Paper 4

Paper 5: Citizen Journalism--A Step Back or a Leap toward the Future?

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) introduces its Citizen Journalism Academy by explaining, "Every day, a new social media platform is coming full circle as part-time, volunteer and citizen journalists emerge. They’re gaining momentum in the media community and changing the way news is reported and delivered, as well as how community members view the world around them." Citizen Journalism lives in websites, blogs, Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook along within more conventional forms of news media. Citizen Journalism is both the sum of the meanings of "citizen" and "journalism" and something greater and potentially more powerful. Or is it?

For Paper 5 we will once again employ argumentative writing to explore the phenomenon of Citizen Journalism. As with Paper 4, you will first need to carve out a topic to examine from the broader world of Citizen Journalism. Most basically, you may choose to argue whether Citizen Journalism is an asset or a detriment to the current news media. You may argue whether Citizen Journalism contributes to our knowledge of the world and news of the world. You may want to select a single platform of Citizen Journalism to argue its distinct merits. The choice, again, is yours. Your paper will then proceed to explore this topic through the argumentative position statement you stake out and the arrangement of well supported arguments (2), objections (2), and rebuttals (2) you present.

The readings listed below--along with our News Resources Page--offer resources for you to consider as you begin to research this topic. They are only a beginning, though. You may bring additional readings to bear on this subject. More importantly, you should plan on including concrete, specific examples of Citizen Journalism (both good and bad) along with examples of traditional journalism (as needed for your topic) to support your arguments, objections, and responses. Your argumentative essay should not be a mere rearrangement of ideas presented in the readings but rather reflect your own original and creative insights into your topic.

Your final version of Paper #5 should be approximately five (5) pages. If you have any questions about this assignment, please raise them in class so that we all may benefit from the answers. I am happy to meet with you at any time to assist you in developing, drafting, and revising your paper. Please feel free to arrange a conference with me.