Check-Does Citizen journalism spell the end for the professional

An interesting piece over at the Indy blog and one that has been debated many times.

Ian Burrell writes that as

The Internet,, has made journalists of all of us. Where once we might have kept a private diary by our beds, we now put our thoughts up online, disseminating them to as many strangers as we can possibly induce to take an interest in our musings.

adding that

Frontline reporting and investigative work, the last bastions of the traditional news organisations, are now no longer the preserve of the so-called Fourth Estate. Of course, the mobile phone has turned tourists into camera-wielding correspondents at scenes of environmental disaster. It has transformed night-clubbers into paparazzi.

So will the professional journalist soon be out of a job.Not necessarily,as it is simply driving the online sides of the business.Quoting News International's Chris Milner

newspaper businesses are investing heavily in their journalism and that their websites have the "depth, quality and marquee names" missing from other areas of the net. As more challenging content is produced on specialist sites, will consumers head back to more familiar brands in an attempt to verify information?