Media organisations have traditionally relied on advertising to function, and the perceived quantitative audience numbers (i.e. ratings or distribution) to draw in advertisers. As Hartley (1992, p.105) argues:
"...audiences are not just constructs, they are invisible fictions that are produced institutionally in order for the various institutions to take charge of the mechanisms of their own survival."
The amount of interactivity afforded to users of the internet opens the public sphere for civic discourse. Civility and participation are key elements of a democratic society, and they are also terms with political connotations within a sociological context. It also generates a new awareness for the Fourth Estate to be ever mindful of their work. However, there is certainly a difference between 'freedom of speech' and 'journalism'.
As Journalism Professor and CJ supporter Jay Rosen notes in his blog post entitled, 'The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism':
"...editors of such local citizen-journalism sites need to guide community members into making quality submissions -- to educate them about what's worth sharing with their fellow citizens".
There are very few CJ success stories in comparison to the quantity of non-newsworthy, un-journalistic content and practices on these CJ (and sometimes PR driven) websites.
References:
Hartley, J 1992, The Politics of Pictures: The Creation of the Public in the Age of Popular Media, Routledge, London & New York, DOI:240 pp.
Citizen Journalism
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