One of the cooler aspects of modern technology is that ordinary people can report on news, complete with visual evidence. Gelf has reported on this nebulous phenomenon, called citizen journalism (Wikipedia), previously; see our piece about Dog-Shit Girl to get some background. Now, some real news outlets are realizing that there are some benefits to using citizen journalists as well (besides not having to pay them). Take CNN during the height of Hurricane Katrina.

For some reason, the station decided to position its reporter outside of the Superdome—where over 10,000 refugees have taken shelter—instead of inside it. This led to several different exchanges, throughout the morning and into the afternoon, wherein the various anchors would go live to the reporter for breaking news about how people were doing in the stadium. Each time, the flustered reporter would say, "I still have no idea."

So while reporters from other stations filed live reports on the conditions within the dome, CNN has relied on pictures from the refugees' cellphone cameras. Certainly, tremendous gains have been made in terms of cellphone-camera technology, but every single picture Gelf has seen looks like a dark smudge with a bright smudge in the middle (probably the hole in the roof, but it might also be a UFO). An inauspicious beginning for mainstream citizen journalism. (For a look at how the phenomenon works better, check out Boing Boing's roundup of blogs, live cams, and photo sets from the storm.)

While ordinary citizens are becoming journalists, it seems that some journalists have done the opposite. Josh Norman and Mike Keller, reporters at the Sun Herald of coastal Mississippi, created Eye of the Storm, a blog about their experiences riding out the hurricane while holed up in the newspaper's offices. While it is refreshing to hear real journalists make jokes about butt cracks and let people in on their fears, the two seem to have let slide their rigor for detail. They even granted anonymity to a workmate: "This economy is crippled," said someone in the office.