They used to say that freedom of the press belonged to those who could own presses, but today the words "we are the media" are a common cry from an emerging corps of citizen journalists.  What's a social change organization to do in this changing media landscape?

Citizen journalists have played an important role in the rise and fall of politicians and media icons around the world.  Traditional media faces declining distribution and runs stories about "the attack of the blogs".  From neighborhood controversies to events of international proportion, news coverage and analysis of the world today is coming from unconventional quarters in the form of writing, photography, video and voice, published online and consumed around the world.

What and who is a journalist anymore?  Are citizen journalists really just wannabes without the skills to get hired as real reporters?  How can credibility be measured if everyone's the media?  Is objectivity still a requirement in these new emerging roles?  Does the proliferation of citizen journalists correspond with an atomization of discourse and our entrapment in political echo chambers? Is the line between social change actor and casual citizen being dissolved just as, and in part because of, the dissolution of the line between media and audience?

What are the best nonprofit practices for going beyond traditional media relations? Should nonprofits still send out press releases, and if so, to whom? Should nonprofits and NGOs integrate citizen journalism into their own practices, and if so, how?

Photo: Dan Gillmor