You might want to read my original post about citizen journalism, in which I stated:

That said, the mainstream press has problems, and I think citizen journalism may be able to help. The mainstream press should look to leverage the most talented citizen journalists. In theory, if done right, this may provide the mainstream press with some cost benefits, while giving the citizen journalists more resources, access and exposure than they have on their own.

Just as I think that Silicon Valley and Hollywood will end up looking more like partners as opposed to foes, I think the world of the mainstream press will eventually come into contact with the world of citizen journalism. And of course, when this happens, a funny thing will take place: the best citizen journalists will become the professional journalists that so many of us take pleasure in marginalizing today.

Is this not what CNN’s iReport is doing?

iReport has a sensible format: provide a place where individuals can share “stories” that they think are important and if CNN’s editors and producers find something of value, those “stories” may be used in a real CNN report. This format makes sense because:

1. It doesn’t look to replace CNN’s existing journalistic apparatus with a patchwork network of volunteer “citizen journalists.

2. There are editorial controls. If I’m not interested in sorting through all of the material on iReport, I can still benefit from iReport content because the best of it may find its way into CNN’s regular reporting.

This is much different than what Instablogs is doing and frankly, as it relates to Instablogs or “citizen journalism” versus CNN, the only reason this crept into the discussion was because the Instablogs CEO has apparently stated that he wants to build a network to rival CNN. Thus there’s nothing wrong pointing out that this isn’t anywhere near to being accomplished.

At the end of the day, I suppose the lesson to be learned is that not all citizen journalism initiatives are created equal.

“Perhaps no mainstream media outlet has done more to push citizen journalism into the spotlight over the past year than CNN. In August 2006, they launched the user generated content-focused i-Report feature on their web site”

“… the site’s editors have only displayed about 10 percent of those submissions, which are vetted for content and accuracy.”

“The new site, will be completely open in terms of what users can upload. Users will be in charge of deciding what constitutes news, and which submissions should be removed from the site. “The community will decide what the news is,” CNN News EVP Susan Grant told Mediaweek. “We are not going to discourage or encourage anything — iReport will be completely unvetted.” (Though CNN will monitor the site for inappropriate content.)

So it seems that the ‘Professional journalists’ agree that non professional user generated news has indeed got plenty of apeal and value.

- Vince

I said that reading this satirized version of the spam email was more exciting than the email itself, I don’t see anything incorrect about that assumption.

By the way, I will be ignoring your citizen voices. And given that you appear to draw well under 100,000 visitors a month in the US and less than 150,000 visitors a month globally, it appears that the rest of the world is doing the same.

Look how beautifully the whole Instablogs Community has come together and put up a great show.

And look how deftly you’ve given your opinion here – ‘No Beta Bitch’.

Can a pro do this?
Can you expect CNN guys to do this?

The writer of this post missed the point. It’s not about throwing bullets around CNN OR standing in front of a pole dancer holding an empty gun (check the logo above). It’s about having a heart big enough to talk to a monk in exile, embrace ‘him’ and make him run the show.

Considering that, your position that Instablogs’ purpose is “more about adding value to those unheard voices” is flawed. Unless those “unheard voices” are producing content that attracts an audience that can generate revenue for Instablogs, your statement is akin to taking the position that CNN’s purpose is to add value to its reporters’ lives.

The bottom line is that if Istablogs fails to deliver content that is compelling enough to drive the creation of a viable business, Ankit Maheshwari’s vision of building a news organization to rival CNN is little more than a pipe dream.

Finally, it is not that I am incapable of appreciating what an Indian thinks about US foreign policy or what an American thinks about the Kremlin. But you fail to recognize that opinions are like assholes – everybody has one.

If that Indian or American has some sort of background or experience that serves as the basis for an educated, credible and well-reasoned “story,” I am interested.

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate anything on Instablogs (within a reasonable amount of time) that struck me as being worthy of an investment of my time outside of my post here.

This is the challenge citizen journalism ventures face – providing quality, professional information on a consistent basis.

Anybody who believes that citizen journalism’s idealism will trump the demand for quality information and content is fooling himself.

i am frequent visitor of instablogs.com and i have seen many changes on the site in the last six months…it has evolved from an ordinary site to one of the leading in citizen voices however i do agree that Cjs has become a fad in today’s competing media houses but when we talk of Cjs we don’t talk of professionals or quality for that matter.

I really don’t agree with your point that cj stories (of course not written with the much-needed journalistic approach) don’t add value to your life.

May be you are right to some extent because you are really not concerned what an Indian thinks about US foreign policy or what an American think about Kremlin…i mean the ordinary ones…but according to you its the professionals that have that thinking power to make a story so that it adds value to your life.

i think its not about adding value to your life…its more about adding value to those unheard voices that have gone missing in this highly quality obsessed readership.

i think you should reconsider what you think about the Instablogs effort or many such sites in the making…