to post documents to an "uncensorable" and "untraceable" site for "maximum public impact." Some 1.2 million documents, including information about alleged human rights violations and military interrogation procedures, are posted on the site, which in March won a U.S. court victory that attracted amicus briefs from the Newspaper Association of America, the Associated Press, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Gannett and the Society of Professional Journalists, among other groups.

But the local connection holds the most promise—and peril—for existing media companies, and several organizations are focusing research and resources there.

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