Nieman Reports, a quarterly print journal from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism
at Harvard University, devotes its cover, 31 pages, and 13 articles in
its Winter 2005 edition to the topic of citizen journalism. My copy
showed up in the mail yesterday, and I can tell you that it’s filled
with some great stuff. I hope every news executive who doesn’t already
subscribe orders a copy.
Alas, you’ll have to read it in print. Nieman doesn’t post content from
the publication online for weeks after the print release. (Here’s the subscription page.)
The focus of the issue is not on “citizen journalism is going to defeat
mainstream media” or any such nonsense. Rather, the tone is mostly in
recognition of the significance of citizen journalism and how it can
and should be integrated into the media landscape. It’s a wake-up call
for news executives who still may feel queasy about the loss of control
that “citJ” seems to evoke.
Writers include 15 of the leading thinkers of citJ, including Dan Gillmor, Shayne Bowman, and Chris Willis.
(Nothing from me this time; I was scheduled to write an essay for this
issue, but dropped out when my father died last fall just before the
deadline.)
