The business of big media is watching their stocks fall, while watching the rise of citizen journalists. But what is a citizen journalist, and what makes them different from professional journalists. Even SPJ, the largest organization of professional journalists, struggles for that definition.
Serena Carpenter gives the best one I've seen:
“An individual who intends to publish information meant to benefit a community.”Serena even explains her definition, by reaching into decades-old First Amendment law, then concludes:
"This means citizen journalists and traditional journalists fall under the definition of a journalist," Carpenter says. "Not every person is a journalist, but any citizen can become one."
