Ann Curry wrote an outstanding article entitled, Journalism As An Act of Faith about humanitarian reporting and the importance of caring about the stories of people journalists cover.

Prior to that, I read an article about Bleacher Report's partnership with Hearst entitled, Hearst-Bleacher Report breakthrough key to future of "citizen journalist" movement.

The connection? Although Curry is writing about crisis and suffering, the principles of humanitarian journalism could easily be applied to the reporting of any human endeavor. In that regard, the goal of a journalist is not merely to list facts, but to give an account of the experience of the human beings involved in the situation.

The theory is that without the constraints of traditional media, citizen journalists could do a better job of incorporating that human touch in their hyper local reporting -- identifying and describing stories that matter to their lives faster than big media outlets.

Of course, that requires skill and learning how to write -- either through J-school or an apprenticeship/internship -- is valuable. However, good journalism is about one's disposition relative to the subject matter. So none of this is to say either that Bleacher Report is the "best" medium to "lead the citizen journalism movement" or that random folks off the street should replace paid journalists.

The point is best stated by Derek Clark of GeekPolitics.com in a recent article on citizen journalism: The old media that combine their resources with the advantages of new media will thrive. The old media that try to cling to their old methods of doing things will die."

Journalists like Curry will survive because she's focused on human stories, regardless of method or medium. What will kill traditional media is a methods fetish, not citizen journalism or new media.