New Media Women Entrepreneurs Summit: Strategies for Citizen Journalism
November 10, 2009 in hyperlocal by Colleen Curry
Yesterday, I got to attend the New Media Women Entrepreneurs Summit in Washington, DC, where a group of 13 hyperlocal editors gave me some great ideas for recruiting and training citizen journalists, partnering with other media organizations and non-profits, and monetizing in innovative ways. In this post, I’ll discuss what I learned about recruiting help on the ground.
Finding Help: One of the biggest challenges all of the hyperlocals agreed on was finding help on the ground to report all the news, take all the pictures for slideshows, and create a community of voices and perspectives–especially when those helpers are volunteers.
Some of the tips they found useful, which I can’t wait to try, were:
* Tapping into the journalism job market: There are a lot of out-of-work journos right now, and by using sites like journalismjobs.com, mediabistro.com, etc., editors might be able to find freelancers with solid skills who are looking to keep their portfolios fresh & learn new media. Offer to help them learn new media in exchange for stories; don’t be afraid to barter, beg, and cajole.
Easter Sunday Service*, 4/8 @ 10am, C.H. West Auditorium
Easter Egg Hunt*, 4/7 @ 10am, C.H. West Football Stadium