Goodbye journalism, hello rumor and lack of accountability
Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 4:06PM 
Networks, websites, newspapers and magazines jumped on the concept of ‘citizen journalism’ eagerly for the same reason shoppers love a 2-for-the-price-of-1 at the grocery store. With budgets strapped, these wannabe reporters could provide content and the media outlet didn’t even have to pay. What’s more, there’s no requisite for validation—the false story CNN ran about Apple’s Steve Jobs came from a first time iReporter who didn’t even have to provide a name, address or anything other than a working email. And the false story affected the stock price of an American company. CNN said the person who submitted the story did so under the name "Johntw." This was the first story filed by that individual. Where is the outrage that should be coming from the industry?
