"Citizen Journalism is dead. In fact, citizen journalism never lived; it was the hardening of a momentary ideal, puffed up with self-importance and glazed with a sweet optimism that kept us interested beyond its shelf life. But let me repeat, for the sake of clarity: Citizen Journalism, as a concept is dead, a dry bone to be tossed over the back fence," according to Vincent Maher, who teaches multimedia journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa. One of his conclusions, here, is:
This mess we call the blogging versus journalism debate is anchored on a twist of the truth wrapped in a false promise: that this blogging army is co-ordinated and uniform in its intentions. Forget it, you've been conned by an elite and persuasive group of pissed-off anti-paperians.
The Guardian's Newsblog is mentioned, having incorrectly referred to Maher as a "US academic".
Maher is over-rhetorical for my taste but does make some good points. Over at PoynterOnline, however, Steve Outing does not share his pessimism....
