What makes citizen journalists less biased and more truthful?

I would like to pick up on the discussion in class and Stephanie’s blogpost “The Gift and the Liberation of Knowledge”, as I think a debate on this blog could be useful both before the Kate McDonnell-visit and to us as journalism students. What I would like to question is, what makes citizen journalists less biased and more truthful than traditional journalists?

I am, as all other, biased being a journalism student and having done internship at two traditional magazine media, but I think it is important not to be totally dazzled by the new way of making journalism. If citizen journalists are writing on equal terms as the traditional journalist (and they must be, since they, in some eyes, can out rule the mainstream media), then there is a chance that they are just as biased and untruthful as traditional journalist.

One argument, said in class, was that citizen journalists have more time and words to work with, but since when has more time and longer articles been a guarantee for more honest and objective journalism? I am having difficulties seeing why citizen journalists should do a better job than an educated journalist.

If they can, why educate yourself to become a journalist? Wouldn’t it be more useful to get insight in society with a university degree in for example political science and then just write from there? But what about the basic craft of communication, ethics and the strive for objectivity - are the skills, which I’ve learned the past three and a half years so simple that everybody without education can use them just as well as I can?

I’ve looked at some online debates about citizen journalism vs. traditional journalism, and they are all very pro or con (The Editors Weblog, The Techdirt Blog, Organgrinder - The citizen journalism debate). It is difficult to find a place in the middle of it. I want to embrace citizen journalism and be able work with it, but still I think it is important to acknowledge our journalism education as an education that gives us the tools of “accuracy, objectivity, a commitment to informing the public, and not unjustly causing harm”, as someone writes on The Techdirt Blog.

This blogpost consist mostly of my questions to the brave new world of citizen journalism. I found no answers. Perhaps the debate will provide me with some, perhaps not. But I find it important to keep on debating citizen journalism and not just accepting it either as the new main way of making journalism or as useless amateur work. As critical as we are towards traditional journalism, as critical we need to be towards citizen journalism.