The county that I live in - Kent - was hit by an earthquake on Satuday morning. Measuring about 4.3 on the Richter Scale, it most effected Folkestone and wasn't really felt in the part of North Kent in which I live.

A few people had to leave their homes but in reality, there weren't many serious consequences. I was watching Sky News and they were really lapping it up and it seemed like they wanted to it to be more serious than it was. They were appealing for viewers to contribute images from the scene of the quake and I like to be as helpful as I can, so I went into the garden, pushed over the washing line, garden table and chair and then took a photo.

I dutifully emailed it into them and within half an hour it was showing on screen. My lodger things I have too much time on my hands, but I think there's a point to be made about the advent of citizen journalism and user generated content etc - who's bothering to check if it's genuine, or do the mainstream media just mop up the free content being provided to them and use it willy nilly?

Labels: citizen journalism