CJ for a Healthy Democracy

Citizen Journalism promotes a healthy democracy with more citizens getting involved in relaying the information about their respective communities. The information made available by citizen journalists becomes more personal and points to the specific concerns of communities. But this is just one of the advantages of injecting citizen journalism in a news organization. While criticisms have been hurled against CJ, like the undeniable fact that is being done by “amateurs”, the advantages have been able to outweigh the pitfalls and even members of the traditional media have started to accept the fact that CJ has become a force in the way information has been made available for audiences. The power now shifts to the audience and the people, who are now given more options and a wide range of sources of information.
A brief manifesto from Hong Eun-taek, the editor-in-chief of perhaps the biggest citizen-journalism site, Oh My News, based in Seoul Korea states that “traditional means of news gathering and dissemination are quickly falling behind the new paradigm. . . . We believe news is something that is made not only by a George W. Bush or a Bill Gates but, more importantly, by people who are all allowed to think together. The news is a form of collective thinking. It is the ideas and minds of the people that are changing the world, when they are heard.”
I completely agree with Mr. Eun-taek. But for me, the comparison between traditional journalism and citizen journalism ends in the news gathering and sourcing aspect. Traditional journalism is here to serve the best interest of the people. It also shares the same goal with citizen journalism. And in the end, the community and the audience are the main beneficiaries.