Citizen journalism has yet to evolve into an egalitarian information medium, as not all online users participate. Despite the promise of deliberative democracy, millions of Americans still lack residential Internet access (particularly high speed service), making hyperlocal participation difficult. Furthermore, as evidenced in the literature, online communities reportedly “bond” like-minded members together. As a result, many online novices wishing to join the chorus might feel intimidated to post their divergent musings, encountering a “spiral of silence.”133 But at a time when traditional media are losing market share, national outlets are dominating the discussion and debate taverns are disappearing, many believe hyperlocal media sites could become the new public squares.134 As history contemplates journalism’s future, citizen journalists are still reporting just a mouse click, or rather – clique – away.
132
MacKinnon, “Blogging, Journalism and Credibility: Battleground and Common Ground.”
133
This online behavior could exemplify the “spiral of silence” theory. In her work, Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion – Our Social Skin (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1984), German social theorist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann suggests opinions are suppressed if the ideas run contrary to the majority’s viewpoint. 134
Matthew Klam, “Fear and Laptops on the Campaign Trail,” The New York Times Magazine, 26 September 2004, 45.
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