Blogging Is Not "Citizen Journalism"

Every time I open up my create post page on blogger for Pundit Press, or any of the dozens of blogs I have created and shortly thereafter deleted in the past six or so years, I am faced with writing a post concerning a topic and neatly summarizing it into six or seven words in order to gain potential readers attention and gaining views.

And this is a big reason why true "citizen journalism" is virtually impossible for most blogs.

Regardless of what new media supporters like to say, we are not journalists - we do not seek the news and then rush into the newsroom with a scoop and report it to anxious readers or viewers or listeners - we take someone else's report and for the most part add opinion, or facts, and bam: citizen journalism in America.

Not so fast.

Writing blog posts about politicians, the political parties, scandals and hidden facts in legislation isn't citizen journalism - its blogging, or the 21st century version of "the letter to the editor," or for those who put some effort into it can get away with calling it "research," or even "investigative articles."

This isn't to say there aren't citizen journalists. There are. Whenever someone sees a story in their town, or visits a political rally and reports a unique perspective or has some tidbit of information that is reported in a objective fashion, that is citizen journalism, but in the grand scheme of things that's probably less than a half of one percent of all blogging.

For instance, I have written several articles concerning local politics or stories within Schoharie County, my home in Upstate New York. And although I am far from objective, it is often a first hand account of news I have witnessed or gained knowledge of in one form or another - but I could not write on the blog using this method - and neither could most bloggers.

I reside in a county of 30,000 people; 10,000 of which are children and another 10,000 are seniors, so my potential readership for strictly Schoharie County news is likely somewhere in the hundreds, maybe one or two thousand, and that's competing with the local newspaper that has a circulation of six thousand plus and has reporters to cover stories, and money to pay them with.

I have no time to cover stories and there probably isn't enough money or viewers to pay for me to spend enough time to cover those stories, I don't actually make money as it is from advertisements among three writers as is writing about topics from Syria to SEO hot topics to Mila Kunis, and I doubt the opening of Guilford Mills to a beer company in Cobleskill would do any better.

And while even covering Albany could gain me readership and maybe more advertisement, I lack real life journalistic experience, real life contacts to gain scoops and real life ability to be objective: I'm a partisan, pure and simple, and I tell the truth as I see it - which is why as much as professional journalism appeals, I would likely fail at it. I just like expressing my views too much.

Which also describes 99.5% of bloggers - biased, not journalists and mostly opinionated individuals who want attention to their work and hope for some money from adsense or some other revenue stream - and mostly the "citizen journalism" we read about is either from former professional journalists who went social media and retained their contacts and adapted, or people who part-time journalist in areas with potentially large readership, such as New York City, and are effective.

So while there is the potential for every blogger to be a "citizen journalist," we are far from everyday folks roaming the streets of America searching for truth and justice: we're bored individuals, up for some reason past four in the morning, writing about how "citizen journalism" is a farce meanwhile your dreaming of one day becoming a "citizen journalist," but in reality the closest thing to actual journalism you will achieve is a masterful, yet never seen article on your village's community spirit during snowstorms...

But in all seriousness, 99.5% of all blog posts are comments or opinions on news stories written by either professional traditional journalists or former professional traditional journalists in a social media format..... And to be honest, most blogging doesn't even involve news - it discusses sports, hot girls, hobbies, how to properly tie a tie knot (my savior) and random stuff all collectively labeled "blogging."

So what say you?