There is surprisingly little information in the public domain about the way editors tackle grassroots reporting. We at reporTwitter aim to change this –we’ve put out questionnaires to editors asking them what they are looking for when they collaborate with ordinary people’s efforts to describe what’s going on – but for the time being we feel that this article on ajr.com is highly useful.
The report outlines how three high profile news outlets deal with grassroots reporting. The article’s writers say its too early to coin the phrase, but they describe an editor in charge of people’s input as a Citizen Media Editor. “For brevity’s sake, let’s call this person the CME, for citizen media editor or citizen managing editor. But as each site uses a different level of citizen media — whether it’s blogs or reader-written stories — the role of the CME can vary from site to site and the CME duties might just be one part of an online editor’s job”, says Mark Glazer, who wrote the article.
We quietly hope that the word Citizen Journalist will be scrapped from the jargon involved and we’re not alone. Grassroots reporter is a preffered term by many involved because it’s more democratic, and also implies the millions of stateless people whose voice needs to be heard. On this site you won’t encounter citizen journos.
The article outlines the various issues that editors are faced with, including who do you put on the front line? Who can oversee these efforts with a light but discerning touch, allowing free speech without inviting lawsuits? He talks to people at MSNBC.com, VenturaCountyStar.com, NorthwestVoice.com and News-Record.com. Worth reading.