Citizen Journalism vs. Mainstream Media Essay Example

Citizen journalism is news that comes from the larger public and not well- known and legitimate news agencies like, The Washington Post or The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Citizen journalism can be most recognized in the form of blogs or wiki sites. 15211 is a citizen journalism site that is based in Mt. Washington which is a small part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The title of the blog relates to the blog because it is the zip code for Mount Washington residents. The blog discusses current events that are going on in the Mount Washington area only; the site masters are completely open to criticism and understand that not everyone agrees or likes what is being discussed. A mainstream media outlet close to Mount Washington is the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. This newspaper discusses everything from sports to local news to country wide and international affairs. Although there is an opinion section in the paper, it is not all opinion based like a blog. Also, newspapers provide other things than just news whether it is informative or opinionated; it also provides coupons for state wide stores and allows their audience to connect to other websites such as job search sites. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette provides a wide range of informative topics to appeal to a wide range of publics. Since newspapers are losing their appeal to the newer generations they must start finding new ways to attract people to read and subscribe to their publication. Although many publics in today’s society prefer mainstream media to citizen journalism, there are many pros to blogs and wiki sites. For instance the blog, 15211 is targeted to a specific public (audience) which are the people of Mount Washington, a small part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as it says in the about us section. Having a target audience allows for more freedom to write about anything related to that topic and not receiving many contradictory statements or backlash opinions. Although most blogs have a targeted audience,