Still in the alpha, invite-only stage, website iamnews has plans to become the world’s first open newsroom for media organisations and reporters.

Journalism.co.uk put some quickfire questions to Nir Ofir, founder of the site, which is aiming for ‘networked journalism’ between news providers and journalists and is not just another ‘citizen media news’ start-up.

1) How will iamnews set itself apart from other citizen journalism projects?
iamnews.com is a tool, a collaborative powerful news tool in the hands of publishers and reporters. It is not a news destination site or a citizen media news brand. We are here to create a simple and easy to use tool but not trying to become the editors. We hope to create an alternative to news agencies by syndicating the content in reasonable prices and policies.

2) You mention in your open letter on the site that ‘There is also no current solution for quickly investigating the reliability of this material, or the reputation of its sources’ – how will iamnews address this?
It is a process that will take time. iamnews is an invitation-only service. We are sure that publishers and reporters will invite only people that they trust. We also created a rating and feedback system for publishers and reporters, who will rate each other and give feedback about their work.

3) Similarly, how will the platform make money and what compensation is offered to contributors?
iamnews is hoping to become a news syndication service for the big media organisations. All the content that will be made in iamnews will be available for them to purchase. Revenues will go to the publishers and reporters that participated in the creation of the articles.

4) Are you looking to partner media/news organisations?
Sure! We are now working on an open newsroom solution for news organisations. So they can create their own open newsroom, create news assignments and engage their audience in the creation of news.

5) Are there any citizen journalism/networked journalism projects that your particularly admire? If so, why?
I was watching ohmynews closely and loved the fact that there is a mix of professional and amatuer news making over there.