Does quantity equal quality? I don't think so, everyday citizens give us quantity but not always quality news. Though news is often posted in the opinion of one person I feel that when it is presented from a reputable source such as the Toronto Star of CTV News the person writing the story has an obligation to keep the story as unbiased as possible, they are also representing the entire news station or company. Such a responsibility keeps the story as close to the truth as possible and less likely from becoming someone's point of view and opinion.
Everyday citizens are free to report the news as they see it. One point of view, one person's life experience to compare with. Do these stories still grip us, still open our hearts and minds? Of course. Will we continue to read the work of everyday citizen, I believe so. However when it comes down to hard facts and larger than your neighbourhood stories will we change our tone and look to larger news providers? Without a doubt!
The deciding factor on who we seek out for our daily information in the future will depend on what and how much we want to know. Do we want the inside story on the church bake sale? Are we wondering what our children's curriculum outline is? Though every citizen has the opportunity to be a great reporter and by default a great detective there is still only so much information they are privy to and the human bias is always up for debate.
Has social media increased the quality of news and information? I don't believe so. Has it decreased it? No it hasn't done that either. It has however given us many options and channels in which we receive news. Our daily email, online, and on our mobile devices. We choose where and when to read the news and decide who we want to receive the message from. What doesn't change....if we are reading it, it's already history.
