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Reuters’ financial support for citizen journalism : ProAm in motion

September 20, 2006

Jay Rosen of NYU, a real mover on the citizen journalism front, announced Reuters has given $100,000 to fund the NewsAssignment.Net project.

NewAssignment.Net, is to be launched in April 2007. Here’s how Jay described NewsAssignment.Net:

New Assignment.Net is a non-profit site that tries to spark innovation in journalism by showing that open collaboration over the Internet among reporters, editors and large groups of users can produce high-quality work that serves the public interest, holds up under scrutiny, and builds trust.

A second aim is to figure out how to fund this work through a combination of online donations, micro-payments, traditional fundraising, syndication rights, sponsorships, advertising and any other method that does not compromise the site’s independence or reputation.

At New Assignment, pros and amateurs cooperate to produce work that neither could manage alone. The site uses open source methods to develop good assignments and help bring them to completion. It pays professional journalists to carry the project home and set high standards; they work closely with users who have something to contribute. The betting is that (some) people will donate to stories they can see are going to be great because the open methods allow for that glimpse ahead.

If you’ve read The Long Tail, you’ll agree with Jay that this is ProAm in motion. Professionals working side by side with amateurs who have been given a platform to express themselves via blogs and the like.

Source of post: Amy Gahran, an unpaid advisor to this project.

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