Reporters Aren’t the Only Ones with Cameras Anymore

The recent Tea Parties across the country have a lot of people talking about politics, the economy and the media.  One of the most interesting side stories from the Tea Party rallies was a CNN reporter’s confrontational interview with a protester in Chicago.

The video was widely viewed on YouTube and discussed online, on the radio and on television.

But, the more interesting video is the one that shows the conversation that took place AFTER CNN cut the live shot.

The video produced by FoundingBloggers.com shows a passionate conversation between the CNN reporter and protesters.  Obviously, the protesters were not pleased with the reporter’s perceived “slant” on the coverage.  But, that’s not what’s interesting to me.

What is interesting is that as a viewer, I got a more complete picture of the events and circumstances after I watched the blogger’s video.

I know the Founding Bloggers have an agenda.  I know the video was produced to favor their agenda.  I know the Founding Bloggers are not “journalists”.  But, that doesn’t mean their voice has no value.

Bear with me as I try an analogy here:

Many advocates of the Constitutional right to bear arms argue that if guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have the guns.  Criminals would take over.  When law-abiding citizens have guns, they provide an important balance to the criminals, since they can fight back.

While I am by no means implying that media companies are criminals, in the past these companies were the only ones with prohibitively expensive cameras, printing presses and broadcast antennas.

When citizens have the means to collect (with cameras) and distribute content (online), the provide a critical balance to the conversation of important events and issues.

The old mediums of journalism, television and newspapers, only fostered a one-way conversation between journalists and the audience. Today, and in the future, the news mediums of journalism (and journalists), the Internet, should enable two-way conversations.

We all know the Internet can be a wild mix of disparate and disorganized information.  Professional journalists should embrace this information and these voices, organize it, and make sense of it.  They should lead the conversation.  But they should remember that leading a conversation means listening, too.