Journalism as a public forum. Everyone has a freakin' opinion.

With new technology being introduced basically every other week, journalists have become like foreboding soothsayers of doom and destruction.  Actually, so has everyone.  If I ever tell anyone that I'm going into journalism, they immediately start up with the, "But it's a dying field" and "I never read the newspaper" and "I care very little about you and your life choices" types of comments.  But I can't agree with them.  I think that technology is a tool that journalists can use, and I think open forums are one of the best ways to use that tool.

A universal truth about every person on the planet is that they all have an opinion, and they ALL want to share it.  The internet has made it incredibly easy for everyone, from the level headed normal citizens to the crazy psycho nut jobs who believe that Ford is a conspiracy, to post their opinions.  A LOT.  The best thing journalists can do with this phenomenon?  USE IT.

As journalists, we can use Twitter, blogs, niche websites, actual forum sites, video hosting sites, and more to spread the news, report unbiasedly, and open up discussion with citizens.  We don't HAVE to be bound by a newspaper company anymore.  It's an entirely different course and career from professional journalism, and yet at the same time, it's journalism at it's core.  Providing an unbiased, fair view of current events, independently and unhindered by so many market and time pressures.  I definitely think this is something we can use.  I mean, look at the Associated Press's Twitter feed.  People can retweet, comment on it, etc.  Newspapers online even have a sense of community because people can comment on any article.  They can talk about the paper itself, about the article, about how Ford is a conspiracy, ANYTHING.  That's the beauty of this time.

We are in an age of communication.  Might as well use it to our advantage instead of trying to preserve the old ways of journalism.  Or anything, really.  Except, like, electricity.  We should probably stick to that formula for a while.

And now here is a series of interesting links that has absolutely nothing to do with the link requirement on the grading rubric.  I assure you, these are all relevant.