Category Archives: Citizen journalism

Allvoices signs syndication deal with WENN

Following the launch of its syndication scheme in October, citizen journalism site Allvoices has signed a deal with WENN (World Entertainment and News Network), which provides images, videos and other entertainment news to more than 1,000 partners.

WENN will now have exclusive syndication rights to all entertainment-related content uploaded by Allvoices’ users and allow its partners to buy up Allvoices’ work, a press release said.

WENN will split the proceeds of any sale with Allvoices, which will then split its take with the original creator – 75 per cent of the money for non-exclusive and exclusive images and video content, according to our interview with CEO Aki Hashmi in October.

“Partners using the Allvoices platform have options for sourcing content: either through a direct sale; or using Allvoices’ widgets which lets partners pick and present specific stories and automated feeds for their sites on just about any subject, from anywhere in the world. Partners have complete control over the content that appears on their sites, and many have already put the Allvoices tools to work, adding local knowledge and expertise that enhances and adds depth to their own staff’s reporting, photography and video,” the release explained.

Last month Allvoices announced it would recruit and pay professional journalists to contribute to its website. As part of the Provoices scheme, journalists will be paid up to $250 (around £150) a story and more for ‘high-traffic’ items.

Digital Journalist: There is no such thing as a citizen journalist

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A Digital Journalist editorial argues that citizen journalism should be abolished:

There are many people who think they can replace professional visual journalists. Citizen journalist is a misnomer. There is no such thing. There are citizens and there are journalists. Everybody can be one of the former, but to be called a journalist means that you are a professional. Either you have been schooled in journalism, or you have ‘paid your dues,’ rising slowly through the ranks.

But it’s not clear whose argument the editorial is countering. Howard Owens, publisher of the Batvian, responds sharply in the comments, a reply which is worth an Editors’ Pick in its own right:

[Y]ou state, “There are many people who think they can replace professional visual journalists.” Yet you provide not one verified quote to substantiate the claim, nor, more importantly one link to support this statement. I challenge you to prove its true, rather than a bald face unsubstantiated assertion – the kind of sloppy reporting you claim to abhor.

Owens also provides some interesting details on ‘citizen journalist’ equivalents of the past.

Full post at this link…

#WANIndia2009: Geotagging and VG.no’s News Portal

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Schibsted-owned Norwegian newspaper VG.no isn’t just a newspaper – it’s also a software developer, having built a system for readers to send in stories, news tips and images by mobile. The technology behind the VG News Portal has been bought by newspaper websites internationally, including the Sun and News of the World in the UK.

Papers can also rent the system, Vidar Meisingseth, project manager at VG.no, tells Journalism.co.uk. The image below shows what an editor using the system sees as tips are submitted.

Screen of VG News Portal

But new benefits of the portal are becoming apparent: in Oslo VG has created a database of its freelance correspondents and ‘tippers’ (users who send in tips and content). By geotagging this information the editorial team at VG.no can call up a map when a story breaks showing who is within a 50km radius.

This has potential for both assigning freelancers to stories, but also to finding eyewitnesses or gathering more information from citizens on the ground, says Meisingseth.

Using geotagging presents further opportunities not yet trialled by the paper, for example, mapping related stories such as a crime to see where and how frequently it is happening in a certain area.

VG.no already has information on its regular ‘tippers’ and this too could provide editorial leads, if for example a reader was sending in the same complaint about an unresolved issue in their area month-on-month.

In the Oslo system images sent in are also being geotagged – a useful step in the factchecking process with the potential to create image maps around larger, breaking news events.

All coverage of #WANIndia2009 from Journalism.co.uk can be found at this link.

DigiDave: Redefining journalism, cit-j and ‘honest communication’

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David Cohn, founder of crowd-funded news site spot.us, discusses why it isn’t necessarily journalism and newspapers that we should be saving, but ‘honest communication’:

“Journalism as a word is loaded because of the ministry it invokes. The profession that, since Watergate, has laid claim to it. That ministry is now a diaspora. Much like after the Gutenberg revolution the ministry lost its authority in interpreting the bible. Martin Luther showed us how. In reaction many journalists cling even tighter to that word,” writes Cohn.

“What we need to preserve isn’t newspapers. I’d argue it isn’t even ‘journalism’ as we understand it. What we need to save is something else. Something more fundamental. The ability for communities to be informed with honest information and then to mobilize based on that information.”

Full post at this link…

MediaWeek: YouTube connects news organisations with cit-j video

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YouTube has launched an open-source platform for news sites, YouTube Direct, to let them solicit content from the video-sharing site’s users.

YouTube Direct has already been trialled on some news sites, including Politico and Huffington Post, as ‘a virtual assignment desk’: news organisations can use the tool to request video content and then decide what clips they use.

Full story at this link…

Brighton Argus recruiting police community bloggers; PCSO Sam Justice among them

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It’s nearly an entry for the Radio 4 ‘Sorry I Haven’t A Clue’ Late Arrivals game, and definitely a candidate for PopBitch’s ‘Favourite’ feature: PCSO Sam Justice is among the new police community support officer bloggers recruited by the Brighton Argus.

As reported very speedily by Sarah Hartley this morning, Newsquest’s Brighton Argus plans to use community police officers to cover local beats for its hyperlocal network.

“I’m hoping the contributions to the site will start becoming really varied, a mixture of people hoping to cut their journalistic teeth, the community figures who have always reported on their neighbourhoods in some shape or form, and those who want somewhere to get their voices and stories heard,” web editor Jo Wadsworth told Journalism.co.uk.

And if she’s looking for more contributors, Journalism.co.uk would highly recommend checking out Channel 5’s Brighton Beach Patrol, featuring some wonderful characters we’ve been looking out for ever since [show pictured left].

Wadsworth has been building up the community correspondent network for a while: around six months ago, students from Brighton Journalist Works were brought on board. Students upload weekly vox pop video interviews with members of the public and three students run a weekly fashion blog.

Earlier in the year she recruited – with a little egging-on from Journalism.co.uk – Guardian media blogger Roy Greenslade as a Kemp Town community correspondent, whose latest post can be viewed here.

Non-profit Texas Tribune launches

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“[I]f our nerves are shot, we’re excited, elated, enthralled (…) For those of us who willingly quit good jobs with big media companies to join an untried journalism start-up with an untested business model, this site, this thing, is the expression of our ideals, the realization of our dreams, and the validation of our faith,” said the editor-of-chief of the new non-profit Texas Tribune upon launching yesterday:

“What we intend to accomplish with the Trib – what we mean to do on an ongoing basis – is right there in our stated mission: to promote civic engagement and discourse on public policy, politics, government, and other matters of statewide concern,” wrote Evan Smith:

“We’ll do this through our original reporting, published on this site and in the pages of and on the web sites of our syndication partners, and our various on-the-record events, which will always be open to the public: an annual ideas festival, a weekly conversation series, a college tour, and the like. In true twenty-first-century fashion, we’re approaching the task of storytelling across multiple platforms: text, audio, video, blogs, databases, mobile, social.

“We’re treating you, the reader or viewer or listener or user, as if you’re the customer, and we’re busily puzzling through how best to meet your various demands. Our goal is to maximize your ability to personalize your experience; as we move to day five and day ten and day thirty, we’ll be adding new and innovative ways to do just that.”

Full post at this link…

The publication has also produced this YouTube video:

Non-profit investigative journalism centres around the world: a list

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Jessica Weiss’ piece about ‘Investigative 2.0’ on the International Journalists’ Network, flags up that there are now more than 50 non-profit investigative journalism organisations around the world:

“The first three nonprofits dedicated to investigative journalism were all American: the Fund for Investigative Journalism (1969), Investigative Reporters and Editors (1975), and the Center for Investigative Reporting (1977).

“Now, there are more than 50 worldwide, and more than half of those are since 2000. Global networks such as ICIJ – made up of 100 journalists in 50 countries, and currently looking to expand – are providing the platform for reporters to connect for cross-border investigations. Local and regional centers, such as Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism; the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism, and the Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR), connect journalists for reporting, networking, conferences, trainings and more. FAIR is sponsoring Africa’s first big investigative reporting conference later this month in Johannesburg.”

You can find a list of excellent resources on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists page at this link.

Using the Center for International Media report on strategies for support for investigative journalism, with the first survey of nonprofit journalism centers worldwide, the consortium (led by the Center for Public Integrity) has produced a list of over 35 around the world:

Africa
Forum for African Investigative Reporters

Ghana Center for Public Integrity & Focal Media

Asia
Nepal Center for Investigative Reporting

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

Eastern Europe
Balkan Investigative Regional Reporting Network

Bosnia Center for Investigative Reporting

BTC ProMedia Foundation, Bulgaria

Bulgarian Investigative Journalism Center

Investigative Journalists of Armenia

Media Focus — Center for Investigative Reporting, Serbia

Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism

Former Soviet Union
Caucus Media Investigative Center, Azerbaijan