The article, “Who’s a Journalist? Does that matter?” by Dan
Gillmor, should be interpreted as a piece written to inform and make the
audience think about the future of journalism. The author chose to discuss this
topic because the issue of defining journalism is very relevant to today’s
society. People rely on blogs and unrecognized sources for their news every
day. If this subject isn’t addressed the consumer culture could fall victim to
false reporting and bias. Gillmor gets to the real question of what makes
someone a journalist, and most importantly, does the term even hold meaning in
today’s society?
The subject of this piece was a very sensitive issue for the
author Dan Gillmor, who is a highly acclaimed journalist and participant in the
social media of today’s consumer culture. Gillmor works at the Walter Cronkite
School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University, where
he tries to bring entrepreneurship and digital media literacy into the
curriculum. He is also a blogger, author, speaker, media investor and
co-founder of several online businesses. His most recent book, Mediactive, is intended to turn passive
media consumers into active users, as participants at every step of the process
starting with what we read.
In the past, Gillmor was a columnist at the San Jose Mercury
News, and wrote a weblog for SiliconValley.com, which was known as one of the
first web publications by a journalist for a traditional media company. Over
the years, he has free-lanced for the New York Times, Boston Globe, Economist,
Financial Times and many other publications. Gillmor was a Knight-Wallace
journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he studied
history, political theory and economics.
The site where this article was published is called
Salon.com. This site has an audience of 15 million users who read and actively
respond to breaking news, including politics, culture, technology and
entertainment. The sites purpose has been to inform its audience with the use of
investigative reporting, fearless commentary and criticism, and provocative
personal essays. Salon.com has been a leading in online media since the
beginning of the digital age.
Gillmor’s article received mixed reviews on the site from
various commenters of different backgrounds. Some of the more classically
trained journalists seemed to have the common opinion that the amateur
participants of online media do not deserve a title or to be recognized as
anything other as unreliable sources. Other people who agree with the changing
face of journalism eagerly commented on the article with praise and agreement
towards Gillmor’s belief that “every person is capable of doing something that
has journalistic value”. They agree that the word “journalist” has fallen on
hard times, and the future of journalism lies with anyone who creates
worthwhile media that is useful to it’s readers. When interpreting this
article, people should be aware of the changing face of journalism and the
constant struggle to balance the original ethics of quality reporting with the
digital era of consumer culture.
References
Gillmor, D. (2010, 08 26). Who's a journalist? does that matter?. Retrieved from http://www.Salon.com
About salon media group. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/about/
About dan. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://dangillmor.com/about/
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