Search

The article focuses on iReport, CNN's platform for citizen journalism. According to the author, the vetting process is the core of iReport with about 8 percent of contributions being selected for vetting. The author adds that the vetting process also alerts television (TV) and digital producers that there will likely be an element ready to be featured later in the day.

The author offers opinions on television broadcasting of news and broadcast journalism. Technological innovations in video recording and distribution are seen as having made what was once a field limited to large mass media outlets with significant financial resources an open area of competition where citizen journalists and journalism can flourish. This is seen as especially important in foreign news, where costs have caused mass media to reduce their coverage.

The article focuses on Street Team '08, a team of volunteer young adults who cover the U.S. presidential election for MTV News, the news division of the cable television network MTV. These so-called "citizen journalists" present video and audio reports on the election campaign to be broadcast on MTV, each one covering a separate U.S. state and Washington, D.C. Their training is detailed, as are the technological hardware and computer software with which they produce and distribute their reporting.