It wasn't too long ago that the term "citizen journalism" had the same effect on newspaper reporters as fingernails on a chalkboard. "We're the professionals -- we'll write the stories," we would think, if not say.

Well, Robb Frederick shows in today's Erie Times-News that sometimes the citizen's voice is best. His front-page story, "After bomb, soldier vows to keep going," Frederick sets the piece in motion by describing what happened to Capt. Donald P. Smith, an Erie native serving in Iraq, on Friday, May 4.

Smith, 32, had just assumed command of Bravo Battery, part of the 5th Batalion of the U.S. Army's 82nd Field Artillery, and was meeting with an Iraqi division commander. Suddenly, a suicide bomber exploded a dump truck loaded with 5,000 pounds of explosives.

Here is where Frederick, a veteran journalist who twice has won Pennsylvania's distiguished reporting award, made a key decision.

"Capt. Smith had sent an e-mail to one of my colleagues in the newsroom, alerting us to what had happened, and she forwarded it to me, because she knew I'd written a lot of stories about soldiers in Iraq," Frederick said. He immediately e-mailed Smith and learned that the soldier had written his recollection of the explosion. Smith sent the lengthy document to Frederick in an e-mail message, and Robb was amazed by the descriptions.

"I tried, without success, to reach him several more times, before I thought, 'This is a riveting story Smith has written. Maybe we should go with his own account'"

The story Smith wrote is considerably longer than the one that appears in today's paper, but, through careful editing, his words and descriptions convey the range of emotions and the feelings of the people affected by the bombing. Be sure to check out this story on GoErie.com.

It's also a good lesson for journalists in that we aren't the only ones who know how to tell a good story.

-- Kevin Cuneo

** Send me a comment on this blog, so we can have a dialogue **