Panel Discussion at MSU

Last month, I was invited to participate in a panel discussion sponsored by Missouri State University's Journalism Department. The panel met yesterday and discussed ethics in citizen journalism. It was a great experience and I felt privileged to be a part of the group which included Brian Lewis, a columnist for the News-Leader, and Doug McGill of the McGill Report and formerly of Bloomberg and the New York Times organizations.

What most thrilled me was how readily the professional journalists on the panel including the moderator, Dr. Andy Cline, embraced the citizen journalist movement. On the surface it seems journalism practiced by untrained people could be threatening to career professionals, but these folks saw it very differently. Rather than be concerned with how the trend affects individual journalists, they viewed citizen journalism as an enhancement to the process of reporting the news. They explained that there are many experts out there who need to be sharing their expertise with others and that this new way of reporting would only make the flow of information faster, better and with more detail than could be done before.

It was the process and the result of news reporting that most impressed this group. They see journalism as an extension of democracy and citizen journalism as a better means of making democracy work. Very refreshing to see professionals advance their cause instead of defending their territory.