Mass amateiriztion according to Clay Shirky in "Everyone is a Media Outlet" is the process by which the every day person can obtain tools to become fluent in using technologies that were once only used by professionals. The every day person or the citizen journalist is now learning how to create "news". Professionals are now threatened by citizen journalists because of the innovation of mass media. However print is still being dominated by the professional, how long? we are not sure as the world is changing day by day.
Shirky explains that the professional due to mass amateiriztion is in jeopardy of becoming the outcast. It is hard to have a professional class if everyone can do it. Doing it the right way is a different story but it is something that society has accepted. Everyone with a blog and a camera phone thinks they are a journalist. It all started as Shirky states with the printing press, which gave the citizen the ability to write. In todays society social media has taken over, we all know that. What people don't understand is journalism is about getting the proper information and making sure there are no mistakes. Shirky likes the idea of the citizen journalist, he makes it clear that it has become an asset to society.
The new international media is revolved around social media mainly twitter. Every major news company has their own PR that is dedicated to updating twitter. This is extremely convenient because most of population now own a smart phone. More and more people are adapting to this change and news is now posted everyone we look. The citizen can now post their ideas for everyone to see which I believe is a good thing. This is a very opinionated society and what better than the use of social media. My example dates to where I started to use ableton live. I am by no means a professional DJ but with some youtube help I have the ability to make my own music. With the help of youtube I am now downloading clips of music and putting them together to create my own work. It is examples like this that has created the media for the public. Another example that is more well known is the story of Neta. She was murdered on the street and it was captured by a citizen and the video was instantly put on youtube for everyone to see. With the use of social media it became a huge news story, Shirty is talking about the citizen journalist and that is a prime example. According to Shirky "we want education and competence standards created and enforced by other members of the same profession."(58) Some professions are not for the public, like heart surgery. The average person cannot perform it by just watching youtube clips. That is just a small example but when it comes to writing we understand that many people have the education to become a writer.
In addition to Shirky, Jenkings explains more about the citizen journalist in "Why Heather Can Write." Heather created her own blog where children can converse with each other share their ideas about Harry Potter. She believed that it was a good idea to allow children to express creative events. It helped them write and understand the ways of media, the development literacy was the main point she was trying to achieve.
The future of the media is in the hands of multi media and social media. we are heading down a path where the citizen journalist is becoming more popular. The professional will never die but is going to be hurt by the innovation of social media. In end I believe that the citizen journalist will help the professional in a way. It is going to be a two headed monster and the media world is going to evolve.
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