Tsunami, Indonesia by Photojournalist, Karl Grobl (@karlgrobl)

As the tsunami of the digital media revolution engulfs the globe, Journalism’s visual branch is now being played out in two teams; on one end of the spectrum are the citizen photojournalists and on the other end are the professionally trained photojournalists.

Bloggers equipped with camera phones, a basic knowledge of some photo editing software and access to a photo-sharing website are now capable of producing photographs.

What is the impact of this new wave of camera-phone photojournalism on a professionally trained photojournalist?

(@bberwyn) #Colorado #photojournalism -- one a day from @summitvoice: http://wp.me/pJ91e-1Hj #horses #photography

The photograph above has been submitted by a citizen photojournalist (@bberwyn) via Twitpic. The photograph from Indonesia (above-top) is the product of a professional photojournalist (@karlgrobl). Could you tell the difference?

Below is a compilation of my conversation with several media gurus and photojournalists on the topic of Citizen versus Professional Photojournalism?

Marc Karasu (@OneWirefinance) of MAK Digital Marketing and Advertising Consulting has had hands on experience with both old and new media; his portfolio includes the creation of Super Bowl television commercials and Google adword media buys to name a few. He provides below his insight on the explosion of user generated content online.

“Some would argue that the proliferation of user generated content has “cheapened” or “diluted” journalism by taking it out of the hands of pros and turning coverage over to amateurs. I would argue that it has actually helped lift journalism overall as these devices and mediums have made news more immediate, unfiltered and powerful.  This is especially true in countries where there are strong state filters on news. That being said, it is up to professional journalists to properly frame and give background context to the story and the nuances of the players involved, and different sides of the story when they air a video in media,”

Bill Adee (@Bill80), Chicago Tribune’s VP for Digital Stuff also foresees benefits in the co-existence of citizen and professional photojournalists and provides an interesting analogy linking the two.

“I would say the proliferation of mobile photojournalism has affected visual journalism the same way blogs and twitter have affected print/Web journalism. We need to realize what can be done well by citizen photographers and find creative ways to organize and present it for our readers. We also need to realize that there is plenty that can be done well by the full-time trained journalists. The key is to take ego and traditions and conventions out of the equation and made good decisions about who should be doing what,”

Karl Grobl (@karlgrobl), a humanitarian photojournalist has traveled all over the world from Haiti and Cambodia to Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to document relief efforts of global NGOs.

“The proliferation of camera-phone photojournalism means more timely information, although often dubious it’s a double edged sword…there are plenty of great photographers, those who “make it” are good photographers and good business people.”

Ralph Talmont (@ralphtalmont) is a photographer and publishing consultant who is currently leveraging on his 25 years’ of photography, multimedia and publishing experience to create a mobile and web platform combining the three mediums. He digs deeper into the proliferation of Current TV-like citizen journalists’ platforms.

“This is a question which needs to be approached from two perspectives: distribution and access. Three if you count the person doing the shooting of course but I’ll concentrate on two. Camera phones are about to get a whole lot better which will potentially put ‘reporters’ everywhere. Shooting events is one thing, being able to capture the essence of an event is entirely different. So, for news gathering and a general democratization of the process this is great; assuming distribution hubs such as current.tv continue to proliferate since without distribution you have nothing. The other issue is one of ‘quality’ and ‘depth’ and for this you need experience; having a camera in the right place at the right time is half the battle. It needs to be attached to the right eye and heart to be able to tell the story well.”

Here’s my tweetup with Journalist/blogger, @VictoriaAudele who is currently interning at CNN Entertainment:

1. 
   mariayzk Thank you Ms. Beeks for your tweetup on “Blogging for Life”.What’s your take on the Bloggers vs. Journalists debate?@VictoriaAudele 30 Apr 2010 from web
2. 
   mariayzk What’s the solution for anonymous bloggers abusing anonymity to the level of libel? Should anonymity not be an option online?@VictoriaAudele 30 Apr 2010 from web

The proliferation of camera-phone photojournalism has allowed for an unprecedented knowledge sharing experience, where news and images are no longer solely channeled through governments and news broadcasting monopolies. Every person equipped with a camera phone today is able to broadcast news and images or pile them together to compose news stories.

Citizen journalists are more likely to be at the right place at the right time.

Professional photojournalists, on the other hand, have learnt the bible of photo storytelling.

There is no room for competition; it’s simply a knowledge sharing experience between different categories of players.