Citizen journalism gone mad
What if we fired all our reporters tomorrow and depended on volunteers and community newsletters for our information? I a big believer in citizen journalism, and there are already blogs slowly covering the happenings in parts of the San Gabriel Valley. But they complement the newspaper, they can't replace it. There are stories, such as the ones we are doing about Gary Miller, that take time: piles of document reading, multiple phone calls and continual rewrites. Local breaking news may be a perfect spot for local residents armed with videos and phone cameras. An all-volunteer
army benefits the military, but it would be disastrous for the news.