A trend is emerging that has news professionals quaking in their self-important boots. Someone seems to have realised that journalists are people too. Therefore it is logical that people can be journalists. This doesn’t look good for me, an aspiring professional journo. Oh Yeon-ho is the man who embraced this idea and created OhmyNews.com, a South Korean news website run entirely by citizen journalists.

These citizens are payed US $2- $50 per article, and contribute to the site for the thrill, prestige, and to get their story heard and peer reviewed at a professional level. The site attracts at least 700,000 repeat viewers each day.

Often the media is accused of telling audiences what to think. OhmyNews provides a legitimate platform to respond and publicise neglected stories or perspectives.

As someone who’s nearing the end of a three year journalism degree, I can understand concerns that the accountability and ethics of news may be affected by untrained news gatherers. However, unlike doctors or lawyers, there has never been a clear qualification that allows a person to claim the title of journalist, (other than a good grasp of language).

Maybe we were trying to make an exclusive profession out of something that should always have been accessible to every member of society.

OhmyNews requires all contributors to sign a code of ethics, similar to the ‘professional’ code, which aims to deter unethical journalism. This may not be foolproof, but even the professionals don’t offer a great deal more.

Oh Yeon-ho, CEO and founder of OhmyNews

Oh Yeon-ho, CEO and founder of OhmyNews.

Photo courtesy of the Sunday Times Online.