Citizen journalism | MelCoulson.com

There are no ads on the Community News Commons website.

That’s because for this site, the name of the game is not about making money.

Instead, CNC’s goal is undeniably, unabashedly altruistic: engaging Winnipeggers to inform each other about issues they feel are important.

It’s hinged on a belief that if citizens care enough about their community to write, discuss, debate what happens in it, a better city emerges.

It’s this philosophy that won the project funds fromKnight Foundation, after the organization decided to back initiatives in partnership with community foundations. Knight matched a $200,000 donation from Winnipeg’s philanthropic The Winnipeg Foundation. It was the only Canadian project to win funding from Knight.

“The perspective from the Winnipeg Foundation is that if you are more informed about your community, you care more about it, and you’re going to have a relationship with the community,” said Noah Erenberg, Community News Commons Convener.

Continue reading Community News Commons: Winnipeg’s grassroots public media project →

As I research community newsrooms, I plan to note the kind of stories are being produced.

Struggling with shrinking resources and budgets, I’m sure many publishers think it would be grand to think that a citizen journalist might sit down and cover a town council meeting – but is this really the case?

My gut tells me that the community would far rather review a new local burger joint than produce 750 words on a transportation committee meeting.

But that’s just my gut. I have no numbers to back this up.

And I want these numbers.

Put simply, I plan to measure (as well as you can measure journalistic productivity) these categories of content into hard or soft news.

Continue reading Hard or soft news – you tell me →