Joplin, Mo., & Vancouver style Citizen Journalism
So what’s the heartland saying about citizen journalism? Here is an article in the Joplin (Missouri) Globe headlined: A new way to tell the news: Blogs represent a return to community journalism
Within the story a mention is made of Orato, a quasi citizen journalism site based in Vancouver. It will be launched in November. Citizen journalists and freelancers will be paid to provide stories. I poked around at the site and found this:
Your subject must be aware that you are transcribing his or her conversations and that you are writing stories in his or her own words. In order to ensure the integrity of subjects’ voices, our writers must obtain written permission from their interviewees certified by a notary. This will ensure both the authenticity of the subject and his/her consent on the angle or focus of the story to submit. We also require writers to send us the contact information (address, telephone numbers and email addresses, if possible) for the main subject.
Notarized? Plus the publisher/contributors’ contract was not written in the Creative Commons spirit. But fear not, even if they reject your story:
You will be able to “Pay to Post” that compelling story you are dying to share with the world. That’s right! Even if your story isn’t chosen by the editorial committee to be published in the main section, you still will be able to publish your story in Orato.
Who wants to own the Internet or at least colonize it? Which now-independent content providers will be colonized? Will they have a choice if they want to reach audiences? Are Orato and the rest of its ilk just bad ideas whose time has come and will shortly pass?
October 24th, 2005 at 2:18 pm
Could it be possible that the notary requirement is a joke? If not, then they set up that requirement so that no citizen journalists would actually participate.