(2006-11-07) Gannett Crowdsourcing News

Gannett will start Crowd Sourcing some of its news (Newspaper Publishing). The initiative emphasizes four goals: Prioritize local news over national news; publish more User Generated Content; become 24-7 news operations, in which the newspapers do less and the websites do much more; and finally, use crowdsourcing methods to put readers to work as watchdogs, whistle-blowers and researchers in large, investigative features. Citizen Journalism?

Above and beyond pink-slip considerations, crowdsourcing Journalism raises many other thorny issues, said Korte. The paper recently asked the crowd to weigh in on the grisly murder of a 3-year-old foster child. "All that water-cooler speculation moved online," said Korte. The readers were convicting the foster parents before charges were even filed. "We wound up having to close down the message boards until an indictment came down. Maybe needed Idea Futures?