Why do I care?

I was getting my every-couple-of-days dosage of CNN news, and its iReport section caught my eye. We've been talking on and off throughout the semester about citizen journalism in my ethics class. The subject caught my attention since the beginning. As editors, we have to decide when to use citizen journalism or when we could get something better on our own. For the most part, I think a station or newspaper should be able to get something better than what a citizen turns in. However, there are always occasions where someone has a really good picture or a really good story angle. If the citizen is willing to turn that in to a news station, I think the station should use it.

But CNN has bypassed that entirely and created its own section for citizen journalism. This obviously has its advantages and disadvantages, but what caught my eye was the article "iReporters wary of auto bailout." The minute I read that headline, I thought, "Why do I care what they think?" The sources used in the story are filmmakers, math teachers, clothing store owners, etc.

These people are important, and the government's decisions affect them. But to me, a news story, especially one about finances, should have the opinions of experts. I don't understand a lot of the terms and jargon involved in financing and bailouts, so I trust the opinion of an expert more than the opinion of your average citizen, especially because these citizens aren't involved in the auto industry. While citizen journalism and citizen's opinions are a good thing and should be used, I don't think it applies to this story very well.