What if you could request the news stories you want reported on? The newspaper business has struggled since the proliferation of the internet and we've yet to see how the news business will evolve. We've become disillusioned with big news conglomerates driven by a corporate agenda and we've become familiar with M. Moore's 'media breeds fear' and 'fear drives consumerism theory,' so it's refreshing to see a new news service that is so pure in form. Spot.us democratizes the news by allowing the public to suggest and vote on the news they'd like researched and reported. I think it's a great idea because it allows the public to direct journalism. Spot.us currently provides the architecture for the public to pay for the stories they'd like to have researched. They can also suggest "tips" that provide leads for the staff of journalists. Once a story is fully funded a journalist hits the field and writes the story.
I think it's a crafty model that could be further evolved. Future services might be based on the Digg model allowing the public to vote for instead of pay for their news. It might also include a more interactive way to suggest and discuss tips on issues that should be covered. Broowaha is a good example of this kind of citizen journalism. So then my question is will these new formats also use an advertising based model to pay for quality journalists? The answer naturally seems like it would be yes; that is, I don't see myself paying large lump sums to fund individual news stories; but we have to find a way to support the journalists.
1 comment:
You have the idea down completely. Hopefully we can evolve the model so in the future - it really is a democratic way to hire a reporter.
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