I have often been part of discussions, received emails or comments which questions the value of Citizen Journalism. "Journalists help make sense of events for their viewers and readers," said one. "News publishers will introduce 'dumbed down' citizen reporting only to maintain their readership and satisfy advertisers", said another. "If Citizen Journalists take over, what will journalists do", said a third. An email also suggested that professional photographers and journalists were being 'demeaned' by citizen reporting.

Yawn.

Let's face it. There is never going to be a situation where amateurs will eliminate the professionals. Typical worries about Citizen Journalism are often that user-generated content is hard to verify, pays little heed to any ethical framework and is churned out by inexperienced writers.

The term Citizen Journalism is a broad term and still shifting in meaning. At a basic level, the idea of CJ is to have a thriving ecosystem, where people become more engaged with events around them. Photos or video taken by a member of the public and published on a mainstream or personal news site, comment and opinion contributed to a news site or a blog, first hand accounts of the Ludhiana blast could all be various forms of citizens contributions .

Call them newsmakers, call them sources, call them subjects and sometimes in their view, the unwilling victims of journalism. But however we describe them, we must all recognise that the rules for newsmakers, not just journalists have changed. Thanks to everyone's ability to make news. So a man in Kochi can today bring to light a university scam, a student in Kota could be fighting a green battle, a father in Baramati may be taking on a challenge with the local goons. They often need the power and structure of a media organisation to take their fight forward. I was aske once, "Till when will channels cover every boy who falls into a hole. Isnt it time to cover those holes" ? Is it possible for a media organisation to cover those holes. Perhaps, no. Is it possible for a Citizen to do so. Perhaps yes. Is it possible for the two to work together. Most definitely

Every citizen is a reporter. Journalists arent some exotic species. They are like everyone who seek to take new developments, put them into perspective and share them with others. A cursory glance at sites that feature user-generated content will show that far from replacing 'professional' news, public contributions are a valuable, often insightful complement to standard news coverage and are nearly always carefully presented and labelled as eyewitness accounts and reader opinion.

So citizen journalism is nearly always edited, proofread and contextualised by professional journalists.

Yes, some contributions will be shoddy, but it would be possible to argue that there is plenty of shoddy journalism out there too. We must remember mainstream media does not always get it right and perhaps sometimes isnt looking at the right places.

It is important not to underestimate the enthusiasm and dedication of some of the people that contribute to interactive sites or run their own blogs. They may not be professional journalists, but the cream of bloggers will be experts in their field. Blogs are often an extension of people's jobs or their passions. Technology journalist Dan Gillmor has been writing about citizen journalism for several years - long enough to recognise the potential and quit his job to start a citizen journalism site. His mantra is 'My readers know more than I do'.

Do they ? The public, the community has many more experts, many more professionals, many more valid ideas and opinions and all of them are entitled to express those views. Lets face it. Readers, viewers collectively know more than media professionals do. We need to recognise it in the best sense and utilise their knowledge.

The viewer and the reader is our collaborator. It would be suicidal for a news agency not to involve them. More and more journalism is going to be owned by the audience. So as the media is waking up to this new possibility, the citizen should wake up from his slumber too and be the change.