This. Say what you want about the tenets of journalism, but at least it's an ethos.

The 'citizen journalist' is at best a part time volunteer and at worst an astroturf'd contractor of a PR department.

And as the quip goes about volunteers -- willing to work for free, altruistic, and competent: pick two.

Occasionally you get delightful humans that combine all three, but they're needles in haystacks.