Citizen Shmitizen

* this is post for class*

In the spirit of good "citizen journalism" -- I will pledge my allegiance today to the art, or craft, or, let's face it, hobby of civilian scribble, as a citizen as well as a student. How fitting.

The "definition" of citizen journalism as so conventionally cited on today's most citizenly-charged site, Wikipedia (or as I like to call it, WikiPoodia in reference to content quality – starts with a c and ends in r-a-p) states that citizen journalism is:

"citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information,"

I'll begin as a journalist. I pay good money to sit in class and get my feet wet under the instruction of teachers and professors who are already knee-deep in the field. Naturally, it's a little defeating to know that any old joe can "publish" his work during his lunch break at his REAL JOB, whilst I toil away in 'Intro To Online JRN 112'. This raises a question, as well as some stewing concern regarding journalism in itself. Is it still a REAL JOB?

Why is it that I've sold my shoes, my clothing, my mini fridge, even my soul to the devil in hopes of obtaining at least a B in Cathy Dunphy's class, all in an effort to obtain that handy piece of paper that says, "yep, she's a journalist" -- while other people, who have no training at all, can sit back and watch the hits pour in.**

(**Yeah, that was a run on sentence, but so what? I'm a citizen, not a scholar.)

Why waste my time priming for a career that it seems everyone has a hand in? When it comes to citizen journalism, everyone wants a piece of the pie – and as far as the internet is concerned, everyone is welcome to as much flakey, fruit filled, freedom as they please.

However, from a citizen's perspective, I can understand the desire to blog and be heard.

Contrary to popular thought, I didn't come out of the womb with my Ryerson acceptance papers in hand. Nor did I come out of high school with them either, for that matter. I wasn't instantly granted the right to write, and before I was a student, I was simply just a "civilian". A civilian with opinions, quips and an insatiable curiosity. A civilian who needed an outlet, damnit!

On the first day of class in first year we're asked:

"What is news?"

Well, I still don't know what news embodies, or rather what embodies the news. What I do know, and always have known (even as a poor, unfortunate, untrained civilian) is that everyone has their own definition of that which is news-worthy, and it may not always coincide with the opinions of the great people at CanWest Global.

Therefore, in the case of "citizen journalism" – I'm afraid my jury is still out. As a citizen specimen of society, I can identify with those whose opinions do not echo after the wise words of CBC, CNN, BBC or any other tri-lettered mass media conglomerate. To those people who have been silenced by Wolf Blitzer, I say, "Write on!"

As a journalist, I'll just have to stand tall and prepare to share the spotlight with my fellow news-savvy critics who did not strive for an A in "Info and Visual Resources JRN100".
I will bite my tongue every time blogspot.com beats me to the headline, deadline or punchline, because at the end of the day, the only line is the bottom line: I'll get paid for it, and they won't.

God Bless J-Skool.