Section 4 Part II: Challenges in the Professional and Citizen Journalism partnership

Welcome to the second part of section 4, where I delve into another challenge that emerges from the relationship between professional and citizen journalism. In the first part of section 4, I examined problems related to low levels of audience participation in mainstream media news production. Here, I discuss another issue, which has been more widely (and passionately) covered in both traditional and new media.

## Credibility issues

The discussion about the relationship between professional and citizen journalism many times derives in expressions of concern regarding citizen journalists’ credibility. “I would trust citizen journalism as much as I would trust citizen surgery,” Morley Safer, a CBS correspondent, said to The Economist. The quote sounds extreme, but the concerns about some citizen journalists’ inability to verify information and eliminate bias from their reports are widespread.

The Canadian journalist Jack Kapica in an interview for Digital Journal affirms, “I see [citizen journalists] freely mixing opinion with factual reporting in obvious ignorance of how this is a conflict of ambition.” Citizen journalists’ lack of experience regarding the rigors of verification might play against their efforts to build up a reputation as credible sources for the mainstream media.

A recent study about how the New York Times employed user generated content in its coverage of the Syrian civil war concluded that:

“The reliance on citizen journalism increasingly threatens the credibility of the mainstream media. While the use of a disclaimer to indicate unverifiable information may to some extent protect credibility, it could also be argued that its overuse makes reputable news organizations more inclined to publish information without going through the necessary verification process.”

          However, trust in mass media, at least in the U.S., has been steadily decreasing over the last decade according to Gallup. Therefore, the use of UGC cannot be blamed for the media’s damaged reputation. Dan Gillmor, director of the Center for Citizen Media, offers a more balanced opinion about this trust issue also in Digital Journal. “There are trust levels that vary person to person, site to site, organization to organization.” This way, credibility is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Each news source, produced either by professional or citizen journalists, has to earn the public's trust by offering consistently reliable information.

          Now, which factors determine how credible citizen journalism is? A scholarly study by Kirsten Johnson and Susan Wiedenbeck concluded that providing hyperlinks and information about the content’s author improves people’s perception about a story’s credibility. “Credibility is enhanced most greatly when both hyperlink and writer information are included and, to a lesser extent, when just hyperlink or writer information is present,” the researchers said.

          After considering findings like this, it is clear that citizen journalists—and professional journalists, too—can employ some simple tactics to improve the credibility of their stories online. Transparency about the writers’ identity and the sources that inform a report, and the use of hyperlinks to expand the information and add plurality to the content seem to be the first steps to produce a trustworthy piece of journalism.

          Now, what other steps do you think citizen and professional journalists could take to enhance their credibility? Moreover, what steps should mainstream media take to improve the quality of citizen journalists’ material? Please, share your ideas and links in the comments section below!