Is citizen journalism a threat or a challenge to professional journalism?

                      Citizen journalism simply means the participation of the audience in the formulation and dissemination of news information.

                      According to Ms. Solana Larson, managing editor for the global voices, citizen journalism is not a competitor to professional journalism. In her speech at the third international medic conference on community journalism in Berlin, Germany, she said “I think a new form of journalism (citizen journalism) is helpful for each other”.

                    Citizen journalism is the platform of expression of speech of the people. It is not a threat or a challenge to professional journalism because when a citizen journalist covers a story, there is no one to edit it but when the professional journalist covers a story it gives it a wider exposure.

                              Again, many professional journalists believe that only trained journalist can understand the ethics involved in reporting the news but little did they know that many journalist conversely practice citizen journalism by creating their own blog and commenting about online stories.

                           Citizen journalist rather helps the professional journalist to go into detail information or stories which are unaware to the training journalist and bring the best to the public.