Rory O’Conner on AlterNet recently wrote about a meeting in Seoul, South Korea, of citizen journalists sponsored by OhmyNews.com. Coming out of that meeting was the realization that the opportunities for citizen journalists are in place, but that content management and editorial accountability are the largest hurdles to overcome. Professional news organizations are starting to realize the importance of citizen journalism to local communities, it’s how to make it work in the revenue stream that is the big issue. Multimedia content through local social networks might be one of the solutions to this issue.

The Future of Citizen Journalism
By Rory O’Connor July 3, 2007 (Excerpts)
No one should still wonder about the possibility, much less the efficacy, of ‘citizen journalism.’ But, more importantly, we should ask if more participation and better information will make us happier. Can ordinary citizens actually function as journalists? Or, as many in the mainstream media would have it, is journalism some sort of priesthood of professionals who venture, Moses-like, to mountaintops and then return to deliver the news as divinely revealed truth to the rest of us earthbound mortals?

Oh Yeon-ho set the stage with his welcoming message, which accurately noted, “The question looming large is increasingly less about ‘digital opportunity’ and more about how we can best manage the abundance of content, Web platforms and user participation” now pouring forth. Oh also laid out “a host of pressing issues” including the need to balance user-created content with editorial accountability, as well as to identify business models to sustain citizen journalism during an age of ever-more rapid commercial and technical transitions and unclear revenue models.

… can citizen journalism really change the world? Many skeptics still doubt it can even change the news industry, and still question, despite much evidence, whether ordinary citizens can really function as journalists. But why not? After all, I’ve been a professional journalist for decades — yet I never took a course in it, received a license for it, or even got anointed on high. So here’s my advice — if you don’t like the news, report some of your own! -more