Citizen news agenda differs from mainstream media

A study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism found that the news agenda as defined by traditional media differs markedly from what citizens find important. Well, at least those citizens who contribute to sites like Digg and del.icio.us...

Of note, however, is the fact that during the time period of the study (7 days in June), just 1% of the stories featured on social news sites were user-generated. The blogsphere regularly predicts the imminent death of the mainstream media with an air of triumphalism if not outright glee. But before that becomes even a remote possibility, citizen journalists need to do a lot more original reporting that actually gets noticed.