Role of the Citizen Journalist? Is Changing

Somewhere in my memento box I have a piece of wire copy, the paper kind, announcing a news flash from the 1980s. I was a young TV reporter in the days before the internet, and that's how big news arrived: on a machine that clicked out wire service reports. I saved that slip of paper to remember the time when I, as a journalist, sat on the front row to history. I was among the privileged gatekeepers. That front row is gone. There's more news on your phone at this very moment than we ever had on our rolls of cheap paper. Odds are you read it in bits and pieces instead of a concentrated sit-down with the newspaper or TV newscast. Odds are also that you are sifting through your social media feed, sharing items and posting your own news or opinion. You've become a gatekeeper too. Anytime you decide what to share, you're doing the work of a news editor. Anytime you post news you witness, you're working as a reporter. When you comment, you're a pundit in your own world. And while you may think that world is limited to an approved circle of acquaintances in your Facebook or Twitter account, think about the people who've lost their jobs, been humiliated or achieved worldwide fame for a post that has gone viral. Our national conversation about policing, privacy and electoral campaigns has been influenced by citizen contributions outside what used to be the normal news gatekeeping process. We are all gatekeepers now, but we're living in a paradox. We spend more time with media than ever before - about 12 hours a day in the U.S., according to eMarketer. Yet, the Pew Research Center reports that only about 1 in 5 of us have 'a lot?