Modul Mata Kuliah Journalisme Online - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY

Instead, we just sit around, wringing our hands and mutter that our jobs are on the line because
nobody likes us any more.
Hats off to Ed and Tim for raising a rally banner. Ethical behavior is an excellent place to start in
sorting out the newspaper’s place in the media landscape.
– Alan Kania
http://cronkite.asu.edu/mcguireblog/?p=39
An Interview with Andrew Keen, Author of The Cult of the Amateur
Andrew Keen, an Advocate of Professional Journalism, Says Participatory Media is Hurting Culture
By News Team
Andrew Keen sounds a bit ticked off. It's been twice already that citizen journalists have scheduled
interviews to talk about his new book, "The Cult of the Amateur." And twice they've canceled on him.
This doesn't bode well for citizen journalism, says the author and Internet executive who rails against
social media.
"It probably reflects the inadequacy of amateur media," he says over the phone on Wednesday - in the
third attempt at the interview. "No excuses."
Keen worries about amateur media - and its many monikers: blogging, citizen journalism, social media,
Web 2.0 and user-generated content. The flood of blogging increases the likelihood that misinformation
and poor quality will prevail on the Web, Keen says. The lack of editing and the dearth of expertise
compound the problem.
His book, "The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture," debuted in June and
ranks 5,930 in sales on Amazon.com's book list. In it, Keen writes that egalitarian media creation is
"threatening the very future of our cultural institutions." Amateurs can't write whatever they want -
especially on topics like Iraq - because their facts, expertise and judgment are suspect, he says.
"You can't sit in your underpants in Indiana and blog about Iraq," Keen says over the phone, noting that
such efforts shouldn't be taken seriously. "It's not edited. That's the other problem."
Keen wasn't always a skeptic. A self-described Internet entrepreneur who founded the short-lived Web
venture AudioCafe.com in 1996, he dubs himself a Web 1.0 pioneer. He participated in what he calls a
"Russian Revolution" of Internet media.