A Little Birdie Told Me...

When Paul Revere rode horseback through cobbled streets and screamed, "The British are coming!" people barely had time to spread the word and gear up. Too bad they didn't have Twitter back then. A simple Tweet could have saved poor Revere a long journey, and sore throat.

The invention of the internet has brought about major advances in news media, one of them being that information can be spread with the click of a button. CNN, for example, uses Twitter to report news in Iran regarding unfolding events related to the elections. It serves as a quick and easy way to get the word out.

But news corporations aren't the only ones with the ability to put forth needed information. The term "citizen journalist" was coined when regular people began posting videos and statements about events that affected us as a nation, and were ultimately used by news sources and broadcasted. Just this weekend, Nashville suffered from a severe flood that damaged numerous houses, buildings, and cars. I guess the country is in too much of a deficit to record footage from a chartered helicopter, because this disaster was recorded by Nashville residents. Pictures and videos of the devastating sites can be found on Twitter and Youtube.

With a plethora of information available online and a decrease of print newspapers, it is no doubt that the media is moving into the Cyberspace community. Should the new neighbors be welcomed, or is the line between news media and the general public too thickly drawn to cross? Because online, anyone can be someone, even a journalist. But wouldn't that make journalists no one?