Klinenberg's book discusses the negative effects that media conglomerates have had on American culture and how the monopolies they have created threaten democratic society. Klinenberg cites a variety of occurences that ended disastrously or could have ended so due to conglomerates hold on the media market - conglomerates inability or unwillingness to inform the public of relevant issues or newsworthy information is unhinging local color and voice. The independently owned medium is being forced into extinction since the FCCs deregulation of network ownership. Now media companies can own entire markets, including radio stations, newspapers, and television stations. This cross market ownership homogenizes content, acting as a balwark to original and independently produced and owned content.

While this topic may seem to be unrelated to citizen journalism, I think it helps answers questions of "why." Other sources i have cited attribute citizen journalism as a result of technologic advances  (camera phones, internet, etc.) but I think that cross media ownership is the last piece to that puzzle. The public's distrust of major medi corporations and exasperation with being force-fed the same story (or in radio's case, the same song) has found an outlet. The proliferation of online non-mainstream news sources happened not only because it could but because there was a hunger for content that was not being provided by previously trusted news sources. I will argue that citizen journalism may have been created because of technology but it has sustained partly because of the mainstream's consistent failure to provide diverse content that satiates local tastes and provides diverse content.

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