I see your point, but I couldn't resist playing contrarian here:

"You don’t get citizen police officers,"

Yes you do, in the form of neighborhood watch groups, volunteers who accompany victims of domestic violence, volunteers who work with parolees to keep them employed and out of trouble, etc. They are not performing the exact same role as a police officer (or with the same set of powers) but they supplement and shape the system in important ways.

"or citizen chefs,"

Ever have a friend or group of friends volunteer to cater your event or wedding, something which could not afford to be pulled off professionally? Happens all the time... or should the riffraff do without chefs if they aren't "professional"?

"or citizen doctors,"

This is a tricky one... but I would say again that many types of volunteers, some with minimal or no medical training or perhaps CPR/EMT training, provide a valuable and necessary component of any medical care system, especially in times of great emergency.

"or citizen presidents,"

Have there been any non-citizens as President? :-)

"or citizen politicians."

We have a couple of those running for city council right now.

"You don’t see citizen parking attendants"

Yes you do... I once attended a large, swanky private party where friends of the host volunteered to be valets, because of limited parking space near the house and to keep the neighbors happy that the street wasn't filling up with cars.

The point here is that all of the above volunteer supplemental skills are things that citizens can do all in the course of one day... many with training in those skills. A "Citizen Journalist" is being a journalist -- while they are performing the act of journalism. Then they go back to whatever else it was they were doing.

Getting paid + having a degree does not necessarily equal effective. Conversely, not getting paid and not having a degree in the field doesn't mean that the person isn't performing a valuable function.

For what it's worth, I have a degree in communications, but I'm not getting paid to communicate right now.

- Bob R.

dear the mercury,

please hire me as a citizen reporter.

love miguelaron

Perhaps that's why you're doing it so unconvincingly, Bob. But thanks for commenting. Now, to address your points:

1.CITIZEN COPS. I'm all for domestic violence advocates, especially when they're working on behalf of the wife or partner of a stressed-out cop. But neighborhood watch groups de-professionalize policing almost as badly as private police do. Next!

2.CITIZEN CHEFS. No, the riff-raff should not try to cater weddings. There's a reason we have cooking schools (okay, not the one in Portland, which as far as I can tell, turns out nothing but chain-smoking tattoo'd wannabe pirate chefs) in this country. And there's a reason why we have TOP CHEF on the telly. Next!

3.CITIZEN DOCS. You call for a citizen doctor when you have a heart attack and I'll pay attention to whatever you said on this subject. Next!

4.CITIZEN PRESIDENTS. Did you just EMOTICON me?! Jeesus. Although Kennedy was from a family of citizen bootleggers, I suppose. Next!

5.CITIZEN POLITICIANS. Exactly. Both renowned crackpots! (sorry, Amanda Fritz...joke...) Next!

6.CITIZEN PARKING ATTENDANTS. Well, whoop-de-doo, you "attended a private party." Next!

Getting paid + having a degree does not necessarily equal effective. Conversely, not getting paid and not having a degree in the field doesn't mean that the person isn't performing a valuable function.

Writers who expect to get better without putting in the hours doom respect for this glorious profession to further dilution, and that makes me deeply insecure. Although perhaps that says more about my insecurities as a writer than the sanctity of the profession as a whole.

"Although perhaps that says more about my insecurities as a writer than the sanctity of the profession as a whole."

I think you've nailed it.

- Bob R.

Bob R. hits it out of the park.

I say bollocks to "professional" journalism. Disclaimer: I majored in journalism in college.

Ever since the bloggety bloggers of the interwebs gained traction (most undeservedly so, and mostly because mainstream media -- you know, actual "journalists" -- decided that they would give a bunch of pajama-clad bedwetters more attention than they rightfully deserved), there has been similar pushback amongst the practitioners of the privileged craft of jourrnalism. We get it, you feel threatened. But have solace: you can still stroke your egos by over-tipping a stripper ("I swear, she really seemed to like me").

The whole "professional" journalism is canard. Does that mean there aren't talented writers who deserve respect for their craft, their thorough attention to detail, the fair light they shine on their subject matters? Of course not (and I would put Kevin A. in this camp).

But that also means the whole notion of professional purity is utter bullshit. There's no accreditation process to become a journalist. "Citizen" journalism (whatever that means), it can be argued, is actually more "pure" than what is practiced by the corporate structured print and television news industry. Wasn't Thomas Paine first and foremost a concerned citizen.

For godsakes, look at the whole Jeff Gannon episode. An actual man whore was given journalistic credentials to lobby softballs during presidential press conferences for a year. We liken the media figuratively to whores, but here was an ACTUAL whore who instantly became a journalist because, by God, he was being paid and was part of an seemingly legit news organization. Give me 1 keyboard citizen journalist over a whore, much less

After all the duplicitous doublespeak practiced in the name of journalism in recent years in the muddled pages of the Times, The New Republican, The Washington Post, the Weekly Standard, the National Review, et. all, I say good riddance to notion of the "professional". In recent years we've seen ad-hoc ethic conferences discussing blogging and the Internet, yet lies and half-truths are printed and uttered on television roundtables every day by professional journalists. When media outlets give equal air time to those that deny the Holocaust (or global warming, for that matter) in the interest of being "fair and balanced", journalism has officially become derailed, spilling toxic contents from its cars, blighting the landscape. We too often see "unamed" administration officials being used as the sole or primary source for bullshit articles that do nothing but advance the party line. Death to journalism.

But journalism that allows the reader to wade through a topic or issue through unadultered lens? One that examines both sides of an issue, but also exercises judicious powers inherent to pure journalism that exposes fraudulence and equivocation? Long live journalism.

To say you have to be paid to be a journalist, though, is frankly rather silly. Of course people should be paid to do what they are good at. That's how society works. But to make it a precept to the actual practice leads the development of a wankerish chattering class that operates with their own seeming petty rules and standards of decorum. Is somebody who plays the theremin not a musician just because nobody wants to pay money to see him play Doug Fir?

And to Mr. Allman's very first sentence links to an article written by the Times' Katharine Q. Seelye. That pretty much sums it up. Ms. Seelye, writing on behalf of the NYTimes, was one of the "kool kids" in 99/00, responsible for the journalist groupthink that caricatured Al Gore as a running punchline that defined conventional wisdom. Google her name with Al Gore and "Love Canal Quote" and you'll see that Ms. Seelye printed an entirely made-up quote and attributed to Al Gore, which the New York Times ran uncorrected for 9 days, not before it was repeated by every chattering wanker on network television news.

Yes. Citizen journalists and non-paid bloggers are entirely the problem.

Bob R. is a fucker. There! I nailed it! And professionally, too...

Now, guilty carnivore. Before I actually read your comment, could you fill me in on your credentials? Why should I bother paying attention to what you've just said? Where have you been published? And did you just describe something as a CANARD? Get an editor!

Thanks, Guilty Carnivore.

I'd throw a smiley emoticon your way but apparently it upsets Matt's delicate sensibilities.

I'd like to give a local example of a "citizen journalist" -- someone who spent a great deal of time writing in the public interest, while primarily going unpaid for his efforts: The One True B!x and his Portland Communique blog, which can still be seen in archive form at http://communique.portland.or.us/

Can anyone who participated in the many civic discussions on that blog dismiss the effort because it wasn't done "professionally"?

I suppose one could argue that because the effort was unpaid, and eventually had to close due to lack of resources, that it proves some kind of point about being a paid professional. But that wouldn't change the fact that the blog filled a valuable role, and provided important, accurate coverage that other local media did not cover. By that standard, I think it was a success.

- Bob R.

I agree, Bob. Bix filled a gap, and now, there's Blogtown!

"Before I actually read your comment, could you fill me in on your credentials?"

Why should s/he give you the credentials first, Matt? Are you incapable of reading an argument, following the logic, verifying the facts, and coming to a conclusion unless there are "credentials" behind the author?

Maybe blogging isn't your thing, that's fine, but reading and assessing what people have to say in your comments kind-of goes with the territory.

- Bob R.

True, Bob. True. It's as though you almost make sense, somehow. But in case you hadn't realized, opinions in this world are only as valuable as the person spouting them. That's where blogs are useless. They're "democratic". Peh.

You shouldn't pay attention to anything unless you want something other than a one-way dissemination of conclusions. This is the Internet, if you want to indulge an idiot lick a mirror or turn off your comments.

If I made more money than you, by your logic, does that prove something? Credentials = respectability = monetary reward. Is George Will the BESTEST most AWESOMEST journalistic machine EVER?!?!?

Yes, something is A cANARD. It is a noun. I should have wrote "the concept of the...is a canard", but typing a freeform comment to a blog post isn't something I usually have my personal butler proof.

If I made more money than you, by your logic, does that prove something?

Ps.Do you even HAVE a personal butler? I get the sense you're mocking those in service. One of the noblest professions of all.

dear the mercury,

i know about cool things to report, therefore, hire me as a citizen reporter.

love miguelaron

NO! Just email me with all your stories, and as a professional I will ensure they are reported correctly.

mdavis@portlandmercury.com

"It's as though you almost make sense,"

Of all the vile accusations levelled against me in my life, rarely have I ever been accused of making sense!

- Bob R.

My personal butler makes more money than me.

look, you can't jump on the "reality reporting" bandwagon if you don't have a citizen reporter figurehead.

and i could be that guy.

Matt, did you forget to take your pill today? I ask this as a citizen psychiatrist.

Nope. 8am, sharp. Perhaps you can perform some citizen hypnosis on me. Or up my citizen prescription, Citizen Quack?

Question: Is professional sex superior to citizen sex?

I'll do either!

Yeah, fuck those videos of the first World Trade Center tower getting hit -- that's not REAL, PROFESSIONAL journalism! Same with all those cell phone pics and vids of the Madrid train bombings and the London Underground bombings. GET A JOB, PEOPLE! Oh yeah, and fuck all this shit, too. CNN would never put that amateur crap on the air.

Yeah! Fuck it hard, James! Fuck it SO HARD!!!

See, all this protesting is about Matt being secretly aroused by unpaid journalists.

Journalism/News Gathering/Enrichment is a spectrum and a process, it has room for lots of contributors, from people sharing photos and first hand reports, to people collating all the incoming information during an event, to someone writing a professional(ish) summary or opinion. All along this chain of news production, people are providing value and need to have their credibility vetted and their claims vouched for. Those who provide the most value should be rewarded, not just the 'professional editor' herding the cats. This is the kind of system we are working on at Public Press (http://publicpress.org ). We are in the very early phases of this whole experiment but are excited about the prospects.

Does this mean we will all be getting a cut in the ad sales on blogtown?

Fuck yeah! I'm in...

On second thought.

Just now I'm walking to the local store on Lombard to get some apple juice and smokes. It's only two blocks. I put on my slippers. Go marching across the street thinking about citizen journalism. That's when I stub my big toe on a 2x6 next to someone's yard. It's a stinger.

Needless to say, I continue walking after my apple juice and cigs. That's when I run into a mob of ten- year old tricker treaters at the convience store, only to realize my toe nail has been split in half. It's a real stinger and I'm starting to get dizzy. I wait in line while pure madness surrounds me. Bright lights. Kids yelling. Moms yelling. Even the cashier, yelling. Madness!

As I'm paying for my apple juice and smokes, a kid in a Spiderman outfit looks at me bewildered. He tugs on his mom's coat, and says that man's foot is bleeding. All the kids yell and giggle - that's disgusting pointing at my big toe. It was disgusting Matt.

Still, the toe is fine, the apple juice is great, and I'm headed out to smoke now. Through all of this, I came to the realization that maybe citizen journalism is a little bit dangerous.

Israel, hope the toe is ok.
as for citizen journalism, is that not the same as collumnist and the like?
thanks
Patrick

Hi, Matt -

Just for the record: I have nothing against "citizen journalists," especially when they're starting their own blogs, zines, podcasts, or flyers.

And I damn sure agree that it's harder and harder for traditional media outlets to claim some superiority over people who are reporting on their own. There's just good reporting and bad reporting; the imprimatur doesn't matter.

My problem is that so many mainstream outlets are now using freelancers without compensating them. If one writes for the O, the WW, the Merc -- any outlet that has a sales staff and is making money off its writer -- I think one should expect to be share in the spoils.

In that context, let's call "citizen journalists" what they really are: unpaid freelancers. I know all the arguments about "building a portfolio" and "getting valuable experience" -- but I also know that the professional editors who are hiring citizen journalists for no pay aren't working for free to build their portfolios.

I think it's great that publications like the Oregonian are opening up their op-ed pages to citizen journalists. But it's awfully hinky for any media outlet to editorialize about working conditions for the poor when it's paying its own contributors less than the Gap is paying some Indian child to slap together a blouse.

Thanks for clearing that up, Kevin. And I hereby add "slap together a blouse" to my list of tasty expressions for the next sweatshop story we write.

Matt, how'd you get into journalism? I'm not being cheeky here, I really want to know.

By reading every single Winston Churchill and Napoleon quote I could lay my hands on, and reciting and internalizing them all, first.

Matt, your response at #24 debases professional journalists everywhere. I assume your latest tirade doesn't extend to citizen restaurant reviews, as your own paper seems more than happy to accept my opinions on that subject.

What was that roooo? SHHHHHSHHSHSCHSHHSHSH

You're breaking up! SHSHHHSHHHHHH

There's no signal up here on my pedestal. SHSHSHHSHHHH

[CLICK]

Why don't you and b!x debate this at the next debate club?