Jay ( PressThink) Rosen and the University of Maryland’s J-Lab have both gotten grants to move citizen journalism into the field. Rosen got $100,000 from Reuters which he’ll use to hire an editor. In his own posting he describes the idea behind his project:
“Emily McKhann, an adviser to NewAssignment.Net who is starting her own site on motherhood, gave me an example of a story she thought right for its methods: how family-friendly are America’s companies, really? Now a magazine like Forbes might assign a feature like that to a reporter who could work for several months interviewing experts, talking with different companies, and visiting a few as cases-in-point. If NewAssignment.Net works the way I hope it will, we’ll ask many hundreds of people who work in those companies to tell us what’s up. They’ll testify themselves and direct us to other people who know. They will send in documents and help confirm facts. Some of them will write accounts that NewAssignment will end up using.”
The J-Lab, which has already pioneered some prizes, small starter grants and online training resources, recently got another cash infusion. According to a press release :
“(The) $1.4 million in new funding for the College’s affiliated J-Lab will launch the Knight Citizen News Network, a self-help training portal for citizen journalists.”
The J-Lab, which also recognizes online innovators, recenty awarded a $10,000 prize to Global Voices Online, a project out of Harvard University.
Not money but exposure: Yahoo Video is collaborating with Current TV to create shows, made by amateurs but filtered by professionals. MediaPost says:
“The Yahoo Current Network encompasses both professional and amateur videos aimed at 18- to-24-year-olds, and will debut with four channels on Yahoo Video. Current Buzz will feature segments highlighting popular Web stories, and will be produced by Madeleine Smithberg, co-creator and former executive producer of ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.’ “