We're early in the rise of of semi-pro journalism but we're well into the decline and of an old way of life within the tribe of professional journalists. I call them a tribe because they share a culture and a sense of destiny, and because they think they own the press-- that is theirs somehow because they dominate the practice.

The First Amendment says to all Americans: you have a right to publish what you know, what you think. That right used to be abstractly held. Now it is concretely held because the power to publish has been distrubuted. Projects that cause people to exercise their right to a free press strengthen the press, whether or not these projects strengthen the professional journalist's "hold" on the press.