A Pendulum Effect: The Amateurization of Professional Journalism

            From scribes to the Gutenburg printing press, the Gutenburg printing press to modern, electrical, and computer powered printing press. As time moves on, technology follows. Adaption, speed, and the overall better understanding and harnessing of technology is what powers man kind forward. For hundreds of years the concept and stigma of the professional written word has changed very little. Published books and articles have always been viewed as a source of intelligent and superior information in our society. It wasn't until recent years that this deeply rooted way of thinking has been challenged by the mass public. Rather than trusting what is heard on the news or read in a newspaper, individuals are embracing their first amendment right of free speech and expression and forming their own opinions to stories being reported. While mainstream media is still the primary provider of news throughout the world, their influence isn't as far reaching as it once was.
In today’s society, we have become increasingly dependent on the internet and the technology it provides.  Unlike prior generations, the internet has been incorporated into our culture to the point that it is one of the main modes of communication between one individual to another.  This new reliance on technology has created a whole cultural shift away from books and actual written text, to web-based publications as a main source of information.  It is this new shift in the way our society obtains their information that has lead to the creation of participatory culture and amateur publication.
For many there is no question, an article from the New York Times would trump the ideas and opinion portrayed in a local blog.  However, in recent years, there has been an increase in popularity of “participatory culture.”  Not only are everyday amateurs broadcasting and publishing their beliefs and ideas on blog and forum sites, but they are beginning to shape the way media is presented.  This new rise in amateur journalism is causing the world of professional journalism to question their style of media.  Thanks to the internet, information in its purest form is available for those willing to analyze and interpret it.  Leaving everything fair game for both amateur and professional journalist to write about. 
It almost seems unrealistic that amateur sites can really have an influence on the way professional media is portrayed, but due to the increasing number of bloggers, it is inevitable that many of these amateur writers will be capable of producing work that either matches or succeeds that produced by professionals.  With the increasing pressure of maintaining their audience, professional media is now faced with altering the way they portray their information in order to keep up with the changing media. 
As its name would suggest, professional journalism is work that has been generated by a professional journalist who has gone through the required schooling and follows the proper set of guidelines with regards to their published work.  Many of these professionals seek a career in news media whether it comes in the form of a newspaper, magazine, or television.  Not only does one need to fulfill specified training requirements, but a code of ethics must be followed in full throughout a journalist’s career in order to insure the most accurate and trustworthy account possible [11].  A journalist’s code of ethics, as is listed by the Society of Professional Journalist (SPJ) consists of four simple rules: 1) Seek Truth and Report it 2) Minimize Harm 3) Act Independently 4) Be Accountable [11].  However, in light of the rise of amateur journalism, it may be this code of ethics that has hampered professionals and has lead to the increased popularity of internet blogging.  Not only are professionals expected to follow the guidelines of the Society of Professional Journalist, but as reporters of facts and the news, they must also succumb to numerous rounds of editing until the final product is approved for release.
For many experts, it is due to this process of editing and the delay from when news breaks to when it’s first published that has opened a gap for amateur journalism to set in [2].  Now since information is so widely available to everyone, professionals no longer have sole control of these facts like they did in the past [1].  Rather, the average citizen is able to obtain the same facts and information at relatively the same time as the professionals, but since amateurs don’t have to follow a strict set of guidelines, they are able to publish this information in a much faster manner.  No longer having to be dependent on professionals, today’s society has taken on a “do-it-yourself” mentality, leaving professionals to question their future [5].
While some experts would argue that the pendulum between professional and amateur journalism is swinging towards the world of the amateurs, the SPJ is taking necessary steps needed to insure that the standards of journalism is still upheld in the amateur world.  Due to our society’s shifting influence and move towards that of participatory journalism, whether it is through blogs, personal websites, or even comment threads on professional articles, the SPJ has developed “The Citizen Journalism Academy [11].”  This program established by the SPJ provides one day training sessions for amateur journalist to learn how to write informatively, ethically, and impartially [11].  By doing so, the SPJ is trying to create and maintain the media environment from diverging from the norm.  Through these training sessions, these citizen journalists will not pose such a threat to professional media as those citizens who blatantly post bias and falsified information targeted at discrediting the professional writers.
Amateur journalism, takes the form of many different genres from posting on blogs, creating personal webpages, publishing personal videos, as well as the publishing of personal pictures over the internet.  These individuals have no credentials saying that they took the necessary training needed and follow the appropriate guidelines in order to be deemed a “professional.”  Rather, many individuals labeled as amateur journalist are those that have gone beyond that of personal expression and have now entered into the world of publishing their views on certain events that they find most pressing [9].  Due to these amateur journalists, every large media company now has comment threads that individuals can respond on after each article.  Today our culture widely accepts the interaction and input from the everyday citizen reading the local newspaper online; just take a look at any article of the New York Times and you are bound to find any number of comments posted by readers about the issues outlined in the article. 
With relative ease, anyone can become an amateur journalist and amateur publisher; there is no longer a real need for “professional technology” to publish a story, picture, or video.  Rather, the internet has given the tools of the professional world to anyone willing to learn and utilize them.  It is this general ease of publishing that has blurred the lines between amateur and professional.  Unlike before when the differences were (at the time) seemingly concrete.  Now only the credentials and guidelines of a profession are what separate one from another [2].
Millions of internet users world-wide access and create their own versions of amateur production without even knowing it. Sites such as youtube, facebook, or myspace, provides everyday people the medium needed to voice their opinions and beliefs with little to no repercussions. Especially with tough rules enabling the mass sharing of copyrighted material, amateurs have been coaxed into a new direction of creating their own versions of their favorite copyrighted materials (also known as fan fiction) as well as explore new directions of their own creativity.  One such example of fan fiction is the creation of machinima movies which are short, amateur videos created using computer generated characters.  Much of the scenes, characters, and props used to make up machinima are obtained and filmed in already existing video and computer game settings.  By manipulating already made characters and objects, the process of filming machinma is significantly lower than it would be for amateurs to film a real life movie.  Due to the ease of technological accessibility, the popularity of participatory culture has sky rocketed.  The tools that were once only available to the professionals are now widely available to any who wish to take advantage of them.
Although the term participatory culture may carry around the connotation of being solely associated with the younger generations of today’s society, nearly everyone who utilizes the internet in one way of the other is actively involved in participatory culture.  As defined by Henry Jenkins, participatory culture is one that follows the following 5 guidelines:  1) Has relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement 2) Has strong support for creating and sharing one's creations with others  3) Has some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices  4) Where members believe that their contributions matter  5) Where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have created) [10].
One of the main ways that many individuals are a part of participatory culture is through the use of email, social networking such as facebook or twitter, and online chats [10].  It is at first hard to believe that this type of internet use is anything remotely similar to professional journalism, but upon closer inspection it becomes clear that through these outlets our ideas, opinions, and individual personalities are portrayed, which are the main contributors that make up the foundation for producing journalism. 
While much of the literature I read gave the impression that our society is either going to soon be taken over by amateur journalism, or that professional journalism will always be viewed as the superior news outlet, I feel that the union of these two mediums is essential. A great amount of good can be obtained by combining different views, resources, and knowledge. However, the one downside to creating media that is influenced by essentially everyone is the fact that, "groups of people are complex, in ways that make those groups hard to form and hard to sustain" [Shirky, 25]. The larger the group, the more opinions and ideas about what is right and what is wrong surfaces and the task of establishing a baseline common ground becomes that much harder.
At the same time however, the increase in the number of contributors increases the amount of ideas and solutions that can be thought up of in a small time frame. One example of a case where the union of amateur and professional journalism has proven successful is the story of Anne-Laure Marie. A radio journalist from France, Anne decided to create a website dedicated to involving citizens in the process of helping to contribute and come up with ideas on how to better and relieve technological issues faced in Africa. In order to ensure that the information submitted is true and feasible; the citizen participants submit documents and reports along with their discussions as well as contact information just in case they need to be reached at a later point in time. Anne also fact-checks her contributors information with actual experts and scholars in that particular field of interest to ensure reliable information is obtained. Unfortunately this type of collaborative media is very time consuming and tedious. But the information gathered is so much more detailed and informative when compared to media products solely produced by professionals or amateurs [12].
As a society, we need to learn to adapt and pull our resources together in order to create better and more informative accounts that encompass various points of views on a certain topic.  While this may seem like an impossible task, rather than opposing and trying to discredit one another, combining efforts could prove to be more beneficial by allowing amateurs to aid and supplement the work produced by professionals.  But at the same time, it is up to the audience at home to determine the role and place for professional and amateur journalism in our society, because in the end we are just jeopardizing and affecting ourselves.