On Monday, J-Lab, The Institute for Interactive Journalism, hosted the New Media Women Entrepreneurs 2009 Summit in Washington, DC. An all female line-up of panelists from diverse backgrounds presented their unique experiences of growing their journalistic interests into thriving online communities. With just a passion for their topic and a high speed Internet connection, these accomplished women have grown sites including NewHavenIndependent.org, NorthwestNavyNews.com, OaklandLocal.com and Placeblogger.com.
Mary Turck, editor of TCDailyPlanet.net, shared the following tips for getting started in citizen journalism:
1. Learn the basics of journalism including getting the “who, what, where, when, why and how,” all while maintaining fairness, transparency and accuracy.
2. Assemble story documentation by noting who you interviewed, where you had meetings and other important details.
3. Show, don’t tell. You want to tell a story, so punch it up if it’s boring.
4. As an editor, offer rewards and reinforcement. Give citizen reporters things like notepads and business cards and always let them know when their work gets good traffic or is republished.
5. Keep in constant contact with your reporters, even when they are not actively working.
NextGenWeb caught up with Susan Mernit, founder of OaklandLocal.com to learn how she’s transitioning from Silicon Valley executive to local blogger extraordinaire!
For fellow attendee Laryssa Wirstiuk’s account of the day, including her take on the struggle between traditional and new media, check out her posting on Comma ‘N Sentence.
For more insights from J-Lab on the emerging new media ecosystem, check out their recently released report “New Entrepreneurs: New Perspectives on News
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November 20th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
[...] on reaching 10,000 unique users (a watershed for considering advertising revenue streams) and NextGenWeb. Oakland Local is also listed on the NY Times Bay Area [...]