Charles Miller, a producer at the BBC College of Journalism, gives an entertaining account of his experience using Newser’s readers editing feature ‘Newser by Users’.
The feature offers anyone the chance to ‘play editor’ with an online story, changing the headline and summary before posting it online.
The best picks get elevated into the site’s front page, alongside their own journalists’ work.
Miller gives us his account:
After a few more sentences, I was ready to publish. Seconds later, my story was up there on Newser. It was soon shunted along by “WV Senator Robert C. Byrd, 92 died this morning” and other, more recent uploads, many from someone called Disillusioned – who should really have been called Super-Keen or perhaps Time on My Hands. I clicked on Most Popular, but, sadly, no sign of my piece (…) HOLD THE FRONT PAGE … As I was writing the above, I took another look at Newser and, guess what? My story has been catapulted to prominence – given a proper photograph and promoted to the lead spot on the front page.
(…) Hey, I’ve made it as an unpaid drone in the cut-throat world of US online journalism! Eat your heart out, Disillusioned!