Grassroots journalism stuck in the middle

An interesting observation by Steffen Fjaervik at Poynter uses some examples of British journalists coverage of the Prince Harry Nazi costume to emphasize the barriers that grassroots journalism still faces. He says that in general, readers enjoy seeing a lot of comments following an article because they feel that it gives them a good idea of how the rest of the public feels. But Fjaervik asks what media outlets can do when there are too many e-mail responses that not all can be published; print as many as possible to show a broad array of opinions, or choose a small number of responses ultimately resulting in less balance. Because of this dilemma, "the readers are stuck somewhere between the democratic promise of user-generated content and the old-media principles where the journalist decides whose opinions matter." Fjaervik concludes that although this might not be the purest form of grassroots media, the reader responses will still "make mainstream media more democratic and interesting."

Source: Poynter's E-Media Tidbits