I recently discovered a glimmer of hope in the depressing world of journalism: spot.us. Based in the San Francisco bay area, spot.us is a website that focuses on hyperlocal news stories the people of northern California PAY to read. In other words, spot.us hires a journalist to cover a story, then asks online readers to fund the story. This new business model, which is essentially community funded reporting, is an interesting example of how much local news still means to people and how empowered citizens can not only support, but create their own news.
With that said, spot.us is just the type of experiment that could not only survive, but thrive in California. I have heard rumors that the website plans to expand to Chicago and New York City, and I encourage such a move. However, I hope spot.us hires properly trained, college educated journalists and not simply citizen journalists. What I like about spot.us is that it's greatly different from a blog. The blogosphere is the realm of citizen journalists, and I'm very much supportive of anyone who starts a blog as a way to express themselves. I just hope spot.us, which does have great journalistic promise, continues to produce fair and accurate hyperlocal reporting.
But when the sun shines again, I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in - Death Cab For Cutie.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment