In case you missed it, a couple weeks ago a “citizen journalist” on CNN’s iReport.com posted a claim that Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack. The report caused Apple’s stock to plunge and my disgust with citizen journalism to soar. Up until then, sites like iReport, The Uptake and CBS’s EyeMobile iPhone application, had existed on the fringes of my consciousness as a mere annoyance, but nothing to take seriously. Because, honestly, who cares what Joe Schmo has to say about breaking news?

But, Andrew! Citizen journalists scooped the mainstream media on the earthquake in China using just Twitter! Oh please, indiscriminate exclamation point user, what is that worth? That’s only mildly interesting because they weren’t lying. And I’m not for a second going to cite a Tweet as credible reporting. I’m going to wait till it pops up on CNN.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, but please don’t dismiss my disdain as pure J-school snobbery. It’s not, I promise. The idea of allowing the general public to post video reports on what they perceive as news is all fine and good. And if it happens to be a piece of breaking, fascinating, compelling news, all the more power to them. But when you allow these reports to be viewed as anything more than speculation and rumor it becomes a dangerous business. I’m not calling every person who posts on iReport a liar. I’m sure there are plenty of legitimate guerrilla journalists out there doing good work, but the point is I don’t know who’s who. And I never will be able to. When the mainstream media is rife with bias, how can you even remotely expect to glean a purer truth out of citizen journalism?

I’m also not saying that Mr. Schmo can’t do what I’m learning to do. Much of journalism is instinct and polished intuition, and knowing how to ask questions isn’t incredibly complicated. But the issue comes with integrity. A journalist lives and dies by his or her integrity and credibility. If there has been anything drilled into me over the past four years it is that I must be above reproach. There must not even be a hint of a conflict of interest or a glimmer of inaccuracy in my reporting. And once a hole is found in your credibility, just once, you’re finished.

Consider Tania deLuzuriaga. She recently resigned from the Boston Globe after some racy e-mails between her and a school official who she covered while at The Miami Herald became public. No one said she lied in her reporting, but even the appearance of a conflict on interest may have destroyed her career in journalism. I’ll be surprised if she ever works in news again.

So, when you combine those two, the ease with which lies can fester on the Internet and the average citizen’s inability to practice credible journalism, you get a bleak picture of citizen journalism. I will never go to a citizen journalism site for my news. Perhaps you disagree? Perhaps I’ve been unfair? What do you think? Is citizen journalism reliable? Let’s debate in the comments section.