The "citizen journalism" movement (a.k.a., grassroots media, "we
media") continues to gain steam, especially in the U.S., and especially
in the "hyper-local news" area. But there's something that bothers me
about most "citJ" initiatives: Citizen submissions of content mostly
are non-paid, with compensation being feeling good about better
informing your neighbors, and/or the glory of seeing your name on the
Web.
I view that as an indicator of the immaturity of the citJ movement. In
time, I think that citJ initiatives will have to figure out how to
compensate the people who submit the best content to them. Emphasis is
on the word "best."
Here's an indicator that that's coming. A company called
Creative Weblogging, which has a network of more than 40 blogs covering technology and consumer trends, today is launching what it calls
Creative Reporter. As explained by CEO
Torsten Jacobi, this tool allows anyone to easily contribute text, video, and audio content to his company's network.
Those submitting content will be named as contributors and receive $10
for each 1,000 page-views that their content generates. Jacobi says
this "could be a powerful new driver to provide better free quality
content to our readers."
Paying citizen journalists isn't unprecedented.
Ohmynews.com, the 5-year-old South Korean citJ initiative, pays its best contributors. I expect to see more of this.
