What does Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter victory over CNN mean for news?

For anyone who doesn’t know, celebrity Ashton Kutcher recently challenged CNN to a race to see if his Twitter account could reach one million followers before CNN’s Breaking News Twitter account. CNN accepted the challenge, mentioning it in their newscasts. On April 17, the breaking news on CNN, both online and on-air, was that Ashton had won.

It’s tempting to write off the whole Ashton v. CNN race as a silly publicity stunt, but I was interested in part of what Ashton said in his victory speech.

Look, at the end of the day, what’s this about? This is about the changing of the guard, from the old way of consuming media to the new way of consuming media. We together, can decide, we can make the news on our cell phones, on our iPhones, on our cameras, on our video cameras. We can edit the news, we can broadcast the news, and we can consume the news. We can decide what news we want to hear, how we want to hear it, when we want to hear it. And we can get it faster on the web. That’s all we’re saying. And it’s not about me, it’s not about anything, any accolade I’m trying to achieve. It’s really about us and, uh, it’s about a statement that one man can have a voice that’s as loud as an entire media company. And you can have that voice as well. And we can all have that voice together. And, and, and we can change media forever. That’s just the start. I dunno, um, maybe that was a little too preachy?

Ashton is right in saying that this reflects a “changing of the guard” that the internet has ushered in. The fact that one man can now have a voice as loud as an entire media company is a powerful thing that journalists should not ignore.

Ashton v. CNN is really Citizen Journalists v. Professional Journalists.

Media companies are no longer just competing with other media companies, they are competing with the Ashton Kutchers of the world, and everyone else who has internet access. The challenge journalists face in this age where anyone can create content that can be quickly and widely disseminated, is to distinguish themselves as the most credible source for news.

With so many webpages and twitter-feeds filled with the thoughts and opinions of celebrities and average Joe’s, there is a strong need for honest information that has been thoroughly researched and verified before being published.

Journalists are going to need an impressive marketing plan to remind people that their voice is the most trustworthy… especially since I just learned Oprah has joined Twitter.