How is citizen journalism different from "street journalism"? Hark, Demotix CEO

At AEJMC's convention in Toronto in August of 2004, I got to briefly discuss with Michele Weldon of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism an emerging -- on the Web -- conversational style of newswriting.

I told Ms. Weldon the new style would drive "the newest electronic form of street journalism."

At a risk of sounding immodest may I say Ms. Weldon put my little comment in her 2007 book?

Now CEO Turi Munthe of Demotix says:

[T]he material [Demotix] tries to convey is not best described as ‘citizen journalism'; rather, the people who provide images and videos for Demotix are better viewed as ‘street journalists'. [Mr. Munthe] uses the term ‘street journalism' to emphasize the difference with the current culture of ‘office' or ‘administrative' journalism, where journalists are desk-bound and do not originate stories but rather repurpose existing material.

For more, check out Tamara Witschge, a Dutch scholar at the University of London's Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre. Dr. Witschge explores Demotix, which recently won a MediaGuardian Innovation Award, in a somewhat provocative Open Democracy piece.

She writes that the Internet has "transform[ed] the theory of media's place in democracy. It is no longer enough to be informed to fully enjoy citizenship; you now need to be an information producer."

Really? More here.