Ben Huh‘s plan is to create an open-source platform that people could use to be “amateur editors,” designing and managing their own blend of online news sources and advertising. If there’s enough interest,
the Medill grad would like to develop it as a public tool, like blogging platform WordPress.org, reports Brier Dudley. He writes:
The end product sounds like a portal creation tool along the lines of Netvibes.com, a site that lets users customize a personal home page with widgets and news feeds.
Huh floated the project — and riffed on topics ranging from Fox News to Twitter and democracy — at a Tuesday meeting of the Online News Association and regional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Afterward he said the news platform is a personal project of his, separate from Cheezburger.
Huh said in a DigiDay interview posted yesterday:
People are looking for differentiated media. Generic media has suffered the most. That’s why you see the rise of partisan media and websites. They’re a differentiated view from what we’re used to. You need to have a point of view. That’s very important.
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