(Video courtesy of Leonard Witt of PJNet)

That’s because Jeff Goodell doesn’t think professional journalists can.

Witt interviewed Goodell, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone Magazine, on Oct. 19 at The Society of Environmental Journalists convention. Witt challenges Goodell on whether citizen journalists could provide the same kind of ethical truth that professional journalists can.

“I don’t think evidence based truth is the exclusive province of professional journalists,” Goodell said.

Goodell isn’t the first person to see value in the power of everyone. Many beat reporters recognize that our readers know more than we do. Combining professional journalism with citizen journalism may be the best way to cover today’s issues.

A main reason for that is because professional journalism has seen massive budget cuts. Another issue he cites are deadlines, which aren’t always conducive to quality investigative reporting.

“I think the big failure of journalism is in communicating what is at stake in this — communicating the scale and scope of the story,” Goodell said about the failings of environmental journalism.

I urge you to check out the video and consider what Goodell is saying. Can citizen journalism make up for the gaps in professional journalism? Does journalism need citizen contributors to stay vigilant in this era of budget cuts?

Goodell is right that millions of people have access to cellular phones, laptops and the Internet. It certainly makes investigating and reporting much easier than ever before.